The New York Mets coaching staff underwent several major changes. Among them was the decision by bench coach John Gibbons to resign. Unlike others who were fired or didn’t have their contracts renewed, Gibbons obliged by amicably walking away from the Mets.
It doesn’t sound like he’s about to retire, otherwise it would have been made clear. With vacancies already out there and more coming, Gibbons is a candidate to join a couple of different organizations in a variety of roles. Included is the Braves coaching staff where there’s a managerial vacancy.
Gibbons, with direct ties to Alex Anthopoulos from their days together with the Toronto Blue Jays, is a name mentioned by Braves beat writer Mark Bowman as a contender for the gig. Alongside some of the usual suspects, Bowman poses Gibbons as a reunion candidate with the President of Baseball Operations down in Atlanta.
John Gibbons seems destined to join the Braves in some capacity
It’s a world of who you know we live in. Gibbons worked as a special assignment scout for the Braves in 2020 under Anthopoulos. Whether it’s as the skipper or bench coach, it’s reasonable to believe Gibbons’ next phase in life has him working with the Braves in some capacity.
In his two seasons as Mets bench coach, Gibbons helped rookie skipper Carlos Mendoza learn with the heat turned up to 100 degrees. His exact impact will be impossible to tell. Upon leaving, he had praise for Mendoza.
Gibbons had some of those same kind words to say about the Mets skipper last year when in mid-September he believed Mendy was a serious Manager of the Year candidate. Mendoza didn’t win the award. For his sake, it might be for the best. Buck Showalter lost his job a year after winning it with the Mets in 2022.
“I can’t praise him enough for what he’s done here. I think he should be the Manager of the Year in the National League”
John Gibbons talks about the job Carlos Mendoza has done as Mets manager pic.twitter.com/80MvXUD4VY
— SNY (@SNYtv) September 9, 2024
The Mets have yet to hire a new bench coach. Unlike the Braves, it’ll be tough to make any connections to Stearns to find any easy choices. Throughout his Milwaukee tenure, it was Craig Counsell and current Brewers manager Pat Murphy as the bench coach.
If you’re the Braves, you have little reason to not hire Gibbons if he’s interested in working. Steal whatever secrets you can. The Mets can counter by hiring Ron Washington.
