Yankees’ Aaron Boone to SNY on new Mets manager Carlos Mendoza: 'He’s the complete package'

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Aaron Boone was rooting for Carlos Mendoza to get a managerial job, because that’s what friends do. But he was also clear about what he was losing in a bench coach -- and a co-worker so close to him that he calls Mendoza a “brother.”

“He is the complete package, man,” Boone told SNY in a telephone interview Monday evening.

My question was: What can you tell Mets fans about what they are getting in Mendoza, a relatively unknown name?

There are compliments, and there are full-throated, deeply-felt endorsements. Boone heaped heavy praise on his now-former bench coach, who later this week will finalize a contract to manage the Mets.

“He’s the real deal,” Boone said. “He’s smart, tough, prepared, and works his butt off. And a very loyal person. He has a great family. And I can count on him, always.

“He has grown in the job. He has earned this opportunity. Smelling the winds over the last month, I thought he was going to get one of these jobs because people were seeing what I have seen.

“The only thing people can say is that he doesn’t have the experience. But he has managed in the minors. He has been a bench coach. He has managed in the minors. He has done winter ball. He has more than paid his dues.”

I asked Boone about a rumor I’d heard that Mendoza was not afraid to push back on front office staffers and analysts when he disagreed with their ideas.

“He is very strong, very confident,” Boone said. “But also very open-minded and in tune with everything in the game. Dealing with players. He’s not afraid to debate, talk. He has the ability to push back on anything, but he knows he doesn’t know everything.”

The next question: What are the Yankees losing?

“I’m losing all of that,” Boone said. “A great baseball man and a great friend. We can complete each other’s sentences. We communicate really well together on the bench. Not that we always agree, but we communicate so effectively. I’m losing somebody who I completely trust. We have experienced a lot together and he has become like a brother to me.”

And now you have to try to beat him?

“We share a city,” Boone said. “And hopefully we will meet in October.”

Meanwhile at the GM meetings, high-level Yankee staffers, like Boone, carried two separate thoughts: Happy for Mendoza, and sad to lose him.

“He is a baseball lifer,” said Kevin Reese, who runs player development. “He is very knowledgeable about the game as the game has changed. He is not afraid to hold people accountable. That's probably one of the keys to being a good manager is that he has that in him. He's gonna set a standard. That’s something he did under [long term player development executive] Mark Newman in player development with the Yankees and then kept it with him as we went on.

“He has been a big part of what we've been doing the last couple of years. He’s been around. He has coached in winter ball and all over the place. I think that experience, that demeanor, and accountability will bode well for him.”

Another Yankees official put it more succinctly.

“F---,” he said. “That's a big loss.”