Pick whatever analogy best floats your boat, but the recent public declaration of support for embattled POBO David Stearns by team owner Steve Cohen has the earmarks of other similar endorsements made prior to other sports team upheavals taking place. Even here Stearns heartily endorsed Carlos Mendoza before dropping the ax.
Yes, it is certainly expected that publicly Cohen would put on his loyalty face and underscore his faith in what Stearns has been doing to improve the team but privately you do have to wonder what’s really going through his head?
What were the issues he though Stearns would address upon becoming a part of his Mets family? Well, the obvious one is building a contending team which after the 2024 brief trial at October baseball has been a lot more about losing than it has about winning. Now everyone knows that there are no magic spells you can cast over a misfit team to convert them overnight into a perennial favorite for the division title and the distant dream of a World Series. Still, the moves that have been made that did not work are too numerous to cite here without making you risk losing your breakfast.
Of course, there is a lot more to the Mets world than simply what happens on the field at Citifield or wherever they are visiting. The minor league system was filled with a passel of mostly borderline players that did not look as if they would ensure a future helping the big club win ballgames. In this regard Stearns has been a bit better by improving the laboratories for specific training and rehabilitation, improved drafting and hanging onto prospect capital until it becomes necessary to let someone go in order to bring in new blood at the big league level.
Then there is the matter of payroll. We have all lived through the pre-Wilpon and Wilpon eras when it became clear the club was not willing to pay what it took to keep the best players happy and to entice the top free agents to consider signing on with the Mets. Then things changed after Steve Cohen took over and spending was all of the sudden no longer the huge red flag it had been in the past.
Unfortunately, other than the stunning contract handed out to Juan Soto (who is easily the most productive bat on the team) the rest of the payroll burdens brought on by David Stearns have not been nearly as impactful. Sure, there have been some solid entries here like A.J. Minter, Luke Weaver and Brooks Raley in the bullpen and Clay Holmes pre injury, but then there have been others like Devin Williams who have not posted the kind of numbers expected. In the starting pitching it’s been pretty much a disaster between Sean Manaea, since departed David Peterson, Freddy Peralta, Frankie Montas and inherited starter Kodai Senga there has been a whole lot more bad than good.
For the team’s history the Mets have still not found a respectable designated hitter who could contend for an All Star Game selection. The infielders other than inherited Francisco Lindor have been pretty much embarrassing. Letting Pete Alonso walk away without a plan other than the fantasy baseball position shifting of the walking wounded Jorge Polanco suggests that much work is needed here, too.
Then there is the outfield which is only serviceable due to a long term injury to overpaid IL regular Luis Robert and A.J. Ewing not falling on his face as many others have done in the recent past. Carson Benge looks like a keeper and left fielder Juan Soto looks like a great future DH or first baseman as his defensive acumen out there in left field is causing some folks to have Todd Hundley flashbacks.
Now you can’t blame Stearns for the on-the-field injuries such as Holmes’ leg fracture but you can hold him accountable for signing players with long histories of not playing regularly. You also can question why he’s done nothing other than the take-a-flyer trade of Peterson for a single A first baseman to address the hitting. He’s done nothing at all to address the pitching. Isn’t fixing the won-loss record a large part of his job? Maybe I am crazy for thinking that it is...
9 comments:
The Stearns grade has to be a D. But, that D is in the past. Who is best for the future? I have no idea if it is someone else…or Stearns. I have an idea…bring back the guy who fell asleep drunk in his car.
Pete Alonso’s Orioles are 40-48. I still think, in retrospect, that the thought that he was replaceable with the likes of Clifford, Polanco, Vientos and Baty was a hugely incorrect one. Pete Alonso AVERAGED over 40 HRs and 100 RBIs per 162 game period as a Met. No other player in Mets history has come close.
Cohen isn't the kind of man that says someone is safe and then fires them
If he said Stearns will stay through his 5-yr contract, he will stay through his 5-yr contract
I agree with the overall sentiment of all of these comments. It's hard not to. The best predictor of future performance is past performance, and Stearns has not done well at either the major or minor league levels: the latter on development, the former on roster construction.
There is simply no basis for confidence that things will change.
I don't see the point of attributing any of this to an inability of a small market GM to transfer his success to a larger market.
I do think Stearns has organizational acumen, but not baseball specific acumen. And I don't think the organization as a whole has an understanding of how to interpret data/use technology and to translate that into action plans. That's a BIG missing component.
I agree with that. I do think that Cohen has leverage and should require Stearns to add a GM and other baseball voices to the FO.
In fact, now that I think of it, I don't see why there isn't a senior position, perhaps under Green when he returns to the FO, devoted entirely to Development of talent: perhaps, Director of player development and that it be matched by and connected to Scouting Director. I am not familiar with the organizational structure of the Mets so I don't know if they already have these positions, but if they do the DPD should be under some fire. I certainly know what I would be looking for in a person to fill that role
Stearns to me comes off as being Smug and Pompous! I wonder how that plays with players and free agents! Does that have any Effect on acquiring free agents or performance of players on Team! Are there any rumblings of this throughout league?
PF, an excellent question. I think there is credence to what you say.
Stearns definitely needs a GM added to the administrative team if for no other reason than to handle prospective trading on a yearly basis.
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