Mike Francesa returns to his podcast after unexplained absence

Mike Francesa confirmed on Monday that he is not dead.

The former WFAN host laughingly responded to internet rumors that had popped up during an unexplained two-week absence from his "The Mike Francesa Podcast."

Francesa, who revealed that his absence was due to knee replacement surgery, said the rumors he was told about went "all the way to me being very sick to me dying. Guys were sending me things, I'm dying. I'm like, 'Hey, I had a good run. I had a nice life. I can't complain, really. I've been luckier than almost all of them.' So it got crazy."

Francesa, 72, then went on to recap the two weeks of sports he missed.

"Obviously, you can't bury the headline, which is the Mets," he said. "Frankly, it was tough staying away, even though I was not in shape to be on video, to be honest with you, when I first got the surgery . . . My wife wouldn't let me go on."

On the Mets, he said: "This is where [Steve] Cohen, who wanted to come here, who obviously has made a king's ransom on Wall Street, had made money that people can't even dream of. He wanted to be a big player. He wanted to be the big guy in town. He also wanted his hotel and his casino . . . He's proved how much money he knows how to make. What he [has[ proved is he doesn't know how to build a baseball team.

The Yankees, Francesa said, are on track "to own the summer here. If the Mets don't play their cards right, the Yankees will be playing in front of full houses every day in August and you'll be having archery practice at Citi Field."

Francesa went on to say that Cohen should have fired manager Carlos Mendoza during Monday's day off.

"You as an owner, unless you are completely clueless or completely gutless, you have to make a change," he said. "I'm not trying to do anything. All I'm doing is putting Mendoza out of his misery. It's over for him."

He also said president of baseball operations David Stearns has been "dreadful" and called on Cohen to hire Alex Cora, who was just fired by the Red Sox, and have his "George moment," as in Steinbrenner.

"You have a chance," Francesa said, "to hire in his prime as his manager -- he's 50 years of age -- one of the top managers in all of baseball . . . It's cab fare for Cohen. Go get your manager. They dropped him from the heavens . . . This is about the owner. This is owner time in this town. And that's what Cohen obviously doesn't understand about this town."

At the end of his podcast, Francesa said: "I will close where I opened: First, it's good to be back. My demise was greatly exaggerated, thankfully."

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.