When the last-place New York Mets fired manager Carlos Mendoza last week, a follow-up question inevitably surfaced: Would president of baseball operations David Stearns follow Mendoza out the door? The answer from Mets owner Steve Cohen is an emphatic no.
Cohen told the New York Post on Wednesday that he is not considering dismissing Stearns, who is in the third year of a five-year contract, despite a second straight disappointing season.
"We'll figure out what changes that need to be made," Cohen said. "But the change that's not gonna be made is moving David out at this point. I'm just not gonna do it."
Cohen bought the team in November 2020 and said not winning a World Series in three to five years would register as disappointing. He viewed Stearns, previously with the Milwaukee Brewers, as the person to transform the Mets into a consistent winner, akin to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and targeted him for years before hiring him at the end of the 2023 season.
In Stearns' first full season, the Mets unexpectedly reached the National League Championship Series in 2024, falling two games short of the World Series. Last year, however, they collapsed from having the best record in baseball in mid-June to out of the postseason in Juan Soto's first season after signing a 15-year, $765 million contract.
"Does he get any credit for '24?" Cohen said. "Does that not count? We almost made it to the World Series, and that was just two years ago. So, it's a mixed record, OK? I'm not going to say it's going great. But it's too early to really make evaluations, and I feel really strongly that if we're going to burn and churn, it's a terrible place to be. And every time you burn and churn, guess what? The next time, nobody wants to come.
"Is someone going to put their career in your hands if you're going to be short-term oriented? And, yeah, I have a contract. It's a five-year contract. And we're going to live that contract out. "
The Mets entered this season again with the second-highest payroll in the majors and World Series expectations after a transformative offseason under Stearns' direction in response to the catastrophic 2025.
Stearns oversaw a thorough makeover that began with dismissing most of Mendoza's coaching staff before the team's veteran core was overhauled. The Mets' four longest-tenured players were gone by Jan. 1; Stearns traded Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil; Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz exited via free agency. Francisco Lindor and Soto were left standing as the team's cornerstone players.
He acquired second baseman Marcus Semien from the Texas Rangers in a one-for-one trade for Nimmo, center fielder Luis Robert Jr. from the Chicago White Sox for infielder Luisangel Acuna and a minor league pitcher, and right-handers Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers from the Brewers for two top prospects.
Steans signed Bo Bichette, a shortstop in his seven seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, to a three-year, $126 million contract to play third base. Jorge Polanco, a middle infielder for his 12-year career, was added on a two-year, $40 million deal to replace Alonso at first base. Former Yankees relievers Devin Williams and Luke Weaver were signed to form the back end of the Mets' bullpen.
Most of the moves, thanks to underperformance and injuries, have produced debilitating results. The Mets entered their series finale against the Blue Jays with a 36-50 record. They're 14.5 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the NL East and 10 games from the final NL wild-card spot. FanGraphs calculates they have a 3.8% of reaching the postseason, the fifth-lowest odds in the NL. But Cohen believes Stearns can rebound and put the Mets back on track.
"I'm going forward with David as our leader," Cohen said. "There's no guarantees in anything. I'm going to evaluate this as we go along. And, listen, David knows that it hasn't worked out the way he thought it would work out, the way I thought it would work out. He'd be the first one to admit that he's made some mistakes."
