MACK – Hot Arms – Juan Arnaud, Esteban Mejia, Omar Victorino

 

Lowest ERA

 

Period:  6/15-6/28

 

Juan Arnaud/Brooklyn – 0.75-WHIP, 12.2-IP, 8-K, 1-BB, 0-ER, 0.00

Juan Arnaud is a right-handed relief pitcher in the New York Mets minor league system (primarily with the Brooklyn Cyclones at High-A as of 2026). He was signed by the Mets as an international free agent from the Dominican Republic (Cotui) in January 2021.

He is listed at 6'2", 164 lbs, born June 22, 2003 (age 23 in 2026).

Arnaud is a bullpen arm who has mostly relieved (very few starts).

2025: Stronger year overall (6-4, 3.40 ERA in 35 G across A and A+), with a standout 2.45 ERA in 29 G at Single-A St. Lucie (including FSL Pitcher of the Week honors). He struggled in a brief A+ stint.

Career minors (through 2026): Around 18-9, ~4.08 ERA in 125+ games, solid strikeout rates (often 10+ K/9 in better seasons) but some control and home run issues early on.

He has improved his command and consistency as he has climbed levels, with low home run rates in stronger seasons. He has also pitched in the Dominican Winter League.

Repertoire

As a reliever, Arnaud relies primarily on a fastball (sitting in the mid-90s, up to 94-96 mph) and a slider. Scouting notes/projected grades (from one simulation-style report) list his fastball around 50/55 potential and slider 45/55, with lower grades on a sinker and cutter. He is described as a flyball pitcher with developing stuff.

His fastball velocity and the breaking action on the slider give him swing-and-miss potential, especially in shorter relief outings. He has shown the ability to miss bats (e.g., striking out 6 in a 2-inning save).

Outlook

Arnaud is a depth relief prospect with a chance to move up as a high-leverage minor league reliever or potential MLB bullpen piece if he refines command and adds consistency against better hitters.

 

Esteban Mejia/DSL Blue – 1.33-WHIP, 3-IP, 1-K, 1-BB, 0-ER, 0.00

Esteban Mejia is a 17-year-old right-handed pitching prospect (born May 20, 2009, in Peravia, Dominican Republic) who was signed by the New York Mets as an international free agent on June 2, 2026.

He is listed at 6'1" / 186 lbs and throws right-handed.

He was assigned to the DSL Mets Blue (Dominican Summer League) and activated shortly after signing.

Mejia is one of the Mets' lower-profile 2026 international signings. The Mets have invested heavily in the international market (headlined by bigger bonuses for position players like shortstops), but they continue to add pitching depth from the Dominican Republic. At this stage, he is a raw, teenage arm with projection remaining.

Keep an eye on him in the DSL for the rest of 2026. If he shows strikeout ability or velocity like many young Dominican arms, he could rise in the Mets' system.

 

Omar Victorino/FCL Mets – 1.50-WHIP, 3,1-IP, 2-K, 1-BB, 0-ER, 0.00

Omar Victorino is a right-handed pitching prospect in the New York Mets organization (born June 9, 2005, in Villa Altagracia, Dominican Republic; age 21 as of 2026).

He stands 6'2" and weighs around 170 lbs.

The Mets signed him as an international free agent (UDFA) in January 2022 for a $50,000 bonus.

He has spent most of his pro career in the lower minors, primarily the Dominican Summer League (DSL), Florida Complex League (FCL), and some time with Single-A St. Lucie (FSL). He has shown flashes of promise but remains a developmental arm with command and consistency challenges.

2025 (best full season): 4-2, 3.97 ERA across FCL (2-2, 3.86 ERA in 39.2 IP) and St. Lucie (2-0, 4.15 ERA in 26 IP). Solid strike-throwing with improved control.

He profiles as a potential bullpen piece or back-end starter if he refines his command. Durability has been decent, but he has had rough transitions to full-season ball.

