David Stearns did a great job in his first assignment. With Steve Cohen’s blessing, he laid out a big-picture strategy to make the current team good enough to make the postseason while not straining future salary or roster space.
He was successful. Short-term deals with Harrison Bader, Sean Manaea and Luis Severino worked out well, as did the additions of Jose Iglesias and Luis Torrens to add depth to the roster.
Now Stearns has to give credit to a group that is New York’s best team in head-to-head play, a faltering Braves team that is over .500, its best record of the season, and just 1 1/2 games behind Atlanta for the wild-card spot, entering a four-game stretch at Citi Field starting Thursday.
The Mets aren’t in a desperate bid to qualify for the tournament in October, and home-field advantage in the first round is not a pipe dream.
Mets players have kind of been screaming at Stearns that Phil Mutton has been great over the past eight weeks, but they want him to play better than the bargain-basement version. They’ve outperformed the Yankees on the field so much that Stearns has given up the symbolic challenge of outselling Brian Cashman between now and Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline.
Both teams are looking for a relief pitcher, maybe two. Why should the Mets give in? Oakland closer Mason Miller is unlikely to be traded, but his strong setup pitcher, Lucas Erceg, could be moved. The Rays have relievers Jason Adams, Peter Fairbanks and others. Once Imi Garcia is deemed fully recovered from his elbow problem, Blue Jays teammate Chad Green could be available, or Angels closer Carlos Estevez or Marlins closer Tanner Scott could be available. Well, you get the idea.
Stocks are in. And not only did the Mets beat the Yankees four straight times in the Subway Series, they dominated them and humiliated them with a 12-3 thumping on Wednesday night.
Afterwards, I asked Severino if watching this team play convinced Stearns and his guys to aggressively add depth, and he replied, “100%. Nobody expected us to be in this situation, and we’ve shown everybody what we’re made of, and we can get better.”
Stearns was hired in part because his résumé and intellect show he won’t let the emotion of the moment sway him from a disciplined path. I get it. I get it. But this franchise has only been to the playoffs 10 times, and just three in the past 17 seasons. When I asked him Tuesday before this round of the Subway Series how things were going in general, Stearns replied, “You know, I want to get to the playoffs.”
Great. It’s for him and the team. This isn’t a mortgage-the-future choice, but they could move a piece or three to shore up the bullpen and add another outfield hitter. It’s unclear if Christian Scott (elbow) will be back this year, so that should eliminate the idea of selling and acquiring Jose Quintana and/or Manaea at the same time. This team should be a playoff contender.
A clubhouse well positioned for the playoffs is counting on the front office to live up to that expectation by improving the product. And Carlos Mendoza and his group have done just that, rallying from 11 games below .500 on June 2 to post their best record since then (29-13), including a 4-0 streak against a Yankees team that has been desperate to be a big buyer at the deadline. But the Yankees’ 10-22 slump since June 15 is a leaky dam everywhere, from Gerrit Cole’s 5.40 ERA after getting thrashed again by the Mets, to seven positions in the lineup, to a bullpen that’s been a concern since George Steinbrenner Field.
The Yankees play three games at Fenway Park over the weekend. Boston is in first place in the American League playoff standings, just 4¹/₂ games behind the Yankees. The Yankees aren’t in a much more comfortable position to edge out the playoffs than the Mets, especially judging by the way they’ve been playing.
The Mets in particular have been playing amazingly well. Forget about the tenants, for two days in July the Mets were the Bronx bombers in zip code 10451, hitting six home runs to the Yankees’ two. In four games on the subway, they outscored the Yankees 14-6.
Their lineup is much longer than the Yankees’, despite Starling Marte being out and Francisco Alvarez and J.D. Martinez struggling. The Mets may not have a pair of MVP candidates like Juan Soto or Aaron Judge, but Francisco Lindor, who hit two home runs on Wednesday, looks increasingly like a top-five candidate. Kodai Senga, the Mets’ 2023 ace, makes his 2024 debut on Friday, and Stearns needs to add a top outside player to bolster his staff.
They are playing this season, not the season they imagined, and the season the Mets are playing calls for Stearns to revise his instructions.
