I find it hard to accept the idea that two playoff appearances in five years represents a core that "wasn't winning." This is as strong as any of the best five year periods in team history. How reasonable is it to define "winning" as perennial playoffs? In any case it isn't Alonso, Diaz, and Nimmo who can be blamed for the disappointments in 23 and 25. It doesn't surprise me that the Mets are sticking to a plan. It does surprise me that this plan seems to be building a team for 2029 instead of 2026.
I actually think that’s fair, I just don’t agree. Back in 2023, for example, I remember their fire sale for lack of a better term rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way. Because they were like just a few games out of the wild card. Well, they were not one or two players away from definitely most certainly getting that. So they pivoted to the philosophy. We even said “we’re building to 2025, 2024 is a crapshoot.” Remember they started slow, to the extent that we all thought it was crazy to have Mendoza, a first time manager, in this mess. We could argue semantics, but they did “back into” the playoffs, and then for hot and streaky till then. Getting Soto meant they were going to win? They didn’t. It showed there were still many weaknesses and even in some cases, a glut of talent being blocked. Something had to give. I love Nimmo, and Alonso has a soft spot in my heart. To think Pete wanted to stay after last year … I think the writing was on the wall he would have bounced, even if somehow the Mets cobbled a deep playoff run.
Something about the team just missing a WS appearance didnt gnaw at them. To me, that’s a gut issue, and maybe I think the bold move was to cut them loose.
We don’t have to like it. I’m just saying, there is a philosophical reason for it.
Anyhoo thanks for the comment! (1999 was my fave team that didn’t win anything lol)
If the Mets genuinely believed a World Series run was realistic in 2026–27, why are all of the top prospects still here? Why would they care about preserving a first-round pick that might become a 17-year-old in three years—or holding on to roughly $1 million in international pool money—if the window were truly open?
Congratulations to Steve Cohen for moving on from the “two playoff appearances in five years” vision—now stretching toward seven—built around a 30-plus core, and doing it before most season tickets even go on sale.
I think one thing we can all agree on is that bringing back the same team from 2025 was not going to make the Mets a championship team. I envisioned Brandon Nimmo moving from left field to first base due to the inevitable loss of Pete Alonso. This way, they would’ve kept his bat and productivity in the lineup and had less worries with his declining left field play.
We knew from the prior contract, that the Mets did not intend to pay Alonso 30+ $1 million a year for the number of years that he wanted. But not making him an offer, in my mind, is absurd. They could’ve made him a four year offer $32 million a year so that the years were shorter but the dollars still made him the highest paid first baseman. If they can pick up an outfielder who can hit 30+ home runs with a .270 average and an OPS .775 or higher, they would essentially have replaced Alonso’s production. As far as Diaz, clearly he wanted to play on a winner and who in the right mind wouldn’t wanna play for the Dodgers.
It is interesting that the opt out clauses that are in so many contracts have been viewed by the teams as a way to potentially get out of a bad contract. In reality, it provides the player with an opt out to cash in on the free agent market once again. Even Juan Soto has an opt out clause after six years, and I bet Stearns is already hoping, that is if he’s still an employee of the Mets, that Soto will opt out and they can get out from the contract.
So while I am extremely disappointed at the loss of those players, I am cautiously optimistic that Stearns will continue to tinker with the roster in bringing players who can both be more productive on the offensive side and field their position.
I do believe that all of this has sadly pushed Cohen’s five-year plan into an eight year plan. Let’s hope the great work that they have done developing their farm system will pay off with a few players coming up to the big club this year, most notably Benge and Sproat, and also be sufficient to trade for a few players to make the team better.
They are not a player or two away from a title so I don’t see a Bellinger or Tucker long term signing, nor an emptying of the farm for one year of Skubal.
The whole not making an offer to Alonso … I understand it burns at people. And I could see it be taken as disrespect. He’s turned down multiple offers (even before boras was his agent), and I’m fairly certain last year’s process probably left some bad feelings. Baseball is business, and can’t get feelings mixed in business. I think last year, Pete wanted to get paid. When a deal wasn’t getting done, it was 100% on him why it wasn’t in my most humble opinion. :)
Thank you for your efforts to try to explain the mess that’s been created by Cohen and Stearns. But I couldn’t disagree more strongly.
When Cohen bought the team, he believed in the Dodgers model. If you look at the Dodgers roster, most of it has been filled through expensive free agent, signings, and large contracts to proven players. There has been very little use of their farm system of event to trade away players for known talent. Obviously that has not been the case with the Mets other than Cohen taking charge to sign Soto last year and push to sign Alonso in reaction to the disaster at the fan fest.
Stearns has never proven much other than to muddle around in a very average division in the NL Central. Look closely at his playoff record there. One win in six series. That’s it. Never one big and had never aggressively signed expensive talent other than Christian Yelich. He’s a small market guy. And will never change.
