When David Stearns addressed the media on April 29, a few days after the Mets had snapped their 12-game losing streak, the club’s president of baseball of operations wanted to make sure that the skid did not define the team.
“It’s really tough for me to take two weeks, even in two weeks where we didn’t win a baseball game, but take two weeks and say that’s going to dramatically alter who we think we are,” Stearns said. “I still think we’re a good team.”
Advertisement
Later that night, the Mets were walloped by the Nationals to fall to 10-20.
Two weeks later, the Mets had stumbled on the tail end of their west coast trip, dropping two out of three to the Diamondbacks after scoring a combined two runs in the defeats. Stearns stepped to the podium with the Mets sitting at 15-25.
“I think we have the talent on the roster and the character on the roster to make a run,” Stearns said. “We’ve got a lot of season left. I’m not going to say it’s early. It’s not. We’re a quarter into the season. It’s not early anymore, but we do have enough season left to make a run, and I think we have the talent to do that.”
On Friday afternoon, Stearns took a seat in the press conference room at Citi Field. The Mets sat at 23-33 at the bottom of the NL East standings.
Advertisement
Noticing a trend?
But now, the realization is setting in for the Mets that unless something drastic happens in the win and loss column or their identity will be defined in an ugly way.
“We have not had a good year so far. There’s no question,” Stearns said. “We’re not where we thought we would be. We’ve dug ourselves a hole. It’s not an insurmountable hole but it’s definitely a hole, and we’re gonna have to play better baseball to do what we want to do this year.”
In the past, there has been talk about players playing to the back of the baseball card or to their “custom levels.”
Advertisement
As the offense has sputtered, the Mets have not seen the step in production that they might have hoped from Mark Vientos and Brett Baty, who have shown at points in their careers – Vientos in 2024 and Baty in the second half of 2025 – they can be a cornerstone of the offense. Both have a sub-.700 OPS.
Sean Manaea‘s regrrssion led to his demotion to the bullpen heading into the 2026 season despite his lucrative $75 million contract. Kodai Senga has been hit by injuries and inconsistent performance since his stellar 2023 campaign.
Those performances and absences loom large.
“I think in certain situations that we’ve encountered, we think we know the reasons and are working, and in certain cases, we don’t,” Stearns said. “That’s the reality of what baseball is, the reality of player evaluations and the reality of trying to help players get the best out of themselves and the most out of any individual team.”
Advertisement
It would be wrong to ignore the injuries.
The front office was counting on the usually-durable Francisco Lindor to be a lineup cornerstone, alongside Juan Soto and Bo Bichette. The injury bug bit down again and contaminated the upside of Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr. early in the season.
“We’ve had an enormous amount of potential impact in our lineup on the IL pretty much for the entire season,” Stearns said. “That has put some other players in positions that we did not expect them to be in, to take impact and regular playing time at times that we didn’t expect to be in. It’s had an impact. It’s also our responsibility to overcome that and we need to do that.”
So as Stearns addressed the state of the team on the heels of back-to-back series losses to the Marlins and Reds, the line of questioning took on a different tenor.
Advertisement
When would trades be considered? Should prospects be called up to assess their readiness? How does the trade market look?
For right now, Stearns provided a similar counter: “We’re not there yet. We’ve got time.”
Soon, the Mets could have Polanco back after he played in his second rehab game on Friday night. Francisco Alvarez and Francisco Lindor are each progressing, with the former nearing a rehab assignment well ahead of schedule for his torn meniscus.
The injury report will no longer be there as an excuse. And if the Mets are 10 games under .500 when Stearns strides into the room next homestand, the long-term questions will deserve some answers.
Because right now, not much has changed week to week.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: As David Stearns advises patience, it continues to be deja vu for Mets
