NEW YORK, NY — David Stearns had select members of the media over for lunch at Citi Field Tuesday afternoon, I am not one of them and that doesn’t matter. What mattered was Stearns needed to send a message to a disgruntled fan base and used that forum.
He cleaned the clubhouse. Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, Edwin Díaz, elsewhere, though run prevention has been a major emphasis to Stearns. A bullpen that failed last season is in the process of a revamp. Stearns acquired Marcus Semien, Jorge Polanco, Devin Williams and Luke Weaver moved across town from the Yankees as part of the bullpen revamp.
Stearns, President of Baseball Operations has authority to revamp. Owner Steve Cohen approves with all the finances to purchase more than a soon to be constructed hotel-casino across the street from Citi Field. And reports are the Mets made an offer to Kyle Tucker (a $50 million per year deal) for the sought after free agent.
Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Mets fans are looking for Tucker which surmounts to a short term deal. He fills an outfield spot, and is a good fit in the lineup with Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. The 29-year old Tucker though is not Alonso. 45 home runs won’t come off his bat, but he’s a great player that has progressed. That’s run prevention he provides in the outfield and obviously Nimmo to Stearns was not the answer.
Again, as I stated this is New York and not the smaller market Milwaukee Brewers that Stearns built to win. And a fan base not content with letting homegrown and popular players leave town.
Instead it’s about fans looking at Cohen spending his money, that was his message when inheriting the Mets five years ago and vouched for a World Series championship.
Steve Cohen during the Mets’ 2024 NLDS clinching celebration at Citi Field – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
So Stearns sent his message, stating “We have to be better at keeping runs off the board, When I talked to either coaches at other teams or managers at other teams or executives at other teams in the weeks and months after our season and I asked them.”
‘Hey, what do you have on us? What did you think of our team? Almost all of them the first thing out of their mouths was ‘your defense wasn’t enough.’”
And neither was the starting pitching enough, a consensus I received from various scouts who watched the Mets season go down the drain that contributed to fan favorite players departing. Run prevention is part of the cause. Clubhouse dissension has been reported among players, something I am sure Soto witnessed and he was convinced when he signed that 15-year/$765 million contract that the Mets were a family.
In year one of Juan Soto in Queens, the Mets failed to make the postseason via a tie-breaker with the Cincinnati Reds – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Stearns did not address any dissension, though it is known that Lindor and Soto were not on the same page which possibly contributed to the Mets not being a family, in contrast to 2024 and a different clubhouse in 2025. Though many times at Citi Field it was evident that something was different, hardly were Lindor and Soto seen together in the clubhouse or taking swings together during batting practice.
That’s another part of this because we may never know, media are restricted to certain areas of the clubhouse and availability talking to players is more difficult than it was when I started in this business 43 years ago.
Regardless, the ball is in the hands of Stearns. The Mets need more than Tucker for their lineup and in the outfield with Soto.They need a reliable front line starter for the rotation and run production more than prevention. Still pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie, Florida in four weeks and the clock is ticking.
The clock is ticking for the Mets to revamp their roster construction with pitchers and catchers reporting in less than four weeks – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
In regard to Cody Bellinger crossing town, the Mets are reportedly more inclined to take on Tucker. The name Framber Valdez or trading for Brewers’ Freddy Peralta have been on the radar and either would be a boost to the rotation. And 22-year outfielder Carson Benge, their No. 2 prospect, will get a look towards a possible roster spot.
Again, though, a fan base that has not been content. Their contention is Stearns moving the Mets in the wrong direction. You got the feeling he was doing it his way when manager Buck Showalter was not in the plan. Yet, Showalter, perhaps with a different philosophy, had the Mets in a proper direction.
“We are committed universally from ownership on down to ensure that the next five years of the Mets are better,” said Stearns. “And that we win more games and meet the expectations the lofty expectations that we all have for ourselves than what we have done previously.”
Under the Steve Cohen era, the Mets have appeared in the postseason only twice and it was by virtue of the NL Wild Card (2022 & 2024) – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Stearns is not being hard enough on himself, yet expectations for the Mets is a major piece of their equation and partly attributed to payroll pieces of Lindor and Soto. They failed last season and Stearns firmly believes there is a team constructed to win and better expectations of last season.
“What we’ve done previously has not been good enough,” he said.
He got that right. The fans know it hasn’t been right, they want a winner that Cohen said he would deliver.
Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and columnist at LatinoSports.com – X: @Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
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