Which brings us to how a team should operate in New York City, not in Milwaukee or some other smaller market location. And add to it the richest owner in the sport. Colin should be aggressively maintaining the core that has proven themselves and adding higher priced free agents and making aggressive trades for proven players with this alleged strong Minor league system that still hasn’t delivered any identifiable star talent. Met fans can’t wait forever, but that’s what this ownership seems to be telling us with the way they operate. When you win you draw and you get an excited marketplace.
Sadly, we are in a new phase. That looks very much like Wilpons II. We have a very overrated and unproven president of baseball operations in Stearns, who is arrogant and doesn’t have any sense of the emotions and chemistry important to a team. And perhaps Collin has just gotten tired and bored and just doesn’t care the way he professed when he bought the team.
I’m a season ticket holder and one step closer to signing off just like I did in the Wilpon days. Their minor league. Talent is likely overrated and their refusal to pay for proven talent that may eventually cost a few extra resources continues to demonstrate their lack of foresight on how to win now.
I think your article just bought into the propaganda that they’re spinning that continues to prove historically otherwise. Do you remember the days of future stars like Isringhausen, Wilson and Pulsipher? Or more recently DeGrom, Harvey and Syndegaard? Not many successes, other than deGrom.
Cohen needs to seriously address the damage done with Stearns philosophy and fire him after another disastrous year that will likely occur in 2026
Kevin, love your response. When people disagree with me, it means you read it and it meant something. Thank you!! But to that end, you said something that I think we may be able to break bread on. (Cutting and pasting here lol).
“Their minor league. Talent is likely overrated and their refusal to pay for proven talent that may eventually cost a few extra resources continues to demonstrate their lack of foresight on how to win now.
I think your article just bought into the propaganda that they’re spinning that continues to prove historically otherwise. Do you remember the days of future stars like Isringhausen, Wilson and Pulsipher? Or more recently DeGrom, Harvey and Syndegaard? Not many successes, other than deGrom.”
I actually think you and I might have a Venn diagram on what we can agree upon. Which is something I touched on in my post. About the lack of investment in development throughout the Mets history. To me, cohen has shown that he will spend on the right player. See: Soto, Juan. Soto is a generation talent, young and put up MVP numbers in a year where we didn’t have much to cheer over. But the interesting thing is that through your Dodger history, look at their storied players. Koufax. Drysdale. Campy. Jackie. Even friggin Lasorda (lol). Even our HOF Catcher was a Dodger prospect. Don’t be fooled that their investment in talent made them the juggernaut we see today. It made them an attractive investment for Magic and his team. That said, if you think homegrown guys like Kershaw wasn’t part of their success, that’s simply incorrect.
Now! Back to the Mets. I don’t see why investing in the future is a bad thing. The thing about “going long” on them is they could be used as trade or bargaining chips. While I think it would’ve foolish to use them for say a one year rental for Skubal, I have heard some trade rumors involving the lavishly talented Padres for example. That’s what you use them for. And then we have the “Real Gen K” of McLean, Tong and Sproat. I have a lot of hope these are the guys of the future.
I understand, you’re coming from the exact same place I am as a fan. Viewing with healthy skepticism is part of the deal around here. I just see something different, and to me that’s an actual plan - even if it’s viewing with a cold hard approach that we might not like at first.
Please, I'm begging you (and everyone else) - do not capitalize words in your post. I don't want to delete posts but I cannot edit comments and that's my only recourse. I really, really don't want to delete posts. But anyone who capitalizes words runs that very risk.
Your take on this is well laid out Kevin, but I disagree with it. There are a couple of points that I think are important:
1 - No one knows what the plan is at this point. It may be that the team decides to grow through younger players (which would include Soto) and then add around the margins with more established talent (it worked very well for the mid-80's Mets). If the team decided to go in this direction for 2026, I would be ok with that. But whatever happens. right now none of us know, so I think it's wise to give some more time before coming to conclusions on whether this offseason is failing. I understand the frustration with losing some of our most popular players, but let's see what the team looks like at the end of the offseason before judging.
2 - When you say that the team should be adding higher priced free agents, who are you looking at in the current market? Kyle Tucker would be the only high-priced star free agent that is not already in his 30's. If you think he's a difference maker, then he's a great target. I'd love to have him at the right contract length and 5-6 years is probably reasonable. Would you give him 10 years at $300-$400M which is what some of the estimates are?
What exactly would like to see from Stearns? Any players in particular, and if so, what would you pay?
Your first point is spot on...the plan is not clear and the report card for this offseason is incomplete. But, teachers will give midpoint grades, and fans will do that too. It is not rational to give Stearns a good grade at this point, the team has lost two of it's top 2025 performers without comparable replacements. The big 3 departing players were not the problem in 2025.
