David Stearns is going into a market that feels bad about how the season went. The money they spent. Their building of the farm system, which has been slow, and the firing of Buck Showalter and retaining of general manager Billy Eppler. So, it wasn’t a complete housecleaning.
Stearns is a smart guy. I’ve asked around, and Brewers fans like his trades. Most Mets fans haven’t liked Billy Eppler’s trades, so that will be an upgrade.
Saying he “expects” Pete Alonso to be at first base on Opening Day is a far cry from saying when or if there would be meaningful negotiations for a new contract, so he didn’t diffuse that at all. I still have a feeling that Alonso wants to test free agency, and it will be up to the Mets to trade him or take a chance he comes back sometime after next season.
The managerial search will begin, and they want to upgrade management in the organization. Okay, but most of those results won’t be felt for years to come. And mentioning how good John Ricco is didn’t sit well with me since he had the famous Jason Bay home run chart, and I knew that was unrealistic when he rolled that out to the fanbase.
Steven Cohen waited on Stearns, and let’s hope he comes through as Frank Cashen did when the Mets last won in 1986. Baseball is more competitive and difficult to have that kind of turnaround quickly, one that gets you a championship, so I expect next year to be a re-tooling year with a few new faces to market but no real chance to challenge for a championship or even divisional championship. Sorry, the Mets have too many holes, and the guy who is largely responsible is still in the organization.
The Mets are picking 17th in the next draft. They dropped 10 spots because they had too many wins. Two more than they needed or wanted, so even trying to do that failed on some level.
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The Nationals were just a notch below the Mets. The Pirates were better. I need to point this out because some Mets fans think, “It’s okay. We will be in the playoffs next year because we have money”. Even Stearns says having those resources doesn’t guarantee anything.
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As the Mets’ first President of Baseball Operations, Stearns gave much less than a “Mark Messier Guarantee”. They want to win and will try their best. That’s the baseline. That’s expected in New York. Cohen is a big key here. He is going to have to keep learning about the business to oversee some of this. Stearns is the baseball boss, but he is #1.
It’s great that Stearns is a Mets fan from way back. But it has no bearing on the job he will do. He now needs to overhaul the front office, some of the scouting, players, and get a new manager. This is a much bigger job than people think, and that’s why you shouldn’t expect instant results.
The first thing is don’t trade for Juan Soto or this “sustainability” they keep pushing will be compromised. Honestly, I think this could take 2-to 3 years to be a “contender” and not just a one-and-done playoff team next year.
If they miss the playoffs for two seasons to become that team. I would be fine with that, but I suspect a lot of Mets fans would be against that.
Mets absolutely were awful this year!