John Gibbons isn’t returning to the Big Apple next season.
The former Toronto Blue Jays skipper officially resigned from the New York Mets on Friday, vacating his bench coach position following two seasons with the franchise. The move was part of wide-sweeping personnel changes to the club’s coaching staff, with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and hitting coaches Jeremy Barnes and Eric Chavez also departing.
It’s an unsurprising announcement after the Mets’ second-half collapse saw them miss the post-season on the final day of the regular season. The Cincinnati Reds — eliminated in the wild-card round by the Los Angeles Dodgers — finished with an identical 83-79 record, but leapfrogged over them for the final playoff seed by controlling the head-to-head tiebreaker.
We have made the following changes to our coaching staff. pic.twitter.com/piOk34hsGZ
— New York Mets (@Mets) October 3, 2025
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Despite these departures, manager Carlos Mendoza is expected to return for a third season with the Mets in 2026.
Gibbons, meanwhile, doesn’t appear to be riding off into the sunset just yet. According to SNY’s Andy Martino, the 63-year-old isn’t planning to retire and could return to the dugout with another team as early as next season.
And perhaps that could reunite him with his former boss in Toronto — now-Atlanta Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos. The organization is one of many teams needing to fill its managerial vacancy after Brian Snitker — who had served as the club’s skipper for the past 10 seasons, winning a World Series title in 2021 — announced his retirement last month.
Gibbons enjoyed two stints as manager with the Blue Jays, first from 2004-08 and, more notably, from 2013-18 — both times hired by Anthopoulos. He led the organization to consecutive post-season appearances in ’15 and ’16, advancing to the American League championship series in both years — a feat this season’s club hopes to accomplish.
While other candidates will certainly be considered, few, if any, will have shared as much history together as those two do.