The argument that Pete's deal is an overpay is reasonable if not sound. But replacement cost is critical. Bellinger and Tucker will cost a fortune, and neither truly fits the role of following Soto in the lineup in a manner that is going to strike fear and/or alter behavior. Alonso as DH the next 4-5 years would have very well cost a lower premium than either of the other two big FA bats.
We won't know until PoBo is finished, but as of today, it's hard to see how he can assemble a top 5 batting order to compete with the Dodgers...before getting to the Dodgers huge pitching advantage. The gulf may just be too wide. It's possible that most grizzled Met fans could buy into going all out with the kids...but will their $765 million man buy in?
My opinion is that the Mets were correct in not paying the freight for either Alonso or Diaz once they opted out of their contracts.
But, I do wonder how both the 2025 season and the offseason would have turned out if the SP were healthy. Senga was outstanding before he got hurt and Canning was better than expected. What would the Mets' season have been if those two made 25+ starts and pitched near the level they did over an entire season? What if Manaea didn't miss a whole lot more time than was expected and then pitched at a level near where he did in '24?
No team stays completely healthy. But give the Mets those three pitchers healthy and keep the injuries to Alvarez, Blackburn, Garrett, Kranick, Marte, McNeil, Megill, Minter, Montas, Nunez, Scott, Siri, Vientos and Winker.
The Mets didn't have the pitching depth to survive the injuries they had. But no team besides the Dodgers could have survived, either. Look at the Braves, a perennial playoff team. But once injuries decimated their pitching staff, they couldn't survive and they finished with a worse record than the Mets.
I get it - talking about injuries is something that most people equate with loser talk. I just don't see how you just dismiss that when talking about the '25 Mets or the '25 Braves. Were the Phillies that good or did they just stay significantly more healthy than their two main rivals?
And if the Mets make the playoffs - even if they didn't reach the NLCS again - does Diaz have a different point of view on things and accept their contract offer? And would Mets fans be so distraught if it was just Alonso leaving and not Alonso and Diaz? And does Stearns make the Nimmo trade if they're coming off back-to-back playoff seasons?
I’m going to make a football analogy. When the Seahawks “legion of boom” defense was getting older, and Russell Wilson was the rising star quarterback, they narrowly missed the playoffs due to a kicker named Blair Walsh (I know you remember him, Brian!), who missed a few field
Goals and extra points leading to them losing tight games. Their response was to get rid of everyone. They haven’t been to an NFC championship game since those years, but that turned out to be a good move. But like you say, Ed and I often wonder if they did win those tight games, we’d be looking at a different story, team etc. reminded me of this year
A very provocative article. I’m not sure, though, that everyone has the same idea of what a “core” means. For me, it extends way beyond what used to be called the Fab Four to pitching, both starting and relief. Unfortunately, it’s hard to project pitchers staying healthy and productive for more than 2-3 years, even if you’re a young gun who already had TJ surgery in their early 20s.
Last season’s collapse was driven by the failures in the pitching regime and the supporting offensive cast, not 1-4. Once you got to #6 in the order it was grim tidings. Hopefully, the current plan will provide some greater depth to the offense in ‘26, and not in the homer-happy, big-swinging way that we’ve seen too much of lower down in the order. And perhaps bring some stability to the bullpen instead of that sorry rotating spectacle we endured last year.
It’s important to think with an eye to the future, but how far is that? Asking fans, especially those with memories of ‘86 or ‘06, to wait until ‘28 (especially given the uncertainties around ‘27) to field a competitive team may not be reasonable if attendance means anything in the near term.
Thanks for the interesting read Taryn. I think from a stand-back level the expression can be followed, yet in practical terms I see contradictions all over that render the "youth movement rebuild" just an excuse for failing to win.
Yes, Cohen said he wants to get a stronger farm system to help offset the cost of FAs. But what team doesn't want that? The Mets were terrible and have improved, but to what end and at what time? Lindor is age 32 for 2026 and making 34M$ and Soto is making 52M$ for the next 4 years, so that 2 guys alone are at 86M$/yr. If you look at whats coming, well, it isnt enough, and it isnt fast fast enough to waste all the cash spent on an aging lindor and the ultra prime years of Soto. If you want to have them be the "core" then you need to back them up pronto. We have no clue how to fully assess all the up-and-comers, but banking on them because they are Mets top prospects pays them much more than one can hope for. The big leagues are a harsh reality for many. Can we ait 3 years to see if these new guys can be credible (1 WAR) players, let alone stars? Looking at pitching, I just cannot be convinced that Tong or Sproat have majot MLB upside. Sproat is a 4-7 starter and Tong needs an entire year in AAA developing more pitches. His FB maybe elite in the minors, but he wont fool anyone in the Bigs with a predicatble pitch shape and not enough velo.
