Mets first base coach Antoan Richardson will not return to the team in 2026, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. His contract is set to expire at the end of the month, and the two parties haven’t been able to come to terms on a new deal. SNY’s Andy Martino adds that the Mets very much wanted Richardson back on staff and made a strong effort to keep him. Martino further speculates that Richardson could well be eyeing another opportunity or two elsewhere in the league.
Richardson, who turned 42 last month, has been the Mets’ first base coach since 2024. He held the same role with the Giants from 2020-23 and was previously San Francisco’s minor league field coordinator and minor league outfield coordinator. Richardson, a former pro outfielder who appeared in a handful of major league games between the 2011 Braves and 2014 Yankees, also worked as an outfield and baserunning instructor while serving as the first base coach with both the Giants and Mets.
With one-third of the league set to head into 2026 with a new manager than the one they had in place on Opening Day 2025, Richardson ought to have plenty of opportunities to latch on with a new club. The Pirates (Don Kelly), Orioles (Craig Albernaz), Angels (Kurt Suzuki), Giants (Tony Vitello) and Rangers (Skip Schumaker) all have new full-time skippers in place. The Twins, Padres, Braves, Rockies and Nationals are still on the hunt for new managers. All of those newly installed managers will subsequently interview candidates to fill out their respective staffs.
The Mets aren’t making a change at manager, but there’s plenty of turnover on the coaching staff. Hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes have already been replaced by former Astros hitting coach Troy Snitker (son of longtime Braves manager Brian Snitker, who retired at season’s end) and Jeff Albert, who’d previously been the Mets’ in-house director of hitting development. Bench coach John Gibbons has been swapped out for former Guardians field coordinator Kai Correa. Assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel left after one season to go back to the Yankees, where he’d previously coached. Catching coach Glenn Sherlock retired.
Richardson’s departure is the latest in a broad-reaching slate of changes and creates yet another vacancy to be filled by manager Carlos Mendoza and president of baseball operations David Stearns.