This Wasn't Supposed to Happen Again
Dear Mr. Cohen,
In October 2020, when you purchased a 95% controlling stake of the New York Mets from the Wilpon/Katz Group, I, like most fans, was thrilled because, as a fellow Met fan from early 1970s Great Neck coming off the Wilpon regime with dark memories of M. Donald Grant and the Tom Seaver trade always lurking, my wishes for legitimate, competent financially solvent ownership had finally been granted (and, as I told my life-long Great Neck friend, "Hey! He's one of us!"). I had - and still have - faith that you'll suceed but after nearly 6 years, something has gone awry.
Your approach of building a sustained winning frachice through a strong farm system and responsible spending (at least) is the way the Yankees, Dodgers and Cardinals have been doing it for many decades now. It's the right way and I know it'll work eventually but, in my opinion, there's currently a fly in the ointment by the name of David Stearns who, as president of baseball operations, has set the process back a few years. He's adopted the small-market style that marked his time in Milwaukee (with respectable results but no world championships). Stearns had some success in Cleveland and Houston too, but he appears to have left his edge back there. Meanwhile his current policies of echewing top players in favor of loading up the roster with unknowns, career minor leaguers, reclamation projects and over-the-hillers has the 2026 Mets looking and feeling eerily like the low-budget Mets of M. Donald Grant and the Wilpons. This wasn't supposed to happen again.
Over $1 billion was invested on 2 players, but Stearns has decided to start his minor league rebuild without a vital ingredient: quality veteran players to hold the fort and act as mentors until the kids are ready to take over. That should've been the roles of Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo instead of just shipping them out without thinking it through beforehand. Granted, had they returned it's isn't likely they would've improved at this stage of their careers but that shouldn't have been the sole deciding factor. Then, there's the case for Pete Alonso.
There was absolutely no excuse for letting Pete get away and depriving the fans of watching one of the top sluggers and run-producers in the game. He may not be Keith Hernandez at first base (who is?), but he's worked hard to become reliable around the bag. He's a leader, a class act, a good guy and a promotional goldmine. He's not 35; he's 31 and still in his prime years. .Alonso earned a long-term deal. What more did he have to do? Why did Stearns refuse to sign him despite the virtually limitless budget at his disposal? I know he's trying to pare the payroll but this was an colossal, unwise blunder which Stearns only magnified by trying to convince the fans that Jorge Polanco was a viable replacement instead of swiping Cody Bellinger from the Yankees. Pete Alonso didn't want to leave; he wanted to be and should've been a career Met.
An often overlooked intangible is how the mere presence of a big bat like Alonso's positively affects the rest of the lineup (The same held true for Darryl Strawberry). Even if he's slumping, just the possibilty of a home run from him lent confidence to the hitters and kept opposing pitchers honest. Losing that perk damaged the offense and losing Alonso for nothing was just as destructive to the franchice as the Tom Seaver trade for a variety of reasons. The parallels are impossible to deny.
Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Alonso formed an outstanding 1-2-3 punch but now with Alonso gone and nobody able to step into his role, the considerable talents of Lindor and Soto are going to waste on this team intead of helping the Mets win meaningful games, particularly with both dealing with substantial injury issues this season. [Mark Vientos was supposed to be Alonso's heir apparent but after a slow start following a solid 2023 season, he never got a fair shot at returning to form. Player development has never been a strength of this franchise.]
Promising rookies Benge and Ewing
On the flip-side, Noah McLean, Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing have provided a solid ray of hope for the future (McLean and Benge will garner some Rookie of the Year votes) but it would seem that much brighter if Stearns hadn't traded two oher vaunted prospects (Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams) to his former team for veteran pitcher Freddy Peralta only to trade the predictably disappointing Peralta away six monhs later for three lesser propects, sending the future further in reverse. And what about trading Auisangel Acuna for the perrenially underachieving Luis Robert Jr. who Stearns has had an inexplicaple crush on for two years? Has Stearns ever made a trade for a big-name player? Because that's another similarity he has to the Grant era - questionable trade acumen. And the fact that the Mets have exactly one prospect in MLB's Top 100 makes the future feel that much farther away.
Noah McLean - The Makings of an Ace
This can't go on. As I said, it looks too painfully familiar. I admire your choice to honor Stearns' contract but that shouldn't preclude you from bringing In a legitimate general manager to take over that aspect of the job at hand which includes signing a qualified field manager, of which there are no shortage of candidates.
Enough time has gone by. Now's the time to take serious action. Your public is waiting.
Sincerely,
Josh Silverstein
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