Cohen himself said he wants the Mets to be the "Dodgers East", yet in a confounding move he hired Stearns who no matter how much people claim he's the best, really accomplished his modest achievements in the gutter that is the NL central - and those achievements do not include a single pennant, but do include dodgy personnel moves. If Stearns thinks he can run an austerity campaign in the biggest, most demanding, market in the world, he will be greatly shocked at what follows.
Let me share with you the story of by beloved Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League, considered one of the Big 6 teams that you all know (Liverpool, Manchester City etc). For 25 years Daniel Levy, the equivalent of an MLB PBO, ran the club on austerity, waiting out each trade/signing deadline until the last moment bargain hunting, not signing the best players, and hunting lesser leagues acorss Europe for teenage wonders - it was a total failure. So while the team was profitable and now plays in arguably the finest sporting stadium (its where the NFL plays in the UK) and the best training grounds on Earth, the fans revolted for years after virtually no major achievements season after season forcing the owners to fire him. A path that does not more closely resemble the Dodgers will not result in Pennants or WS wins. What that means is being effective with drafting, but equally buying prominent FA contracts, and making trades for elite talent, which drains the pipeline. So it goes. If Cohen didn't have the stomach for this, he went into the wrong business. This ins't San Diego where Preller can play big man in a small world. Stearns needs to understand that in a market where its costs 100s of dollars just to go to 1 game, putting out the Moneyball Mets with a couple of stars, a pile of old guys on short contracts, and young hopefuls will not work.
I think if you really look at the situation for a youth rebuild, you dont half do it. Now is the time to move on from both Lindor and Soto when you can get a kings ransom for them. Then you spend time building the youth movement to see of a few really make it, then you buy the killer FAs, then you trade. Unfortunately the biggest contracts we have are right now, leading to a more time-pressing situation to win.
Chris, you realize that the guy has only been here two years and this year had his entire pitching staff fall apart, right? Andrew Friedman, the best GM of all generations won less in Tampa that Stearns did in Milwaukee. And, it took the Dodgers a decade to win a full season title. You seem angry about this, why? You want him fired already? It’s a sport, let’s discuss it.
The Stearns picture in Queens is emerging and it doesnt look like a big market plan. His assembled pitching staff fell apart, but let’s be honest it was a complete joke out of the gate. Before I get lectured on how good they were to start with, the rotation was giving less and less IP to artificially keep those numbers so shiny, meanwhile the pen was going into a Chernobyl-style meltdown. He did nothing to address a quality pitching staff 1 year after winning the Division Series. He doubled down on old dudes and reclamation projects, his personal flare for staffing a team, and it exploded, or really, just went limp. Before we hear about Manaea, look over his bbref profile. His 24 season was a complete outlier; I see no reason to expect that crazy season is who Manaea is, not to mention hes another year older. So he can trust Peterson, and the relic hope of some imaginary Senga, and a converted reliever plus exposing youth to the harsh realities of big league hitters, but that to me is a complete capitulation. There is time to solve the issues this off season and I eagerly await some aggressive and very positive moves, but right now, those moves dont seem forthcoming from news reports and the acquisitions hes made look dubious at best.
Sure he gets more time, but Im very skeptical of his approach and snotty attitude like he thinks hes smarter than everyone else. He’s not.
Gus - we go way back. Im super frustrated and really concerned Stearns is not up to this task. I dont claim to know an answer fir whats the best, but I see worrying signs of a team substantially out of balance and on track to go a way without maximizing the paid for talent we now have. Peace amigo!
I'm breathing normal. The core didn't win in fact they horrible after June 12th. Something needed to be done. The something isn't something that I imagine though, so far. The Mets have a strong farm system and should use it for a SP1 that is controlled for 2-3 years. The Mets have financial resources to sign a free agent outfielder like Bellinger and/or Tucker. I would be very disappointed if the plan is to wait for the minor leaguers to be stars. That plan doesn't work exclusively. A blended plan is my preference.
I read an article today that the Dodgers have hit $ 1 billion in deferred payments. The bill will come due. They wont have one Bobby Bonilla, they will have a retirement home full of former players, who are still on the payroll, for decades. It will come back and bite them.
I do not want Skubal for one year for a haul of our prospects, when we can wait 365 days and sign him as a free agent.
And I thought Winker and Siri were bad. Pache is terrible. He has a -1.3 career WAR. I think they need a new stat, losses above replacement. I hope Stearns isnt going to try to sell us with another bill of goods with more science projects. I will still give him the benefit of the doubt, but we will see.
I find it hard to accept the idea that two playoff appearances in five years represents a core that "wasn't winning." This is as strong as any of the best five year periods in team history. How reasonable is it to define "winning" as perennial playoffs? In any case it isn't Alonso, Diaz, and Nimmo who can be blamed for the disappointments in 23 and 25. It doesn't surprise me that the Mets are sticking to a plan. It does surprise me that this plan seems to be building a team for 2029 instead of 2026.
