Mets manager Carlos Mendoza spent 15 YEARS with the Yankees... but is now desperate to bring success to the other side of New York - and he knows he must win QUICK to keep his job

The New York Mets have been here before. But they're hoping Carlos Mendoza can take them to places they haven't seen in a long, long time.

The 44-year-old Venezuelan is the Mets' fourth consecutive head coach appointment to have spent time previously across the city in the Bronx. He is also the fourth of the last five that have been given their first run at managing a big-league club.

But none have yet been able to transport the Yankees' success across the East River, and the results have been as homogenous as the CVs, for a franchise whose title drought is now pushing towards a fifth decade.

For Mendoza, though, he has extra motivation to succeed after a whole career spent waiting for a chance. His playing career consisted of 14 minor-league seasons as a utility infielder with the Yankees, San Francisco Giants and in independent ball, topping out at a brief stint in Triple-A before he hung up his glove at 29 and worked his way through the Yankees' coaching setup.

He made it all the way from rookie ball through his first big break as major league infield coach in 2018 to bench coach two years later.

And in his debut in the dugout, he has only one goal.

'Where do I want to be? I want to be holding that trophy!' says Mendoza. 'That's what we're here for, that's what we're getting ready for, that's what we're going to fight for, we know we've got way to go.

'Everybody is chasing the same goal and that's what we're here for. My goal is to win a championship.'

Mendoza's new squad have been raving about him ever since he won the job at the end of last year.

Long before the gates opened at the Mets' Spring Training camp in Port St Lucie, he had made sure to get to know his players and implement his style.

'He's not a strict type of guy, he's more of a players guy,' says Adam Ottavino, who worked with Mendoza for two seasons with the Yankees.

'But at the same time he wants us helping each other out, building a good community here, sharing information and helping each other, keeping each other accountable. He's entrusting the clubhouse to us, but at the same time his door's always open.'

It was a clubhouse that needed a refresh, following a disastrous 2023 season that saw the most expensive team in the history of baseball finish 75-87 and spelled the end for Buck Showalter.

Mendoza is to a large extent the reverse of Showalter, both physically - broad shoulders and a 6ft frame - and philosophically, as he embraces an opportunity 15 years in the making.

But can one man really turn last year's misery into a club ready to challenge for a championship? Only five managers have ever lifted a World Series in their rookie season. And in an NL East division alongside two powerhouses in Atlanta and Philadelphia, and all the firepower out west, even reaching the playoffs is going to be more than enough for a first-time skipper to be getting on with.

'Well, it's New York, says Mendoza, 'and the expectations are always high - you need to win.

'Look, it's not a secret, it was a tough season for this team last year.

'They went through a lot, whether it was injuries and other things, but it's a fresh start, we have a really good team and we know the expectations are always high here.

'I don't buy the fact the outside projections have the Mets on the lower end - I don't buy that.

'I know we're good, the players know we're good and we've got business we need to take care of.'