If the average Mets fan was appalled by how the 2025 team disintegrated in their strange, slow-bleed collapse, we no longer need to ask how Mets decision-makers felt. Their verdict is written all over the transaction pages of wintertime.
Gone are the guts of that squad, a quartet of the longest-tenured Mets. Arrived is a new-look roster that’s about as talented — they are again fairly seen as among National League favorites even if they still don’t look close to the favorite — as the very one that was just gutted.
The redone 2026 Mets should win 90 or so games, same as the previous team was supposed to win before it wrote its infamous ending. They are a team to rival the Phillies and Braves at the top of a winnable division.
The difference is, well, a lot. No one is sure who first said change is good, but you know Mets honcho David Stearns believes it. Many of the players who witnessed (and participated in) the slow-motion disintegration that may be discussed for decades are gone. The roster is new, and they hope the narrative is, too.