Repertoire

Limited public scouting details are available, but reports from his early U.S. debut (2023 FCL) note:

Fastball: Reaches 95 mph (sits in the low-to-mid 90s range based on early reports). He has some velocity projection with his frame.

Slider: Described as a "big" or "sweeping" slider with good movement—his key swing-and-miss pitch early on.

One simulation/scouting-style report lists a potential four-pitch mix with room to grow: Fastball (current ~40 grade, potential 55), Slider (35/55), Changeup (30/55), and a developing Curveball (20/30). Velocity in the 93-95 mph range is noted, with a suggested bullpen/groundball role.

He has generated strikeouts (around 9+ K/9 in some seasons) but walks too many (high BB/9, especially in A-ball). The slider appears to be his main weapon to complement the fastball.

Overall Outlook:

Victorino is a low-level depth arm with intriguing arm talent and a projectable frame. 2025 showed progress in the FCL.

Paul Articulates - The pen is mightier

An old English author named Edward Bulwer-Lytton once said, “The pen is mightier than the sword”.  He may have been right, and if he were still alive now, he may also have surmised, “The Mets pen is mightier than any other aspect of the team”.

This agonizing year of baseball that is playing out in Queens has very few bright spots, but among the brightest is the performance of the bullpen.  This is truly an amazing accomplishment, because the other side of the pitching staff, the starters, has been downright awful.  This has put tremendous stress on the bullpen to survive the hefty innings load, but the five guys on the back end of the Mets relief corps have been great.

Okay, forget what Brazoban did yesterday.  That was a mental failing that will surely become a lesson learned based upon his reaction.

Otherwise, the Mets had the third best bullpen ERA in MLB heading into yesterday’s game at 3.42.  This is mostly due to the following five arms:

Huascar Brazoban – 35IP; 22H; 10ER; 35K

AJ Minter – 15 IP; 8 H; 1 ER; 1 BB; 11K

Brooks Raley – 32 IP; 26 H; 8 ER; 12 BB; 35K

Luke Weaver – 37 IP; 20 H; 8 ER; 9 BB; 41K

Devin Williams – 29 IP; 29 H; 14 ER; 16 BB; 43K

I mention these five by name here as a petition to David Stearns: please do not entertain trading any of these five at the deadline, even though the offers may be sweet.  There are very few other players that I would care to protect, but these five would offer stability to any future team that might be constructed to play competitive baseball in MLB.

There are lots of high salaries that can be dumped, and of these five pen stars, only Devin Williams (3 yrs/51M 2026-2028) makes more than 11M/yr.  That is very reasonable, controllable spending that adds considerable value when you look at what they can mean to any team with capable starters and a lineup that can score a few runs every game.

Please don’t trade them.  You can give away any of our infielders, you can give away the entire bench, you can even unload that generational talent that has not been a key factor in many Mets wins despite putting up all-star numbers.  Just keep the two youngsters in the outfield, the two young starters McLean and Scott, and the five in the back of the pen.  Sell the rest for building blocks.  Return us to watchable baseball.

I am sure that there are readers that would take issue with the number of players on the current roster that I just left on the sale rack, and there may be arguments for any of their individual talents, but as a collective group they have failed to sustain any kind of positive momentum.  And that is the point that should be underscored.  Individual players that have individual value but can’t rally the others for the collective good of the baseball team are not keepers.  Their trade value will bring the essential pieces to build something meaningful.  

To be clear, I am not calling for them all to be gone – I just think they all should be made available, and where the deal will get us closer to the competitive team we hoped to have this year, it should be made.  It is not likely that there will be immediate transformation, so the front office should be very clear with the manager and pitching coaches – do not overuse the five back of the pen arms – at all costs.  We cannot afford to have them hurt or even less effective next season when there is opportunity.

Reese Kaplan -- So Who Might Replace Carlos Mendoza in 2027?

