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The New York Mets have yet to finalize their coaching staff for 2026. Neither have several other teams, but they’re getting closer. In fact, the Atlanta Braves stole two Mets coaches away on Wednesday. What in the hump day just happened?
Both pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and first base coach Antoan Richardson are heading to the Braves. Each will have the same role they had with the Mets this past year. Hefner will try to turn around a Braves pitching staff that dealt with multiple injuries last year. Richardson will remain at first base
They’ll join newly promoted Braves manager Walt Weiss in what we can only hope is a repeat of 2025. Atlanta is rarely out of the playoff race as early as they fell last year.
The Mets should be ashamed of themselves for letting Antoan Richardson go to the Braves
With Hefner, it was probably time to move on. The pitching staff collapsed so badly they couldn’t possibly justify keeping him around for another year. Richardson was different. We saw the exact impact he had on base runners. Juan Soto literally went from a non-threat on the base paths to a near 40/40 guy.
Stealing bases wasn’t a common occurrence for the Braves. They swiped 82 last year, good for 26th in MLB. The Mets had 147 which was 5th.
Last week’s news of Richardson leaving the Mets felt like it might’ve had something to do with him seeking out a promotion. Overlooked when it came to the vacant bench coach job, we can only speculate as to why he chose not to re-sign with the Mets and instead flee for the Braves.
SNY’s Andy Martino continues to double down on there not being a world where Richardson was staying without explaining exactly why. It's an elephant in the room right now. Why leave when all indication was it had nothing to do with money? The cloak and dagger of it all makes this more frustrating.
The Mets have yet to officially announce a new pitching coach or first base coach with Justin Willard viewed as the favorite to come over from the Boston Red Sox for the former.