I actually think that’s fair, I just don’t agree. Back in 2023, for example, I remember their fire sale for lack of a better term rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way. Because they were like just a few games out of the wild card. Well, they were not one or two players away from definitely most certainly getting that. So they pivoted to the philosophy. We even said “we’re building to 2025, 2024 is a crapshoot.” Remember they started slow, to the extent that we all thought it was crazy to have Mendoza, a first time manager, in this mess. We could argue semantics, but they did “back into” the playoffs, and then for hot and streaky till then. Getting Soto meant they were going to win? They didn’t. It showed there were still many weaknesses and even in some cases, a glut of talent being blocked. Something had to give. I love Nimmo, and Alonso has a soft spot in my heart. To think Pete wanted to stay after last year … I think the writing was on the wall he would have bounced, even if somehow the Mets cobbled a deep playoff run.
Something about the team just missing a WS appearance didnt gnaw at them. To me, that’s a gut issue, and maybe I think the bold move was to cut them loose.
We don’t have to like it. I’m just saying, there is a philosophical reason for it.
Anyhoo thanks for the comment! (1999 was my fave team that didn’t win anything lol)
If the Mets genuinely believed a World Series run was realistic in 2026–27, why are all of the top prospects still here? Why would they care about preserving a first-round pick that might become a 17-year-old in three years—or holding on to roughly $1 million in international pool money—if the window were truly open?
Congratulations to Steve Cohen for moving on from the “two playoff appearances in five years” vision—now stretching toward seven—built around a 30-plus core, and doing it before most season tickets even go on sale.
Nice article Taryn.
I think one thing we can all agree on is that bringing back the same team from 2025 was not going to make the Mets a championship team. I envisioned Brandon Nimmo moving from left field to first base due to the inevitable loss of Pete Alonso. This way, they would’ve kept his bat and productivity in the lineup and had less worries with his declining left field play.
We knew from the prior contract, that the Mets did not intend to pay Alonso 30+ $1 million a year for the number of years that he wanted. But not making him an offer, in my mind, is absurd. They could’ve made him a four year offer $32 million a year so that the years were shorter but the dollars still made him the highest paid first baseman. If they can pick up an outfielder who can hit 30+ home runs with a .270 average and an OPS .775 or higher, they would essentially have replaced Alonso’s production. As far as Diaz, clearly he wanted to play on a winner and who in the right mind wouldn’t wanna play for the Dodgers.
It is interesting that the opt out clauses that are in so many contracts have been viewed by the teams as a way to potentially get out of a bad contract. In reality, it provides the player with an opt out to cash in on the free agent market once again. Even Juan Soto has an opt out clause after six years, and I bet Stearns is already hoping, that is if he’s still an employee of the Mets, that Soto will opt out and they can get out from the contract.
So while I am extremely disappointed at the loss of those players, I am cautiously optimistic that Stearns will continue to tinker with the roster in bringing players who can both be more productive on the offensive side and field their position.
I do believe that all of this has sadly pushed Cohen’s five-year plan into an eight year plan. Let’s hope the great work that they have done developing their farm system will pay off with a few players coming up to the big club this year, most notably Benge and Sproat, and also be sufficient to trade for a few players to make the team better.
They are not a player or two away from a title so I don’t see a Bellinger or Tucker long term signing, nor an emptying of the farm for one year of Skubal.
The whole not making an offer to Alonso … I understand it burns at people. And I could see it be taken as disrespect. He’s turned down multiple offers (even before boras was his agent), and I’m fairly certain last year’s process probably left some bad feelings. Baseball is business, and can’t get feelings mixed in business. I think last year, Pete wanted to get paid. When a deal wasn’t getting done, it was 100% on him why it wasn’t in my most humble opinion. :)
Thank you for your efforts to try to explain the mess that’s been created by Cohen and Stearns. But I couldn’t disagree more strongly.
When Cohen bought the team, he believed in the Dodgers model. If you look at the Dodgers roster, most of it has been filled through expensive free agent, signings, and large contracts to proven players. There has been very little use of their farm system of event to trade away players for known talent. Obviously that has not been the case with the Mets other than Cohen taking charge to sign Soto last year and push to sign Alonso in reaction to the disaster at the fan fest.
Stearns has never proven much other than to muddle around in a very average division in the NL Central. Look closely at his playoff record there. One win in six series. That’s it. Never one big and had never aggressively signed expensive talent other than Christian Yelich. He’s a small market guy. And will never change.
