David Stearns gets honest about Mets failing trade deadline acquisitions

New York Mets front office whiz David Stearns addressed the struggles of two trade deadline acquisitions.

Dec 12, 2024; Flushing, NY, USA; New York Mets general manager David Stearns speaks to the media during a Juan Soto introductory press conference at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

While the New York Mets made several trades in the hours, days, and weeks leading up to the 2025 MLB trade deadline, two of them were expected to be the most impactful for this franchise's chances of finding success this season.

The first of these was when the Mets' front office acquired outfielder Cedric Mullins from the Baltimore Orioles. While Mullins hadn't been an elite offensive presence during the 2025 campaign before getting traded, he was a great defender and was viewed as a clear offensive upgrade from the Mets' other natural center fielders.

Read more: Mets outfielder predicted to join AL contender in free agency

The second (and arguably the biggest) was New York acquiring former St. Louis Cardinals closer and 2024 NL Reliever of the Year, Ryan Helsley, who has proven to be one of the most electric relief pitchers in the sport across the past two seasons, and was on his way to another great campaign with the Cardinals before he was dealt.

Neither of these trades has aged well for New York. Mullins has a .174 average with a .556 OPS since getting traded (and is 0 for his last 26, heading into the Mets' September 9 game against the Phillies), and Helsley has a brutal 10.50 ERA in 15 appearances for his new team.

Aug 15, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets relief pitcher Ryan Helsley (56) reacts after being taken out of the game against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

David Stearns Sends Clear Message About Helsey and Mullins' Struggles

Nobody could have predicted that Helsley and Mullins would have performed as poorly as they have since coming to New York. However, if there was somebody who was supposed to predict this performance, it would be the Mets' president of baseball operations, David Stearns.

And Stearns spoke about both players' struggles to the New York Post, which was conveyed in a September 9 article from Jon Heyman.

Stearns said that he believes Mullins is an above-average player who has just struggled to find a rhythm since coming to New York. Yet, there's still a lot of baseball left to play, and Stearns is confident that Mullins is going to be an important part of the team's success for the rest of this year.

Mets haven’t come close to Phillies’ deadline grand slam — and it has cost them dearly https://t.co/pt5UpzmTx6 pic.twitter.com/E7zaJPDh5C

— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) September 9, 2025

He also noted that players are going to go through ups and downs, and that an unavoidable aspect of making trade deadline deals is that a player's down period could be in the short amount of time a front office acquired them for.

As for Helsley, Stearns simply said that he's an extremely talented player, and that type of talent usually rises to the top and perseveres eventually.

While it would have been hard to imagine Stearns putting either new player on blast, it's good to hear he's still optimistic that Mullins and Helsley can right the ship before the 2025 campaign concludes.