Luis Rojas admitted to WFAN's Carton & Roberts that he was not made aware of the Mets' decision to fire hitting coaches Chili Davis and Tom Slater until just before Monday's game, which was a few hours before the moves were made after a loss to St. Louis.
"Our acting GM (Zack Scott) came to the field and told me there was going to be a change after the game," Rojas said. "I'm really not going to go in-depth on the conversations, but it was an organizational decision, and right now what's important is that the guys are working and getting ready. As tough as the news was for the clubhouse because we are a family, you shift gears and get ready to play ball."
Of course, Craig and Evan had to ask if the phenomenon of Donnie "Diesel" Stevenson, which became a thing over the weekend, had anything to do with it.
"No, not at all. You guys know how Pete is. This is all happening in really good fun to get the guys fired up, and I think it's great, but it has nothing to do with it," Rojas said. "I don't think anyone has that mentality right now. It's still going around the way it was intended from day one."
The more questionable thing about it to Craig, however, was that reports leaked that Sandy Alderson had made the decision to fire the coaches a week ago, but Rojas wasn't aware until the day of – and he wondered if it made the skipper wary of his own security.
"My focus is this group of guys and the games we have to play; you just have to move forward, shift gears to playing and winning games," Rojas said. "I'm not (worried about job security); I'm focused on putting these guys in the best position to succeed, and to focus on other things like that would be irresponsible to me."
Craig also thought it was a "weird dynamic" that Rojas had to manage the game knowing two of his coaches were lame ducks, but Rojas downplayed that, too.
"First of all, I have no information about them knowing a week out. I was aware of it Monday, and this is an organizational decision, and that's how it happened," Rojas said. "I'm part of the organization, and they told me before the game. It was tough, but we went through the game."
So, in better news: what can Mets fans expect under the regime of new hitting coach Hugh Quattlebaum?
"Hugh has talked about having a general approach. Each guy has a profile of what their swing is and what they can create, and they work within that, but as a general approach, he wants guys to be disciplined in the zone," Rojas said. "We lead the league in chase, so he wants that to be a point of focus."
And Rojas is confident the team can get there.
"You guys have seen this core of hitters and what they can do the last couple years. We lacked hitting with runners in scoring position, but these guys have a good approach and they hit," Rojas said. "We've had a better approach the last couple days, and they're going to come through."
Listen to Rojas' entire appearance on Carton & Roberts and Craig & Evan's post-call discussion below!
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