Which brings us to how a team should operate in New York City, not in Milwaukee or some other smaller market location. And add to it the richest owner in the sport. Colin should be aggressively maintaining the core that has proven themselves and adding higher priced free agents and making aggressive trades for proven players with this alleged strong Minor league system that still hasn’t delivered any identifiable star talent. Met fans can’t wait forever, but that’s what this ownership seems to be telling us with the way they operate. When you win you draw and you get an excited marketplace.
Sadly, we are in a new phase. That looks very much like Wilpons II. We have a very overrated and unproven president of baseball operations in Stearns, who is arrogant and doesn’t have any sense of the emotions and chemistry important to a team. And perhaps Collin has just gotten tired and bored and just doesn’t care the way he professed when he bought the team.
I’m a season ticket holder and one step closer to signing off just like I did in the Wilpon days. Their minor league. Talent is likely overrated and their refusal to pay for proven talent that may eventually cost a few extra resources continues to demonstrate their lack of foresight on how to win now.
I think your article just bought into the propaganda that they’re spinning that continues to prove historically otherwise. Do you remember the days of future stars like Isringhausen, Wilson and Pulsipher? Or more recently DeGrom, Harvey and Syndegaard? Not many successes, other than deGrom.
Cohen needs to seriously address the damage done with Stearns philosophy and fire him after another disastrous year that will likely occur in 2026
Kevin, love your response. When people disagree with me, it means you read it and it meant something. Thank you!! But to that end, you said something that I think we may be able to break bread on. (Cutting and pasting here lol).
“Their minor league. Talent is likely overrated and their refusal to pay for proven talent that may eventually cost a few extra resources continues to demonstrate their lack of foresight on how to win now.
I think your article just bought into the propaganda that they’re spinning that continues to prove historically otherwise. Do you remember the days of future stars like Isringhausen, Wilson and Pulsipher? Or more recently DeGrom, Harvey and Syndegaard? Not many successes, other than deGrom.”
I actually think you and I might have a Venn diagram on what we can agree upon. Which is something I touched on in my post. About the lack of investment in development throughout the Mets history. To me, cohen has shown that he will spend on the right player. See: Soto, Juan. Soto is a generation talent, young and put up MVP numbers in a year where we didn’t have much to cheer over. But the interesting thing is that through your Dodger history, look at their storied players. Koufax. Drysdale. Campy. Jackie. Even friggin Lasorda (lol). Even our HOF Catcher was a Dodger prospect. Don’t be fooled that their investment in talent made them the juggernaut we see today. It made them an attractive investment for Magic and his team. That said, if you think homegrown guys like Kershaw wasn’t part of their success, that’s simply incorrect.
Now! Back to the Mets. I don’t see why investing in the future is a bad thing. The thing about “going long” on them is they could be used as trade or bargaining chips. While I think it would’ve foolish to use them for say a one year rental for Skubal, I have heard some trade rumors involving the lavishly talented Padres for example. That’s what you use them for. And then we have the “Real Gen K” of McLean, Tong and Sproat. I have a lot of hope these are the guys of the future.
I understand, you’re coming from the exact same place I am as a fan. Viewing with healthy skepticism is part of the deal around here. I just see something different, and to me that’s an actual plan - even if it’s viewing with a cold hard approach that we might not like at first.
Please, I'm begging you (and everyone else) - do not capitalize words in your post. I don't want to delete posts but I cannot edit comments and that's my only recourse. I really, really don't want to delete posts. But anyone who capitalizes words runs that very risk.
Your take on this is well laid out Kevin, but I disagree with it. There are a couple of points that I think are important:
1 - No one knows what the plan is at this point. It may be that the team decides to grow through younger players (which would include Soto) and then add around the margins with more established talent (it worked very well for the mid-80's Mets). If the team decided to go in this direction for 2026, I would be ok with that. But whatever happens. right now none of us know, so I think it's wise to give some more time before coming to conclusions on whether this offseason is failing. I understand the frustration with losing some of our most popular players, but let's see what the team looks like at the end of the offseason before judging.
2 - When you say that the team should be adding higher priced free agents, who are you looking at in the current market? Kyle Tucker would be the only high-priced star free agent that is not already in his 30's. If you think he's a difference maker, then he's a great target. I'd love to have him at the right contract length and 5-6 years is probably reasonable. Would you give him 10 years at $300-$400M which is what some of the estimates are?
What exactly would like to see from Stearns? Any players in particular, and if so, what would you pay?
Bob,
Your first point is spot on...the plan is not clear and the report card for this offseason is incomplete. But, teachers will give midpoint grades, and fans will do that too. It is not rational to give Stearns a good grade at this point, the team has lost two of it's top 2025 performers without comparable replacements. The big 3 departing players were not the problem in 2025.
The argument that Pete's deal is an overpay is reasonable if not sound. But replacement cost is critical. Bellinger and Tucker will cost a fortune, and neither truly fits the role of following Soto in the lineup in a manner that is going to strike fear and/or alter behavior. Alonso as DH the next 4-5 years would have very well cost a lower premium than either of the other two big FA bats.