With Carlos Mendoza collecting his paycheck for no longer managing the Mets it seems that everyone has ideas about what kind of replacement skipper would make the most sense for the team moving out of its basement dwelling embarrassment.  Some suggest a highly polished veteran manager would make sense as first time candidate Mendoza did not inspire his team to perform productively.  Others feel that a fresh face with vast baseball career experience could make sense even if he did not have any time with the lineup pencil in his hand.  Still others feel light veterans who have 3-5 years of managerial experience could bridge the gap between these two extremes.

If you peruse the various baseball reporting sites you will find a bevy of names proposed for this role.  Some are good, some are puzzling and others are a bit unknown to the casual fan.  Let’s have a look at the 14 prospective interview candidates to see what they have to offer.

Former Minnesota Twins Rocco Baldelli manager is on the radar as well.  As a new skipper for the club Baldelli came from a coaching background that began with Tampa Bay in a variety of roles before becoming the first base coach for them in 2018.  He was interviewed by several clubs and signed to take over the helm for the Twins for the 2019 season.  He took a team that only won 78 games in 2018 to one with 101 wins in 2019, winning Manager of the Year for his effort.  He returned to the post season again in 2023 but then had two subpar years in 2024 and 2025 which led to his termination.  He has had seven years experience as a manager though not all of it was good.

To many Mets fans the return of once-named manager Carlos Beltran to that role again would generate a lot of positive publicity.  Everyone knows what he did for the team on the field and was a star quality player throughout his long career.  The issue here again is lack of experience though the Mets connection could override the normal amount of concern that would typically greet a rookie skipper.

The first really big name on this alphabetical collection of manager wannabes is former Red Sox manager Alex Cora.  He is highly respected throughout baseball and despite being terminated by Craig Breslow, he owns a 620-541 career record that spanned from 2018 through April of this year.  He has a World Series championship on his record, three playoff appearances and an ALCS appearance in 2023.  He is in the midst of a $21.75 million three year deal that pays him for the completed 2025 season, all of 2026 and the 2027 year as well.  If you hire Cora then he would lose out on that 2027 money so that salary would have to be factored into whatever you spend to bring him to the Mets. 

Some figure that current Mets coach Kai Correa will become a major league manager at some point in his future career.  The question is whether or not now is too soon for that to happen after the Mendoza implosion.  Correa started off working with the Cleveland Guardians in a variety of coaching roles and came back to be in charge of the infield there in 2018 after a segment of work at a university.  He then shifted to the San Francisco Giants where he was the infield instructor and third base coach, dubbed as interim manager for the final three games of the 2023 season.  During the 2024 season he returned to Cleveland to be their major league field coordinator who was put in charge of defense, baserunning and strategic game strategy.  His experience at the helm is just that trio of post-Gabe Kapler games.

Another green choice with limited experience is former player and coach Ryan Flaherty.  Though highly regarded, his post playing days resume is fairly limited in relevant experience.  He started off as a development guy and advance scout for the Padres during 2019 and then became an interim manager when on-field skipper Bob Melvin was out with COVID 19.  He became a bench coach for the 2023 season and then moved onto the Cubs where he also served as a bench coach ironically replacing current interim manager Andy Green.

Current manager Andy Green started off his managerial career in the Pioneer and Southern Leagues where he had great success and won Manager of the Year for the latter stint in the latter back in 2013 and 2014.  He moved onto the Diamondbacks for a year as third base coach prior to migrating to San Diego for his first major league management job in 2016.  He remained there until late 2019 when he was fired and he next showed up with the Cubs to be third base coach for manager David Ross.  When Craig Counsell arrived Green resigned and eventually joined up with the Mets to work behind the scenes.  His managerial record is not good at all.

After his playing career ended, Brandon Hyde served in a variety of coaching positions as bench coach and on the corners for the Marlins and Cubs.  The Mets tried unsuccessfully to hire him in 2018 to be a coach and he continued his journey until 2018 when the Baltimore Orioles gave him his first major league managing role.  During his first three years he kept Baltimore in the cellar before finally getting above .500 in 2022.  In 2023 he hit the 101 win mark for the Orioles and he continued in that role for the following year when he was named the AL Manager of the Year, but was cut loose early in 2025 when he got off to another miserable start.  His career record is under .500.

