Steve Sica- "You Maniacs! You blew it up!"

If George Taylor’s character in Planet of the Apes was a Mets fan and saw everything that’s happened in the last week, I can picture him dropping to his knees and screaming that iconic line in the middle of Citi Field.

The Mets did indeed “blow it up” as in their core group of players, in less than a month, three of the more popular and iconic Met players of the 2020s will call somewhere else home in 2026. Losing both Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso in the span of about 24 hours was especially tough to swallow. Baseball is a business; players come and go. This was a franchise that traded away Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, and future MVP Kevin Mitchell. Mind you, the latter two were very hindsight 20/20 trades. 

Still, though, in an era where players often don’t stay on one team their whole career, you got the sense that Brandon Nimmo would’ve been that guy for the Mets. At the same time, Pete Alonso leaving after just setting the franchise record for home runs a mere four months ago is another gut punch for this fanbase. When it came out that the Mets didn’t even make Alonso an offer, it seemed like a slap in the face to him and to the fans who have rooted for the Polar Bear since his sensational rookie season back in 2019.

Pete loved being a Met, loved playing at Citi Field, and of course coined the phrase “LFGM.” It’ll be downright bizarre seeing him in an Orioles uniform when the 2026 season gets going. Edwin Diaz felt a bit more expected that he’d be gone. Once the Mets signed Devin Williams to a multiyear deal, the writing was on the wall. Like Alonso, Diaz began his Met tenure in 2019, but that’s where the similarities end. Diaz had a horrific 2019, and by late that summer, lost the closer role altogether. He righted the ship a bit in 2020 and 2021, but it wasn’t until 2022 that the Mets began to turn the page on Diaz. 

With Timmy Trumpets blaring and arguably the best bullpen walkout environment in baseball, Diaz endeared himself to the New York fans like so many have before him by winning with style. In 2024, the two most significant moments of that season were Alonso’s Wild Card go-ahead home run in game three in Milwaukee and Diaz striking out Kyle Schwarber in the NLDS to give the Mets their first-ever series-clinching victory at Citi Field. Both those players will be gone for the 2026 Home Opener.

If you’ve been on social media this week, you’ll see it’s littered with fans denouncing their Met fandom, threatening to boycott Citi Field, and ready to bury the Mets management alive. Taking a moment to calm things down and playing devil's advocate to all that. On paper, these departures may seem rough, but let’s examine the history that this core has shared together. In five years, the Mets have had one deep playoff run, no pennants, no World Series titles, more disappointing and underachieving than successful. 2025 was the final straw. You can’t have a payroll second to the Dodgers and miss the playoffs altogether while watching LA win another championship.

Heads needed to roll after the collapse the Mets had to end this past season. Are these the right heads? Who knows? But the core needed to be shaken up. David Stearns clearly wants to put his stamp on this team. The farm system is one of the best in baseball. Steve Cohen still has seemingly infinite money to spend, especially with the casino deal coming in earlier this month. These moves hurt right now, but the Mets may need to tear it down to build it back up better.

All I’m saying is that before you shred your season tickets, burn your Met jerseys, and cancel your subscription to SNY, there's still a lot of offseason to go. A free agent acquisition like Kyle Tucker would jolt this offense back to being one of the best in the National League. The farm system is loaded with potential impact hitters and pitchers. I know, you’ve heard that line before, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll pan out, but it's certainly the brightest the Met future has looked in at least a decade. 

There are exactly 100 days until Opening Day. Still time to reshape this roster, and I’m reminded of what Steve Cohen said when he first bought the Mets. He wants sustained success, not just catching lightning in the bottle. He has yet to achieve it. The Mets still haven’t been in back-to-back postseasons since the days of Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson back in 2015-16. They haven’t won a division in over a decade, and in the Steve Cohen era, they’ve won just two playoff series.’

David Stearns wanted his fingerprints all over this Met team. He’s got it. Now the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The Stearns era has unofficially begun (it technically started two years ago). Let’s see how it goes down in history.