Reese Kaplan -- David Stearns is Better At Judging Who to Lose

After writing a bit about the oddball trades and under performing free agent acquisitions engineered by David Stearns which unfortunately has yielded very little in terms of quality beyond Juan Soto, a good question arose regarding younger players/prospects Stearns traded away or DFA’d during his tenure and how they’ve done overall.

As a precursor to looking at this list is the overall conclusion that as bad as Stearns has looked with the higher profile player acquisitions, the departed former Mets organization properties have not exactly set the world on fire.  In a more-or-less chronological order let’s see if anyone truly outstanding is no longer here.  (Ummm...no!):

• Reliever Eric Orze has appeared in 64 games between 2024 and now while earning a 4.21 ERA split between Tampa and Minnesota.  His 1.442 WHIP suggests he’s not doing a very good job keeping batters off base each inning.
• 21 year old young starting pitcher Wellington Aracena is now employed by Arizona and despite a quick start to his new career he’s not been good this year at all.  He’s currently sporting a 4.23 ERA and a 1.443 WHIP in A+.  He’s young enough to blossom but overall he has an ERA of 5.39 for his entire minor league career.  So far he’s not been a major loss.
• Pitcher Cameron Foster has debuted for the Orioles this year and it’s not gone well.  Thus far through 9 games he has a 9.00 ERA and a WHIP of 2.778.  Now aged 27 making his major league debut it may be valid to suggest his prospect window has all but closed.
• Jose Butto pitched fairly well for the Mets while making his early major league roster and as such he was a part of the trio sent to San Francisco in the 2025 last ditch effort to acquire solid players for reliever Tyler Rogers.  Unfortunately he’s not done well on the left coast with ERAs for 2025 as a Giant of 4.50 and in 2026 he’s at an eye popping 22.50. 
• Blade Tidwell was once a fairly highly regarded pitching prospect in the Mets minors (and briefly majors) but all has not gone well in the city by the bay.  He did show a 3.00 ERA in a brief end of year trial in 2025 but this year he’s been struggling in the PCL with an ERA of 5.30.  Another one whose luster has gone somewhat dull.
• Outfielder Drew Gilbert has had nearly 250 ABs for the Giants between 2025 and 2026 while tallying an above Mendoza line .207 batting average with 6 HRs and a single stolen base.  Now aged 25 he still has some time to improve but early indications are not causing Mets fans to lose sleep.
• Reliever Anthony Nunez made it to The Show with the Orioles this year but is pitching to a 4.98 ERA with 3 Saves and a WHIP of 1.282.  It’s not horrendous at a David Peterson level yet but it’s not noteworthy either. 
• Big reliever Chandler Marsh at age 23 is struggling in the Orioles organization at the A+ level this year with a 5.01 ERA and a WHIP of 1.371.  He has time but at age 23 many are already higher up in the minors.
• Brandon Sproat was indeed one of the notable chips gone in the Devin Williams/Tobias Myers trade and some wondered that for a rental were the Mets giving up too much.  Thus far Sproat over 14 games (12 of them as a starter) he’s pitched to the cacophonous tune of a 5.94 ERA and a WHIP of 1.461.  No one is losing sleep over this deal either.
• Now Jett Williams was a much more highly regarded future Met and many felt his inclusion in the Milwaukee Brewers deal was a high mistake.  Unfortunately for Williams 2026 has not gone well at all.  In Nashville at the AAA level he’s clubbed 9 HRs and driven in 36 while stealing 13 bases but is only hitting .227.  This backslide was certainly not expected. 
• Now age 27, former Mets prospect Dom Hamel who was DFA’d by the Mets is now with the Yankees organization where all has not gone well.  In 2026 in AAA he’s started 13 games and has an ERA north of 7.00.  Moving on...
• The under age 30 Vidal Brujan has bounced around the majors and minors since 2021 and now he’s a casualty of a Mets DFA.  A career .197 hitter in nearly 600 ABs he’s not proven to be a quality reserve for any of his baseball employers. 

Overall you do have to tip your cap to the much criticized POBO for not giving up future talents that have helped their new organizations.  While Stearns has not been good at identifying major league talent he’s shown an affinity for understanding which minor league players are indeed expendable.