3 former Yankees who could reunite with Carlos Mendoza on the Mets

You switch boroughs and then realize some of your pals from the old neighborhood have done the same. This is what it may feel like if the New York Mets end up with a couple of Carlos Mendoza’s old colleagues from his time with the New York Yankees.

Mendoza was the bench coach for the Yankees since November of 2019 before joining the Mets this offseason as the new skipper. It’s not out of the ordinary for players from one New York team to go to the next. With Mendoza able to speak up on behalf of some of those players, it might even be more expected than usual.

It’s these three former Yankees who could make the most sense to reunite with Mendy in Queens.

1) Jordan Montgomery

After Yoshinobu Yamamoto, no free agent pitcher may make more sense for the Mets than Jordan Montgomery. Because he was traded at the deadline, he was ineligible for the qualifying offer. This should have more teams putting him high on their priority list this offseason as there is no punishment for inking him to a deal.

Montgomery’s time with the Yankees spanned from 2017 through mid-2022 when they shocked us all by trading him to the St. Louis Cardinals for Harrison Bader. While Bader could certainly be considered for a list like this, he was left off in favor of two others. Signing a free agent center fielder shouldn’t be a priority for the Mets. Montgomery, meanwhile, seems to fit in much better for what the Mets are ready to do.

Through parts of seven big league seasons that include a lot of missed time early on, Montgomery has gone 38-34 with a 3.68 ERA. Next year is his age 31 season which back in the day would have had a few of us scared. Not anymore. We know better. Pitchers sometimes take until they reach their quarter-life crisis to start performing at their best.

Montgomery never quite got his chance to be excellent with the Yankees because of the time he missed in 2018 and 2019. However, since returning from Tommy John Surgery, he has been a high-performing starter bound to continue on the path he’s currently on. He posted a 3.48 ERA in 2022 and a 3.20 ERA in 2023.

Most intriguing is how Montgomery got better post-trade deadline and led two teams to the playoffs. This past year it was the Texas Rangers who were rewarded for adding him. His best performance of all came in the ALCS where he won a pair of games versus the Houston Astros while allowing only 2 earned runs in 14 innings of work.

2) Luis Severino

There is much less to gush about with Luis Severino as there is with Montgomery. Nevertheless, his name seems to keep getting brought up as a potential option for the Mets rotation. He turns 30 early next year with some big questions about his health and whether or not he can get back to the All-Star level he was at in 2018.

Severino tossed only 18 innings from 2019-2021 and returned to form in 2022 albeit in only 19 starts. The 2022 season seemed like a promising bouncing off point for him to answer any questions in a positive way. Unfortunately, staying healthy and productive wasn’t in the plans for 2023.

The ex-Yankees pitcher is coming off of a miserable 4-8, 6.65 ERA performance. He made 18 starts and a relief appearance in a year in which nothing seemed to go right.

Why would the Mets want him? As a fifth starter rebound candidate, we can make some sense of it. I’d personally stay away simply because there are better players fitting this description for the Mets to seek. The connection to Mendoza could make him a more likely option, though. David Stearns is the one calling the shots and yet he’d be doing his job half-heartedly if he isn’t consulting the manager.