After an unspectacular playing career ended George Lombard Sr. worked in the lower minor leagues as a hitting instructor and manager.  He advanced up to a variety of roles helping coach outfielders and baserunning for Boston.  He then moved to the Dodgers to continue shepherding young ballplayers in their minor league system before being promoted to the big club for the 2016 through 2020 seasons.  He then moved onto the Detroit Tigers to be a bench coach where he still currently works. 

Another fringer player, Omar Lopez left playing ball to return to his native Venezuela to become a coach.  He worked there from 1999 through 2007 as a hitting and infield coach as well as a scout (during which time he advocated drafting Jose Altuve).  From 2008 to 2019 Lopez managed his way up the ladder for the Astros organization.  He spent two years managing the Venezuelan winter league before taking over for two years in AA for the Astros.  He won Manager of the Year in the Texas League.  He’s been a first base and bench coach for the Astros and continues to helm the Venezuelan WBC team.  He might be a nice get since he’s with one of the smarter organizations in the game. 

One of the less well known candidates is coach Jake McKinley.  David Stearns knew him from their previous relationship together in Milwaukee.  He then left professional baseball to become a head coach at the University of Nevada.  The Mariners then brought him back to the pros as a major league field coordinator.  He does not have any professional experience as a manager but a preexisting relationship with Stearns and a low cost figure could theoretically entice him onto the interview list.  He wouldn’t be anyone’s stop choice. 

Another Stearns crony is coach Walker McKinven currently serving as a bench coach for the White Sox.  He has no real managerial experience and his name came as a big surprise from the many scouring the possible answers to the Mets’ “Help Wanted” sign for their managerial vacancy.  He worked with the Brewers as an associate coach for catching, pitching and strategy.  He doesn’t seem to have enough on his post playing days resume to suggest he is in the top tier of candidates.

While everyone knows Albert Pujols from his playing days, considering him as a prospective Mets manager is a bit puzzling.  He does have some limited managerial experience in the Dominican Republic for Leones del Escogido for 2024 and 2025.  He was replaced for 2025/2026 but shifted over to Estrellas Orientales for the 2026/2027 season.  It’s not a deep resume as a manager but no one can dispute his long career in the majors.  His sheer presence would take a lot of pressure off the club for bringing in a Hall of Fame caliber player to take the helm but with so little experience it is not unlike the Carlos Beltran idea but without the Mets historical affiliation. 

Former catcher David Ross was holding the Cubs lineup pencil for four seasons during which he finished in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, compiling a losing record of 262-284.  He is highly respected in the game and has had big city experience in Chicago.  However, his track record is middling and while he has 4 seasons at the helm he’s not really been outstanding other than the COVID shortened 2020 season.  He’s already said he is open and hopeful that the Mets consider him a viable candidate. 

In 2022 David Stearns named former player Rickie Weeks as a member of his player development staff.  He then spent two years as an associate manager before shifting to a more front office type of role in both domestic and international scouting as well as baseball operations.  With no real managerial experience he would be another wildcard that would open up Stearns to even more media hostility for another decision that doesn’t seem well reasoned, but he was a star player with good name recognition.  

MACK - STRIKE NEWS - UPDATE

 

This came out on 7-1-2026 - 

The MLB Player's Union sent a proposal to the owers. 

Highlight's included - 

Expanding MLB active rosters from 26 to 28 (14 pitchers max) for the first 15 days of the season.

Allow for placement of players on the 60-day IL as early as the November non-tender deadline

Reduce the number of in-season optional assignments per player from five to three

Accelerate players' eligibility for the Rule 5 draft and move the Rule 5 draft up to late November in the final season of a CBA.

Provide MLB pay for players who are optioned in September

Provide an extra four days of MLB service time and salary for pitchers who are optioned to the minors within a week of the All-Star break or immediately after a game in which they went three-inning plus innings or threw at least 50 pitches

Enable all players to access club-collected non-proprietary performance date and video.

