Andy Green wasn’t expecting a return to the dugout.
But following the firing of Carlos Mendoza, the Mets’ senior vice president of baseball development felt a “responsibility” to step in on an interim basis — and help ease the “burden” on players to perform amid this nightmarish season.
“Guys play their best when they play with joy,” said Green, who had been serving as the team’s senior vice president of baseball development. “Guys play their best when they realize this isn’t about strategy, it’s about freedom.”
Green, who managed the Padres from 2016-19, was completely happy in his front office role in the minors, which president of baseball operations David Stearns said he will return to at the end of this season. The former utility infielder and short-lived Mets player (he suited up for the team four times in 2009) “loved” running the team’s farm system, said he rejected other chances to manage and enjoyed being able to spend more time with his three daughters.
This, Green said in a captivating press conference, “wasn’t something I was running to.”
“This felt like a responsibility more than an opportunity. Once it was made known to me that there was nothing that was going to change [in terms of his development role], once I learned that, I genuinely believe that given my life experience, I was best positioned to help over the next three months and see what we can get done as a group.”
There’s no guarantees that Green, who amassed a 274-366 record in San Diego, will inspire a turnaround for this Mets team, who entered Friday’s matchup against the Phillies riding a six-game losing streak and two days removed from a six-error disaster against Chicago.
Green, who knows Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing and Nolan McLean from their time in the minors, believes this team can defend better overall. He also seems a good bet to provide a jolt to the Mets’ clubhouse, as he admitted that “there’s been plenty enough people that have not loved my leadership style.”
“I will show up every day with the humility to know that I only impact so much, and I will show up every day willing to challenge people, and I think that’s how you end up earning respect of people,” he said. “If they choose to see me in a different light, I am not going to be bothered by that.”
The interim boss, who played three seasons for the Diamondbacks, didn’t reach the playoffs during four seasons in San Diego but evidently took plenty of lessons from his time out West and said he previously picked the brains of managers who had gotten second chances in the role.
“I’ve had them share stories with me, and I’ve had them share learnings with me, and that doesn’t mean I am on a pathway to be like them,” Green said. “It means there’s freedom to go through struggle, failure, shortcoming, and realize you didn’t die, because once you realize something’s not fatal, you have the capacity to go through it without the stress that transfers to everybody else in the building.”
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For now, Green will hope to change the fortunes of a team in the basement of the NL East and nowhere near a wild-card spot.
“We can flip that script,” Green said, “and they’re the ones with the pen in their hands to get that all through the story.”
