The first time Andy Green managed in the major leagues, a decade ago, his team took four games to score a run. The San Diego Padres of that era were dreadful and dull, barely a blip on the baseball consciousness.The 2026 New York Mets are nothing like that. Well, maybe they’re bad — a half-season of evidence says so — but their roster commands attention.For Green, that was the allure of managing the team for the rest of this season after Friday’s firing of Carlos Mendoza. Green will resume his job as the Mets’ farm director after this season; but spend a summer filling a lineup card with names like Juan Soto, Bo Bichette and Francisco Lindor? That’s big league.“It’s an awesome opportunity to be around greatness,” Green said on Friday, in his first news conference at Citi Field. “There’s greatness in that clubhouse, and how many times in your life do you get to be really a part of something great?“I know it hasn’t been great, but the individual component pieces in there have that inside of them. And for anybody who’s loved competition in their life, that’s what you’re after.”Green listed Soto, Bichette and Lindor, in that order, as part of his inaugural Mets lineup against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday. Just before them, though, was Carson Benge, a rookie who had thrived as the leadoff man for a month and a half. Benge smoked a leadoff single, but that was about as good as it got; the Mets lost, 2-1.If the Mets are going to become the steady, consistent winners under David Stearns, their embattled president of baseball operations, they need more development successes like Benge. That is what really gets Green going.“To see A.J. Ewing as a kid in A-ball make his way across the boards, it’s freaking fun,” Green said. “It’s life-giving if you love what you get a chance to do. And then you watch Carson Benge tear across, and you fall in love with the way Nolan McLean competes. You get to fall in love with some people before the city gets to fall in love.”The Mets' troubles don't solely belong to former manager Carlos MendozaNew York loves winners, wherever the players come from. The Knicks drafted none of their starters, and somehow they seem pretty popular. The pieces just have to mesh, which tends to happen more naturally when the team supplements a homegrown core with high-priced talent — not the other way around.Green is right about these Mets: the individual component pieces have greatness inside. Soto and Lindor are on track for the Hall of Fame. Bichette is a born hitter (.290 career average) whose World Series homer last fall — off Shohei Ohtani in Game 7 — nearly carried the Toronto Blue Jays to a title.