(overall, the proposal would increase roster size and protect pitchers from demotion for roster manipulation)

Tom Brennan: Remember This When Criticizing Your Pitchers; Martinez Says OH NO!

The Dark Knight, Matt Harvey, ate up pitchers who hit against him

 

There is one thing to remember when you’re criticizing Mets pitchers in 2026:

They are pitching to a DH. In every single game.

And that was a real factor as to why some guys, like a Jake deGrom, did as well as they did, pre-DH.

When Jake won his two Cy Young’s, he got to face pitchers at least a few times a game typically. And those pitchers hitting against Jake were about as automatic an out as you can possibly imagine.

Why imagine it? I looked it up. 

In Jake deGrom‘s two Cy Young years, pitchers facing him in the batter’s box had just seven hits in 96 at bats, with one walk and 68 strikeouts.

Chewed up. Spit out.

Regular hitters in those 2 Cy Young years, meanwhile, hit .210 against him.

Matt Harvey in his dominant 2013 season? 

Pitchers went 4 for 46, no walks, 24 Ks.

So, it is very clear that pitching against pitchers helped Jake and Matt, and others, further suppress opposing teams’ offense.

If, say, a David Peterson in 2026 got to pitch against pitchers like Jake did back in 2018 in 2019, maybe Peterson would’ve done much better this year as a Met.

Something to chew on. 

Cut your pitchers some slack. Not much, but some.

Not to second-guess our friend Ray Savage, but in February, he estimated this level of team offense:

PROJECTED 2026
Name	BA	HRS	RBI
Lindor	0.262	24	82
Soto	0.280	40	106
Bichette	0.310	26	110
Polanco	0.265	26	84
Alvarez	0.260	32	80
Robert	0.240	22	76
Baty	0.275	28	75
Vientos / Benge	0.250	28	95
Semien	0.238	16	52
Others	0.220	6	35
		248	795

Gaudy. 

I replied at the time, “I think some of the starters, other than Soto and Lindor and Bo, will be getting time off, so I think your “others” category is low and some of those listed are too high. It would be great if they scored 800 runs as a team though. That would definitely have us in the running for the playoffs.” So, I still thought high offense was possible, but more spread out, due to my anticipating there would be increased hitter IL time.

We both were clearly drinking from the same psychedelic brew at that time.

Next year, whatever level of Mets runs I estimate for the season myself, I will knock it down 100 runs, called “the Queens Reality Factor.”

After all, Steve Cohen most likely won’t do the sensible thing and move the fences in. So, they will flounder at the dish again.

Heck, next year, forget the 100 run haircut… I will simply see how many runs the bottom 3 teams scored in 2026, and use the average of those three teams as my 2027 estimate. 

After all, who’s kidding who? Won’t get fooled again.

JD MARTINEZ SAYS IT SIMPLY…

JD Martinez: 

"You talk about the toughest job, manager of the New York Mets is the toughest job in baseball right now.”

We have the second toughest job…rooting for these chronic under performers.

Me? I just resigned. I’m gonna kick back with Martinez and chill.

Tom Brennan: 1) Does Mets Minors System Contain Next AJ Ewing? 2) Mets Scoring.

Mitch Voit (as a Collegian) 

I have so often thrashed and bashed the Mets drafting. 

Too often poor, with frankly lots of dumb choices.

They may really be starting to get me ready to change my tune, though.

Carson Benge and AJ Ewing both have been terrific recent draft choices.

Carson struggled over the first 3 weeks from opening day, but has been great since.

Ewing was called up on May 12, after tearing up the minors, and he has been terrific since arriving.

But the Mets so rarely connect on solid offensive draft choices. 

Can they do it again?

I think the answer is yes.

I think the latest YES answer is Mitch Voit.

Through June 29, as I’m writing this, Voit has played 80 minor league games, and stolen 46 out of 51 bases. WOW.

