The team that David Stearns was most responsible for on opening day at Citi Field won.
Unfortunately for the 42,137 in attendance, it was the Brewers.
The three best players on the field Friday afternoon were Freddy Peralta, Christian Yelich and Jackson Cholio, two of the best trades Sterns has made in his seven-plus years running the Brewers’ baseball operations. and represents the best amateur international signings.
If these are the future attractions that Stearns is able to build during his time managing the Mets, then all will be well in the long run. But the Mets’ offense was booed late in a 3-1 loss, hours after manager Steve Cohen reiterated that a successful season would depend on making the playoffs in 2024.
Of course, these weren’t the entire Mets. J.D. Martinez, who signed with Stearns, is still more than a week away from joining Pete Alonso. Jose Quintana started the Mets’ opening game instead of Kodai Chiga, who is unlikely to return before June.
However, the Brewers traded their ace, Corbin Burnes, the highest draft pick of Stearns’ tenure, to Baltimore during the offseason, and as he recovers from shoulder surgery, he will not be available until 2024. They will likely be without No. 2 starter Brandon Woodruff for the season. But Peralta was a dynamic number three and now an ace. It’s a staff machine that Stearns acquired from Seattle in December 2015 for Adam Lind’s fading memory.
Peralta hit a home run to Starling Marte in the second inning. Marte was a ray of hope on Opening Day for the Mets, hitting three hard balls after an injury-interrupted 2023 and a healthy but worrisome spring training. On the silver lining, Marte’s home run was the only hit the Mets produced, two fewer than Yelich, who homered to a left-handed batter in the fourth inning against Quintana.
Stearns acquired Yelich in a four-player package during the sale that sent Giancarlo Stanton (among others) to the Yankees, which proved ineffective, especially for the future National League MVP. As for Chourio, Stearns said the Brewers’ international scouting department had been keeping a close eye on him for years before officially signing the outfielder for $1.9 million in January 2021.
Matt Arnold replaced Sterns this offseason, and Milwaukee gave Chourio the richest contract in history for a player who had never played in the majors (eight years, $80 million). That’s exactly what he believed in the player who, at 20 years and 18 days old, became the youngest starting pitcher since Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre in 1999. Chorio responded with a hit, a walk, an RBI force out, a stolen base, and two strong defense innings. Right fielder.
Stearns just didn’t have the time to imprint the Mets in the same way. His plan, sanctified when Coach Cohen hired him after last season, was to be no bolder in free agency than trying to sign 25-year-old Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who went to the Dodgers. Instead, it was to emphasize long-term roster flexibility and a desire to meet young players while aiming to qualify for the October tournament. Therefore, No. 9 hitter Harrison Bader was the only one among the Mets’ starting 10 to get Stearns. At this point, Sterns’ influence on the Mets is still more philosophical than overt.
Nevertheless, enthusiasm and a packed crowd greeted the day. Edwin Diaz, who missed all of last season, received the most enthusiastic applause during his pregame introduction. Cohen and Stearns presented a version of what they believed the 2024 club composition would be in terms of both talent and temperament. He also believes in the depth of the minor leagues, another factor that can play across at most 162 teams.
But in Game 1, after Marte’s home run, the Brewers’ pitching slowly drained the energy and joy from the crowd. Fans rejoin when Jeff McNeil takes exception to a late, legal slide by former Phillies nemesis Reese Hoskins, leading to taunts from the second baseman and jeers from Hoskins, and empty benches and bullpens. did.
The problem was that the Mets’ offense didn’t refocus and reinvigorate. Two hours before the first pitch and his debut as a major league manager, Carlos Mendoza was asked what he was most looking forward to about Opening Day and answered, “The trumpets.” But it turned out to be too arrogant and optimistic.
Like the Mets’ offense, the “Narco” trumpet announcing Edwin Diaz’s entrance remained silent for another day. Instead, the Mets fell to 6-6 after the McNeil-Hoskins showdown. Abner Uribe, filling in for injured All-Star closer Devin Williams, needed just 11 pitches in nine innings to shut out the Mets.
Oh yeah, Williams was drafted during the Stearns administration, and Uribe was signed as an international amateur.
