ONLY IN AMNEWYORK
Edgardo Alfonzo is monitoring the New York Mets’ coaching staff shakeup following their prolonged 2025 collapse, and he wants back on the ship.
The former infielder, All-Star, and Silver Slugger told amNewYork that he wants to be a part of manager Carlos Mendoza’s coaching staff after president of baseball operations David Stearns dismissed hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, and third-base coach Mike Sarbaugh. Bench coach John Gibbons resigned, and catching instructor Glenn Sherlock retired, while assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel and bullpen coach Jose Rosado were given permission to speak with other teams.
“It would definitely be a privilege to work with Carlos and his staff helping the Mets, doing whatever [they need],” Alfonzo told amNewYork. “It would be a privilege to join the big-league club.”
Following a decorated playing career that spanned 12 MLB seasons from 1995-2006 — he called Queens home from 1995-2002 — Alfonzo hasn’t strayed far from the organization that signed him 34 years ago while attempting to build up his coaching resume.
He joined the Mets’ Single-A affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones, as a bench coach in 2014 and, within three years, took over as manager. He led the Cyclones to a New York-Penn League Championship in 2019 — the club’s first league title in 18 years. Just five weeks later, though, he was informed by former Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen that his contract would not be renewed in what was a shock move at the time. The Staten Island FerryHawks of the Atlantic League hired him as manager for the 2022 season, but let him go after just one year.
Alfonzo spent the 2025 season working as a special advisor throughout the Mets’ minor-league system, working closely with managers and bench coaches.
“I really liked our talent in the organization,” he said. “The future is looking strong.”
If the 51-year-old has it his way, he’ll be working with some of that future talent someday at Citi Field, as either the bench-coach, hitting coach or third-base-coach role is best suited for him.
“Being on the big-league team under Mendoza, that would be great,” Alfonzo said. “I really loved the atmosphere up there.”
Alfonzo appears to already be well-regarded by the organization’s current regime. While he was elected to the franchise’s Latin American Hall of Fame over the summer, he was also in correspondence with Mendoza during the final stretch of the season, which saw the Mets go from being Major League Baseball’s best team in June to completely missing the postseason on the final day of the regular season.
“You have to be positive. You have to believe,” Alfonzo said on Sept. 12. “That’s what I was talking to [Mendoza] about. It’s bad that you’re going through this stretch right now, getting to the end of the season, but you have to believe that those guys can do the job.”
