I believe that if there were no such thing as fans that David Stearns would have traded Pete Alonso, Edwin Díaz and Brandon Nimmo upon taking over Mets baseball operations following the 2023 season.
Being a native New Yorker who grew up a Mets fan, he knew what the reaction would be: Namely, that even with his New York/Mets bona fides, Stearns would be criticized for a small-market mentality brought from Milwaukee. And that was no way to open his regime.
Then the Mets had a magical run to the 2024 NLCS, so Stearns couldn’t break up the team then. Thus, it wasn’t until this offseason — after one of the most disappointing years in franchise history — that Stearns could obey his instincts. Even with the dismaying result, Stearns still understood the noise that would come (and has come) from moving off fan favorites, notably Alonso.
But anyone who has talked to Stearns since the season ended heard a version that the on-field performance by the Mets in Steve Cohen’s five seasons of ownership has not justified the money invested. He did not believe keeping this core — notably the positional core — intact would bring sustained success. He thought substantial positional change — notably improving on defense and working in youngsters — was vital.
