Mets interim manager Andy Green focused on building relationships on the fly
Mets interim Manager Andy Green looks on against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Mets’ 6-2 win over the Phillies on Saturday at Citi Field marked only the second game of Andy Green’s tenure as the Mets’ interim manager — and his first victory.
Green is adapting to the flow of being a manager again, especially considering he spent the first half of this season in the front office, not the dugout with Carlos Mendoza. For now, his emphasis is on relationship-building rather than cramming in studying for the Phillies.
“I’m investing in the people in that clubhouse who I need to establish relationships with,” he said before Saturday’s game. “In the middle of a season, it’s not necessarily the easiest thing in the world to do.”
It certainly isn’t.
Fortunately for Green, who will return to the front office after the season, he had some existing relationships with Mets players with whom he worked in the past.
He spent the previous 2 1⁄2 years as the team’s senior vice president of player development, building a rapport with promising young players such as Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing, Nolan McLean and Christian Scott. He spent the four seasons before that as the Cubs’ bench coach, which gave him the opportunity to coach Jared Young. Before that was Green’s only other managerial experience, leading the Padres from 2016-19, when he got to coach Luis Torrens for 58 games — 56 in 2017 and two in 2019 before he was fired that Sept. 21.
Those relationships provided Green some welcome familiarity in his first 48 hours as the Mets’ manager.
“This game is all about relationships,” said Green, who played 136 games for the Diamondbacks from 2004-06 and four for the Mets in 2009. “It’s about respect and relationships, and some you have the opportunity to develop over years in the game. Had Torrens when he was out of A-ball as a major league Rule 5 pick. To see his kind of maturation process, it’s been a lot of fun.”
“And then there’s the opportunity to compete against guys that you grow to respect. I’ve been in the other dugout and watched enough Juan Soto home runs fly over the fence and competed against Marcus Semien and [Francisco] Lindor. And even if I haven’t been in the dugout with them, I think there’s just a level of respect for sharing the field together. So all of those things help with relationships or what everything is built upon.”
The Mets (35-48) snapped a seven-game losing streak Saturday. They trailed 2-0 entering the sixth but scored four runs and never surrendered their lead. Lindor roped a two-run triple down the rightfield line to tie it at 2, and after back-to-back walks by Young and Mark Vientos, Ewing hit a two-run single up the middle to give the Mets a 4-2 lead.
The Mets extended the lead to 6-2 in the seventh on Soto’s RBI triple into the right-centerfield gap and Bo Bichette’s sacrifice fly.
“Wins are fun,” Green said after recording his first victory as a manager since Sept. 18, 2019. “It’s not about me in that situation. It’s about the team. And winning as a group is fun, and playing whatever part you play in that, that’s fun.
“So I think a lot of guys did a lot of really good things today. It was a cool team win where you can just talk about a bunch of different guys, and those are fun games.”
Scott, making his first start in 16 days after returning from a right hip impingement, went 4 1⁄3 innings, allowing two runs (a two-run homer by Bryce Harper in the third), three hits and two walks and striking out six. A.J. Minter, Huascar Brazoban, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams combined for 4 2⁄3 scoreless innings in relief, allowing only two hits. Weaver has pitched 23 consecutive scoreless innings.
Green said Young, who has six homers in 27 games since returning from a left meniscus tear, is “locking down the lion’s share” of playing time at first base. Green mentioned his time coaching Young in Chicago and said he has “always believed the bat is real.”
“It’s fun for the rest of the world to get the opportunity to see that,” he added. “He’s a tremendous teammate, cares about winning, smiles through adversity, continues to work. He’s the kind of guy you just love having on a baseball team.”
Young played only 22 games for the Cubs, six in 2022 and 16 in 2023, but recalled Green being a “great” bench coach and “very personable.”
Those 22 games were the first 22 games of Young’s MLB career. Young was impressionable, and Green had an impact.
“I think the biggest thing that stood out was the amount of time he would take to chat with you, ask you questions,” Young said. “Like ask me questions about how I’m feeling and certain things, and then answer any questions I had. That was kind of the one thing I took away from him was just how you could approach him and talk to him about certain things.”
Ewing told Newsday that he and Green have a “great relationship.” Green, who was hired by the Mets on Nov. 30, 2023, just over 20 weeks after the Mets drafted Ewing in the fourth round, would make in-person visits to the Mets’ affiliates.
“He’s a guy that has kept it 100% with me throughout this entire process of being here, and even now,” Ewing said.
What makes him the right voice for the Mets the rest of the way?
“I think his demeanor and his knowledge of baseball,” Young said. “I think what he came in and said to us right away really resonated with the guys, and kind of just the way he went about it was good.”
Green noted that while there was a lot to process, things felt normal once the game started Friday night.
He said: “Baseball is baseball once you get it going.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
