The New York Mets on Monday officially offered David Stearns as their new president of baseball operations. Stearns, the previous Brewers lead govt, and membership proprietor Steve Cohen held a press convention the day after the workforce concluded its extremely disappointing 2023 season. The Mets led baseball with a payroll topping $343 million in 2023 and completed fourth within the NL East.
Stearns will be the highest decision-maker in baseball operations for the Mets, and basic supervisor Billy Eppler will file to him. The addition of Stearns alerts a brand new era for the Mets and heralds adjustments to the techniques they make group of workers selections. The specifics of this stay to be noticed, after all, however Stearns and Cohen of their presser did supply a few hints at what the approaching offseason and longer-term future may grasp.
First, Cohen, whilst now not essentially committing to spending large as soon as once more, stated the purpose is for the workforce to be “competitive” in 2024.
“We’re going to be competitive. I’m not going to get out in front of that decision,” Cohen stated. “I’ve got a new person here that’s going to help me think about things, and I look forward to having those conversations.”
Presumably this interprets to an effort to contend in 2024, as hostile to some more or less teardown or softer reset. This is not in particular unexpected given the Mets’ roster basis, the workforce’s 101-win marketing campaign in 2022, and Cohen’s proclivities, however the phrases stay notable.
Related to all of that’s the standing of slugging first baseman Pete Alonso, some of the workforce’s most well liked gamers and an organizational lifer. Alonso, who turns 29 in December, stays a frontline energy hitter, however his standing shifting ahead is unsure since 2024 will be his stroll yr. In the absence of a freelance extension, it is appeared believable that the Mets would entertain buying and selling Alonso in order that they may be able to get extra in go back for him than a compensatory draft select throughout the qualifying-offer machine.
For his section, Stearns did his highest to quash any Alonso industry scuttle. On Monday, Stearns said:
“I think the entire package weighs into it. Pete is a great player, he is also good in the clubhouse, and he is also home grown. All of that matters.
“I do know over the summer time there was once some industry hypothesis, and glance I’ll simply say I be expecting Pete to be the Opening Day first baseman subsequent yr. Pete’s crucial member of this workforce, he is crucial member of this group, and I believe we are actually lucky to have him.”
While there’s some room for maneuvering in there — “I be expecting” as opposed to “I ensure” or some such — it’s a pretty clear statement of intentions from Stearns. Whether this also amounts to a more vigorous effort to re-sign Alonso is left unstated, as is whether his trade status could be revisited should the Mets stumble in the early weeks and months of the 2024 season.
Before any true decision point with Alonso comes to pass, Stearns and Cohen must get around to hiring Buck Showalter’s substitute within the dugout. For a very long time, it is been speculated that Stearns as head of the Mets would strive to entice his former skipper Craig Counsell clear of the Brewers. With Counsell’s contract expiring with Milwaukee, that each one turns out completely believable. However, Counsell may be a Wisconsin local, and he is wildly fashionable and protected in his present position. To get previous the ones realities at this juncture is to take pleasure in mind-reading.
As for Stearns, he is predictably now not tipping his hand on the managerial entrance simply but:
He did recommend that having a supervisor in position by means of, say, December when roster churn is most likely to start in earnest is a probability, however past that it is an emphasis on procedure and due diligence. Suffice it to say, the Mets’ “manager watch” will be some of the tales of the early offseason and Stearns’ first large check as the workforce’s entrance place of job chief.
Of route, it is just one of the assessments forward for Stearns, who takes the helm with top expectancies and, indubitably, a mandate to win.