We won't know until PoBo is finished, but as of today, it's hard to see how he can assemble a top 5 batting order to compete with the Dodgers...before getting to the Dodgers huge pitching advantage. The gulf may just be too wide. It's possible that most grizzled Met fans could buy into going all out with the kids...but will their $765 million man buy in?
Wow. You know it took the dodgers ten years to win a title, right?
My opinion is that the Mets were correct in not paying the freight for either Alonso or Diaz once they opted out of their contracts.
But, I do wonder how both the 2025 season and the offseason would have turned out if the SP were healthy. Senga was outstanding before he got hurt and Canning was better than expected. What would the Mets' season have been if those two made 25+ starts and pitched near the level they did over an entire season? What if Manaea didn't miss a whole lot more time than was expected and then pitched at a level near where he did in '24?
No team stays completely healthy. But give the Mets those three pitchers healthy and keep the injuries to Alvarez, Blackburn, Garrett, Kranick, Marte, McNeil, Megill, Minter, Montas, Nunez, Scott, Siri, Vientos and Winker.
The Mets didn't have the pitching depth to survive the injuries they had. But no team besides the Dodgers could have survived, either. Look at the Braves, a perennial playoff team. But once injuries decimated their pitching staff, they couldn't survive and they finished with a worse record than the Mets.
I get it - talking about injuries is something that most people equate with loser talk. I just don't see how you just dismiss that when talking about the '25 Mets or the '25 Braves. Were the Phillies that good or did they just stay significantly more healthy than their two main rivals?
And if the Mets make the playoffs - even if they didn't reach the NLCS again - does Diaz have a different point of view on things and accept their contract offer? And would Mets fans be so distraught if it was just Alonso leaving and not Alonso and Diaz? And does Stearns make the Nimmo trade if they're coming off back-to-back playoff seasons?
We'll never know...
I’m going to make a football analogy. When the Seahawks “legion of boom” defense was getting older, and Russell Wilson was the rising star quarterback, they narrowly missed the playoffs due to a kicker named Blair Walsh (I know you remember him, Brian!), who missed a few field
Goals and extra points leading to them losing tight games. Their response was to get rid of everyone. They haven’t been to an NFC championship game since those years, but that turned out to be a good move. But like you say, Ed and I often wonder if they did win those tight games, we’d be looking at a different story, team etc. reminded me of this year
Brian, stop making sense. We’re not interested.
Well said. Four words "The Core Wasnt Winning".
A very provocative article. I’m not sure, though, that everyone has the same idea of what a “core” means. For me, it extends way beyond what used to be called the Fab Four to pitching, both starting and relief. Unfortunately, it’s hard to project pitchers staying healthy and productive for more than 2-3 years, even if you’re a young gun who already had TJ surgery in their early 20s.
Last season’s collapse was driven by the failures in the pitching regime and the supporting offensive cast, not 1-4. Once you got to #6 in the order it was grim tidings. Hopefully, the current plan will provide some greater depth to the offense in ‘26, and not in the homer-happy, big-swinging way that we’ve seen too much of lower down in the order. And perhaps bring some stability to the bullpen instead of that sorry rotating spectacle we endured last year.
It’s important to think with an eye to the future, but how far is that? Asking fans, especially those with memories of ‘86 or ‘06, to wait until ‘28 (especially given the uncertainties around ‘27) to field a competitive team may not be reasonable if attendance means anything in the near term.
Thanks for the interesting read Taryn. I think from a stand-back level the expression can be followed, yet in practical terms I see contradictions all over that render the "youth movement rebuild" just an excuse for failing to win.
Yes, Cohen said he wants to get a stronger farm system to help offset the cost of FAs. But what team doesn't want that? The Mets were terrible and have improved, but to what end and at what time? Lindor is age 32 for 2026 and making 34M$ and Soto is making 52M$ for the next 4 years, so that 2 guys alone are at 86M$/yr. If you look at whats coming, well, it isnt enough, and it isnt fast fast enough to waste all the cash spent on an aging lindor and the ultra prime years of Soto. If you want to have them be the "core" then you need to back them up pronto. We have no clue how to fully assess all the up-and-comers, but banking on them because they are Mets top prospects pays them much more than one can hope for. The big leagues are a harsh reality for many. Can we ait 3 years to see if these new guys can be credible (1 WAR) players, let alone stars? Looking at pitching, I just cannot be convinced that Tong or Sproat have majot MLB upside. Sproat is a 4-7 starter and Tong needs an entire year in AAA developing more pitches. His FB maybe elite in the minors, but he wont fool anyone in the Bigs with a predicatble pitch shape and not enough velo.
