One Thing David Stearns Knew Heading Into Mets Offseason

Even before the breakup of the New York Mets' franchise core, president of baseball operations David Stearns knew that running back with the same players wasn't going to transpire.

During an appearance on MLB Network on Wednesday, Stearns admitted that heading into the offseason, he had to shake up New York's roster in a massive way.

"When you go into an offseason, this has been through every year of my career, not just this past year, you go into a bunch of different paths that an offseason can take. You never know exactly which path is going to emerge, some of it's in our control, some of it's going to be out of our control," Stearns said.

"We did go into the offseason knowing we weren't going to run back the same group, that it was time for some change on our roster, some change in our organization. We didn't meet our expectations last year; we didn't come close to it and we got to do better," Stearns continued. "Everything we did this offseason was an effort to do better and I think we're going to."

David Stearns on the Mets' busy offseason:

"We went into the offseason knowing we weren't going to run back the same group. It was time for some change."

MLB Network + @SageUSAmerica pic.twitter.com/WLTDXOVU7m
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) February 25, 2026

It was truly a tale of two offseasons for the Mets this winter, who fell well short of expectations this past season after coming within two wins of a World Series appearance in 2024. The offseason shakeup began when the Amazins' traded their longest-tenured player, outfielder Brandon Nimmo, to the Texas Rangers in exchange for veteran infielder Marcus Semien.

The Mets then saw both Edwin Díaz and Pete Alonso depart in free agency in a span of less than 24 hours during the Winter Meetings. Diaz agreed to a three-year, $69 million deal with the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, while Alonso signed a five-year, $155 million contract with the Baltimore Orioles. Not long after the meetings, Jeff McNeil was also dealt to the Athletics.

New York also made profound changes to its coaching staff, moving on from the likes of pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes, bench coach John Gibbons, first base coach Antoan Richardson and third base coach Mike Sarbaugh.

While those offseason departures were stunning to say the least, the Mets were able to fill those voids. They signed relievers Devin Williams and Luke Weaver to fortify the bullpen as part of their earlier offseason activity. In January, however, the Mets began a string of major moves by adding All-Star infielder Bo Bichette on a three-year deal and acquiring outfielder Luis Robert Jr. from the Chicago White Sox for infielder Luisangel Acuña; the Bichette signing is expected to shore up the lineup with Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor, while the Robert trade was made to improve the defense.

The Mets then capped off their spree of splashes by trading for two-time All-Star starting pitcher Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for top prospects Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams. Bringing in Peralta gives the Mets the ace they've needed to headline the rotation, while Myers can bolster their rotation and bullpen depending on how New York wants to utilize him.

As for the new coaching hires, Justin Willard was named the pitching coach, Kai Correa the bench coach, Troy Snitker the hitting coach, Gilbert Gomez as the first base and outfield coach, and Tim Leiper as the third base and infield coach.

With plenty of new faces on both New York's roster and coaching staff, David Stearns seems very confident that with this shakeup, the Mets can not only contend for a playoff spot in 2026 but go on a deep run.

If you like our content, choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google.