Will Sammon on David Stearns' process
This is a pretty good summary - in my opinion - on how David Stearns will operate the rest of the offseason.
After reaching the NLCS in his second year (sic) leading the Mets, Stearns doled out his three largest contracts with the club: Soto, obviously, plus Frankie Montas (two years, $34 million) and Clay Holmes (three years, $38 million). In the case of Holmes, Stearns used money to beat out other teams interested in converting the All-Star reliever into a starter. Still, that’s not exactly akin to going an extra year on someone like Alex Bregman. It’s more taking a shot on someone based on processes and acting with conviction within guided parameters. Veteran agents often compliment Stearns for his ability to collect information, read the market and then make a decision. He is not easily susceptible to being on the wrong end of a bad contract.
Source: Will Sammon, The Athletic
Ending with quite a compliment to a GM when the adversary is impressed. But even Stearns has made some mistakes and I worry about the whole of Mets fandom now loves Stearns after quite a few players over-performing and they reach the NLCS. What happens if, they lost one more game somewhere along the way and the DBacks got in? What if his signings were good, but they got hurt? What if Lindor didn’t become an MVP candidate and was still good?
I worry about the expectations of a Mets fan and how they will react when the chips don’t fall as they hope.