Cohen himself said he wants the Mets to be the "Dodgers East", yet in a confounding move he hired Stearns who no matter how much people claim he's the best, really accomplished his modest achievements in the gutter that is the NL central - and those achievements do not include a single pennant, but do include dodgy personnel moves. If Stearns thinks he can run an austerity campaign in the biggest, most demanding, market in the world, he will be greatly shocked at what follows.
Let me share with you the story of by beloved Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League, considered one of the Big 6 teams that you all know (Liverpool, Manchester City etc). For 25 years Daniel Levy, the equivalent of an MLB PBO, ran the club on austerity, waiting out each trade/signing deadline until the last moment bargain hunting, not signing the best players, and hunting lesser leagues acorss Europe for teenage wonders - it was a total failure. So while the team was profitable and now plays in arguably the finest sporting stadium (its where the NFL plays in the UK) and the best training grounds on Earth, the fans revolted for years after virtually no major achievements season after season forcing the owners to fire him. A path that does not more closely resemble the Dodgers will not result in Pennants or WS wins. What that means is being effective with drafting, but equally buying prominent FA contracts, and making trades for elite talent, which drains the pipeline. So it goes. If Cohen didn't have the stomach for this, he went into the wrong business. This ins't San Diego where Preller can play big man in a small world. Stearns needs to understand that in a market where its costs 100s of dollars just to go to 1 game, putting out the Moneyball Mets with a couple of stars, a pile of old guys on short contracts, and young hopefuls will not work.
I think if you really look at the situation for a youth rebuild, you dont half do it. Now is the time to move on from both Lindor and Soto when you can get a kings ransom for them. Then you spend time building the youth movement to see of a few really make it, then you buy the killer FAs, then you trade. Unfortunately the biggest contracts we have are right now, leading to a more time-pressing situation to win.
Chris, you realize that the guy has only been here two years and this year had his entire pitching staff fall apart, right? Andrew Friedman, the best GM of all generations won less in Tampa that Stearns did in Milwaukee. And, it took the Dodgers a decade to win a full season title. You seem angry about this, why? You want him fired already? It’s a sport, let’s discuss it.
The Stearns picture in Queens is emerging and it doesnt look like a big market plan. His assembled pitching staff fell apart, but let’s be honest it was a complete joke out of the gate. Before I get lectured on how good they were to start with, the rotation was giving less and less IP to artificially keep those numbers so shiny, meanwhile the pen was going into a Chernobyl-style meltdown. He did nothing to address a quality pitching staff 1 year after winning the Division Series. He doubled down on old dudes and reclamation projects, his personal flare for staffing a team, and it exploded, or really, just went limp. Before we hear about Manaea, look over his bbref profile. His 24 season was a complete outlier; I see no reason to expect that crazy season is who Manaea is, not to mention hes another year older. So he can trust Peterson, and the relic hope of some imaginary Senga, and a converted reliever plus exposing youth to the harsh realities of big league hitters, but that to me is a complete capitulation. There is time to solve the issues this off season and I eagerly await some aggressive and very positive moves, but right now, those moves dont seem forthcoming from news reports and the acquisitions hes made look dubious at best.
Sure he gets more time, but Im very skeptical of his approach and snotty attitude like he thinks hes smarter than everyone else. He’s not.
I understand your opinion, and have no rebuttal. I would never lecture you, but I can see myself being stubborn sometimes. Brian lectures.
Gus - we go way back. Im super frustrated and really concerned Stearns is not up to this task. I dont claim to know an answer fir whats the best, but I see worrying signs of a team substantially out of balance and on track to go a way without maximizing the paid for talent we now have. Peace amigo!
Always the best to you buddy! Always!
Juan Soto is like 2 yrs older than Brett Baty. He is part of the youth movement.
I'm breathing normal. The core didn't win in fact they horrible after June 12th. Something needed to be done. The something isn't something that I imagine though, so far. The Mets have a strong farm system and should use it for a SP1 that is controlled for 2-3 years. The Mets have financial resources to sign a free agent outfielder like Bellinger and/or Tucker. I would be very disappointed if the plan is to wait for the minor leaguers to be stars. That plan doesn't work exclusively. A blended plan is my preference.
Holmes
Senga
Peterson
Manaea
Do those four scare anybody? No they dont.
I read an article today that the Dodgers have hit $ 1 billion in deferred payments. The bill will come due. They wont have one Bobby Bonilla, they will have a retirement home full of former players, who are still on the payroll, for decades. It will come back and bite them.
I do not want Skubal for one year for a haul of our prospects, when we can wait 365 days and sign him as a free agent.
And I thought Winker and Siri were bad. Pache is terrible. He has a -1.3 career WAR. I think they need a new stat, losses above replacement. I hope Stearns isnt going to try to sell us with another bill of goods with more science projects. I will still give him the benefit of the doubt, but we will see.
Why does he look at these types? Whatever.