A much talked about topic during this year’s hot stove season is the activity (and inactivity) of the Mets’ front office.
The decision to let some of the Mets’ core players leave was consequential. These were fan favorites, they were productive players, and they were central to the excitement that built around the team during the 2024 run to the NLDS.
The decision to not replace these stars with other highly compensated stars right away has also been consequential. The New York media and a large chunk of the Mets’ fan base are really letting David Stearns have a piece of their mind.
Meanwhile, in a less vocal partition of those devoted to Mets’ success, there is much less criticism. Steve Cohen has endorsed Stearns and delegated a great deal of decision-making power to him which is a sign of trust. Within the Mack’s Mets writers team, there is still some strong support for what he is doing as it represents a strategic approach to building a winner. Particularly in the recent posts by our colleague RVH, one can see the logic to the decisions made to date. One can also see the potential payoff of this strategic approach even if it is not short term.
Unfortunately, professional sports has become a very impatient business. Win now or go home. The immediate firings of coaches and GMs after unsuccessful seasons extends throughout the major sports and you have seen it in the headlines from the NFL to European Soccer. Warren Buffet would never have made it in this game.
So my question today to those who follow the intricacies of the baseball transaction register and the steady flow of lower level players in and out of the Mets is this: How long can David Stearns play the long game?
Consider this: the 2026 season will be the 40th season since the 1986 Mets won the World Championship. There are few cities that have waited this long for another parade, and they are mostly much smaller markets. New York is the biggest market there is, and they have an appetite for success shaped by that other baseball team with pin-striped uniforms. Mets fans are always looking for hope, and with the Cohens we found hope. With the initial signing of a well-regarded Stearns, we found hope. With the acquisition of Lindor, Scherzer, Verlander, and many more, we found hope. With the OMG Mets of 2024, we found hope. All those hopes have been dashed. The OMG team is now Officially Mostly Gone.
Steve Cohen has committed his billions to make this team win. He has a very passionate fan base who have been conditioned over the years to deal with failure so there is some resilience. But with so many recent years ending with unfulfilled hopes, is there enough time to pull off a re-build that is done “the right way”? Or will the fan base crater and use empty seats to pressure Steve to replace the methodical Stearns with a more aggressive dealmaker?
Let me know in the comments section how many years to a championship will be endured before changes at the top. My guess is two years.