Very much like AJ Ewing in that regard

He has played almost entirely at second base and shortstop

He has been terrific defensively at both positions. 

Nothing like the fielding foibles of Vientos and Mauricio, who stunk at fielding early in their minors days, and never really seemed to get the knack for becoming at least average fielders. 

Based on the low level of errors this year by Voit, I think he might end up being a Gold Glove level infielder. Nice!

But, can he hit? The answer certainly seems to be…yes!

In June, through June 30, his slash line is .310/.440/.460.  

A .460 slug % in Brooklyn? Golden.

And the thing that I love? In June, through June 29, he had fanned just 11 times in over 90 plate appearances.  That is an absolutely terrific ratio.

Despite only having played 80 pro games through June 29, I see no reason at this point why he cannot be in the Mets lineup by May 12, 2027. Which will then be the one year anniversary of AJ Ewing‘s debut.

All he has to do is stay healthy, play every game, and hopefully get assigned to the Arizona Fall League. I think he certainly deserves to be promoted to AA immediately after the All-Star break. 

I hope they move Mitch up as quickly as they did Carson and AJ Ewing. To have three exciting young fast players in the Mets lineup would be a real thrill.

Mitch does not turn 22 until the end of September. He is listed at 6’0”, 200, so he has great middle infield baseball player size. 

Keep up the great work, Mitch.

I think the fans are going to love you as much as they love Carson and AJ Ewing.

 METS’ TEAM SCORING QUESTION

Yes or no?  Are the Mets last in runs scored per game?  

The answer:

Yes.

Through Friday:

They are 28th in numerical scoring, but had played one and two games more than the teams immediately trailing them.

On a runs per game basis, the Mets are in a 3 way virtual tie for last place.

Remember that when reading my other article today about Mets pitching.

The Braves meanwhile are 10th in scoring. 

I wonder, if you took all the Mets hitters and traded them wholesale in February to Atlanta, a more positive city to play with better pitching, if the Mets-turned-Braves hitters would relax, smile, and be 10th in scoring rather than tied for last? 

Is it something about the Flushing swamp that induces failure? 

I ask this SERIOUSLY.

BUT they are working on consistency. 

In each of the last 2 games, a) 3 runs, b) 10 hits, and c) lost ballgames.

Tom Brennan - Can We Please Move, Daddy?

 

Every single year it’s the same thing

I looked at the leaders in the AL Central and the AL West. Their combined average record, for two teams that are in first place, is a lousy 45–42.

This is not a long article. 

I simply want the Mets move the heck out of the NL East. 

I DO NOT CARE AT ALL ABOUT GEOGRAPHY.

I simply want the Mets moved to the AL Central for the AL West, where it is easy to win a division.

Right now, with players returning to the Mets, presumably healthy, if the Mets were in either of those divisions, they could easily take a run at the division title. 

There is zero chance of that happening in the NL East, this year, or quite frankly, in any other year. 

“ Can we please move, daddy? PLEASE!”

Please don’t treat this article as a joke.  If the Mets have been in either of those two AL divisions for the past 25 years, how many division titles would they have won? I think several. HOW HAPPY WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN IF THAT HAVE BEEN THE CASE?

I also want you to think about the team that the Mets had at the end of this year. 

If the Mets were in the AL Central or the AL West, would they have passed on signing Pete? Would they have traded Brandon? I think this is a very significant chance they would have signed Pete and not dealt away Brandon, because they would’ve felt that they had more than enough enough juice to win those divisions with those two players. 

So the ramifications of the division you are assigned to are extraordinarily significant. 

Again, I do not care about geography. I want the Mets move to an easier division. Period.

This also applies to teams that are in the Dodgers NL West division. If I were them, I’d be pleading, begging to be switched into another division.

And for those teams in the NL West, simply being switched into the AL West would be a dream come true. Simply put, baseball should adopt the concept of rotating teams between divisions based on some kind win loss record factor.

