Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- One executive has brought rare stability to the Mets' front office after years of frequent leadership changes.
- His past success with limited resources suggests he could unlock the Mets' higher payroll potential.
- The team's current struggles involve uncontrollable factors that don't fully reflect on his long-term vision.
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen made it crystal clear that David Stearns isn't going anywhere anytime soon, even as the team goes through a wildly disappointing season. This, predictably, was met with a ton of vitriol from a frustrated fan base, and understandably so. Stearns was seen by many as the executive who'd get the Mets over their World Series hump, and while they nearly made it to the Fall Classic in 2024, they endured a stunning collapse in 2025 and are likely going to be sellers at this year's trade deadline. Stearns had one really good year followed by two inexplicably bad ones.
David Stearns' job is safe, as he is going to "live out" the reminder of his five-year contract as president of baseball operations with the Mets, says Steve Cohen on The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) July 1, 2026
Stearns is in the middle of his third season with the organization… pic.twitter.com/OKJtrLQvht
While Mets fans have a right to be frustrated, there are reasons to believe they're making the right by keeping Stearns around.
David Stearns has a strong track record, even with the Mets
There's a reason Stearns was so highly touted. He took over a Milwaukee Brewers franchise that has always had limited resources and had made just two playoff appearances in the previous three decades and guided them to five postseason berths in a six-year span. Sure, the Brewers never did much in those playoff trips, but simply getting them there as consistently as he did is a major accomplishment — and understandably gives reason to believe that he can lead a team with far more resources to similar levels of sustained success.
Stearns obviously hasn't had that kind of success with the Mets, at least not yet, but it's easy to see a path toward contention. New York has cornerstone pieces in Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor locked in long-term. They have young players such as Nolan McLean, Carson Benge and AJ Ewing, among others, who seem poised to be high-end contributors for the long haul. The foundation is there.
Things have not been pretty of late, but Stearns thrived in Milwaukee and did some really good things for his first 1.5 years with the Mets. Should a poor 1.5 years afterward really lead to a change?
Recent Mets struggles aren't entirely on him
Stearns has caught a ton of heat lately, and I don't fully blame fans for being disappointed with him. He's made a lot of mistakes, from not properly addressing the starting rotation two years in a row to pursuing injury-prone players to botching the 2025 trade deadline. But is every whiff really on him?
Did anyone expect Bo Bichette, a consistent All-Star-caliber hitter in Toronto, to perform like one of the worst hitters in the sport this season? Did anyone expect Freddy Peralta to have the worst season of his career? Did anyone expect the Ryan Helsley trade to backfire the way it did last year? Did anyone expect guys like David Peterson and Kodai Senga, who were pitching like All-Stars, to collapse in the way they have? Did anyone expect the injuries to pile up to this extent?
Are there things Stearns can be doing better? Absolutely. The 2026 offseason in particular was mostly disastrous. Should he be absolved of blame for what's transpired in recent months? Absolutely not. A lot has gone wrong that he simply cannot control, though, and that needs to be taken into account.
Too much turnover is not a good thing
Part of what made the Stearns hire such an exciting one was that the Mets were finally going to have a sense of stability at the top of the organization. New York has lacked any sort of stability at the head of their baseball operations since Sandy Alderson stepped down in the middle of the 2018 season.
Year | Mets Executive |
|---|---|
2018 (second half) | John Ricco/Omar Minaya/J.P. Riccardi (interim) |
2019-2020 | Brodie Van Wagenen |
2021 | Jared Porter |
2021 | Zack Scott (interim) |
2021 | Sandy Alderson (interim) |
2022-2023 | Billy Eppler |
2024-2026 | David Stearns |
Stearns has been at the helm for 2.5 years, and that already is a longer tenure than anyone else running the show has had since Alderson stepped down. The lack of stability here is jarring.
If Cohen were to fire Stearns, who'd want to take this job knowing that there's a good chance you'll lose it in two or three years? At a certain point, you need to let an executive stay for a while and see through his vision, for better or for worse. Cycling through executives only makes your organization look completely dysfunctional. And if you're going to let an executive stay for a while, you might as well make it the guy on a $50 million contract who has an outstanding track record and has done some good things already.
Stearns' seat should be hot, but the Mets are justified in not wanting to pull the plug ... yet.
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