WEIRD DSL STATS OF THE DAY

SOOOO many walks in the DSL, although I am guessing that as the more competent pitchers there get stretched out, the wildest ones won’t be used much, or will be cut.

That said, I decided to look at the guy with the highest OBP in the entire DSL.

Before I provide a name and stats, I have no idea if he will really be any good. His name?

Eliomar Garces, a non-Met, has an insane .615 OBP. 

In 23 games, he is hitting .339. OK.

But he also walked an incredible 37 times, vs. just 6 Ks.

And he was HBP 6 times.

So, in just 23 games, he walked, or was HBP, 43 times.

There you go. Weird. In a good way, of course, for Senor Garces.

Apparently, he was signed with the Rays for $1.6 million, so he is most likely going to be superb, knowing the Rays.

Also, in Friday’s DSL Mets Blue game, they lost 13-12, but the two teams had 27 hits, 17 walks, and 4 HBPs. Nothing like getting on base 48 times.

For the Mets’ Blue team, a player named John Sanchez was on base 5 times, while his teammate, named Jonn Sanchez, was on base 4 times. 

So, I guess if you said it phonetically, Jon Sanchez got on base 9 times.

And that, phonetically speaking, is downright amazing.

Ernest Dove reports on the Mets farm system

Ernest Dove gives us some good news (how badly to we need that?) about the Mets farm system.  Enjoy his latest discussion on the prospects here.

As always, if you want to stay current on Mets prospects, read about them at Mack's Mets or hear about them on the Dove Report.

Enjoy it, fans!

Reese Kaplan -- Is Steve Cohen Hinting Stearns' Departure After All?

On this 4th of July holiday the Mets can proudly display the team that David Stearns built, owning last place all by themselves and facing a ghastly 36-51 record, a full 15 games under .500 and in the standings 15.5 games behind their current opponent, the Atlanta Braves.  

Now everyone jumped all over the announcement earlier this week when it was spun that owner Steve Cohen endorsed and reinforced his belief in the job David Stearns has been doing.  The Mets desperately needed some positive headlines so that was an understandable interpretation.

Cohen’s first comment regarding the Stearns methodology was observant and critical but not unfair.  He said, “Settling for less-talented players while weighing concerns about committing too many years has led to a lot of wasted payroll space for the Mets, so perhaps more targeted strikes for elite players can avoid these issues from happening in the future.”

However, as Steve Cohen went on a podcast to address the Mets season and how everything has unfolded, he sounded far more like a beleaguered fan frustrated by the poor decisions made and the money spent on players who have not contributed.  At one point he admitted, “It's horrendous. No sugar coating it. This is not anything close to what I expected. It's really disappointing. Wildly disappointing.”

If I’m David Stearns then I am not taking out any long term leases in New York.  It definitely sounds as if Cohen has heard and agrees with the sentiments of the fans who are fed up living off year one of the three years of Stearns in charge.  The 2025 season was a major downturn as the club did finish over .500 but out of the October picture.  Then came 2026 with free agent departures and oddball trades while nearly everything that can go wrong has gone wrong while nothing has been done to take corrective measures.  

To be fair, no one is going to be 100% correct on every decision they make but being close to 100% wrong is just as unlikely yet it has happened even before the current season began.  Part of how you evaluate an executive is by plan design, implementation and correction.  Thus far Stearns in 2026 is having an 0-for-3.  

Again, no one is blaming him for on the field injuries but it is fair to question what has been done while the wheels fell off.  Thus far the only actions taken have been the promotion of 30 year old minor leaguers into starting roles and then making excuses for the losing record that resulted from this approach.  Real leaders make new plans when the old one is clearly not working and the person paying his salary needs to hold him accountable just as he scapegoated Carlos Mendoza for not winning with a AAAA roster.  

If the Mets stick by David Stearns then we need to see how he will change in the future to reflect positive actions.  If not, there are any number of other baseball executives available who would gladly take Steve Cohen’s money to replace him.