Inside The Mets

What Mets’ David Stearns had to say at GM Meetings

The Mets' president of baseball operations had plenty to say on Tuesday at the GM meetings.
Logan VanDine|
Jul 30, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns speaks to the media about the MLB trade deadline before a game against the Minnesota Twins at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Jul 30, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns speaks to the media about the MLB trade deadline before a game against the Minnesota Twins at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

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For the first time since his end-of-the-year press conference, New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns spoke about what the ballclub's plans will be during the GM meetings on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

It will undoubtedly be a pivotal offseason for Stearns after the Mets fell well short of their expectations this past season. While Pete Alonso's and Edwin Díaz's futures remain the two most important questions that Mets fans would like to have answered, there was plenty more Stearns had to offer to the press when asked about how the 2026 Mets will look.

Mets On SI has got you covered with some of the key takeaways from Stearns' press conference at the GM meetings.

The new look coaching staff

The Mets will have a new look coaching staff next year.
Sep 28, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza (64) watches from the dugout against the Miami Marlins during the eighth inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

New York will have an entirely new coaching staff next season to work alongside manager Carlos Mendoza and was asked about the hiring of Kai Correa as the bench coach, along with Jeff Albert as the leader of New York's hitting program.

"Jeff is obviously a very familiar face to our organization," Stearns said. "He's done a great job impacting our hitters at the development landscape, has a great deal of familiarity with a number of the players who are at the major league level and was really a natural fit for us."

"Kai comes to us as really one of the best defensive coaching minds in the game," Stearns added. "Someone who has established himself with a reputation from people he's worked with, players he's coached repeatedly...we are ecstatic to be able to add all those guys to our staff."

The future of Pete Alonso and Edwin Díaz

Both Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz are free agents.
Aug 4, 2022; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) celebrates with relief pitcher Edwin Diaz (39) after defeating the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

After both Alonso and Díaz officially opted out of their contracts to become free agents, Stearns made it very clear when asked if he would like to bring back the two All-Stars.

"We love both Pete and Edwin," he said. "They've been great representatives of the organization. We'd love to have them both back. At this stage of the offseason, it's really tough to predict any outcomes, but certainly we would love to have both of those guys back."

Improving the defense

The Mets' defense struggled last year.
May 28, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil (1) makes a fielding error during the second inning against the Chicago White Sox at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Boland-Imagn Images | Lucas Boland-Imagn Images

This was something that Stearns was adamant about at the end of the regular season, as the Mets' defense was not sharp at all and was a factor in the team missing the postseason. He made that very clear yet again on Tuesday, sending a message to the current players on the team in how they need to play better.

"We're going to need our current group of players to play better defense. The brand of baseball that we played over the last two months of the season wasn't close to good enough."

Read More: Historic Edwin Diaz contract could spell trouble for Mets

Potentially calling up this top prospect

It's no secret that the Mets have a lot of young talent in their farm system who are poised to be a part of the club's future down the road. Stearns, however, seemed to indicate that some of those top prospects could get their first taste in the major leagues next season, most notably New York's No. 2-ranked prospect, outfielder Carson Benge.

"Carson Benge is going to come into Spring Training with a chance to make our team and we'll see where the offseason takes us beyond that."

Kodai Senga's future

Can Kodai Senga bounce back next season?
Aug 8, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga (34) looks on during a mound visit in the fifth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

After another disappointing and injury-plagued season, 2026 is expected to be a pivotal season for Kodai Senga. He pitched at a Cy Young-caliber level during the first half of last year, but greatly struggled upon returning from injury during the second half of the season.

Despite conceding after the season that it's unlikely that Senga can make 30 starts next year, Stearns still sees the "Ghost Fork" pitcher as a part of their rotation.

"Right now we view Senga as part of our rotation," Stearns said of Senga. "The talent is there, the desire is certainly there to have a bounce-back year. We're going to give him every opportunity to do that."

Mark Vientos' struggles

Mark Vientos struggled last year.
Sep 21, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets third baseman Mark Vientos (27) reacts after striking out against the Washington Nationals during the fourth inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images | John Jones-Imagn Images

After a breakout 2024 season in which he hit a career-high 27 home runs and took charge as the Mets' most productive hitter during their postseason run, Mark Vientos had a disappointing 2025 season. Despite being New York's starting third baseman to begin last year, his struggles both offensively and defensively resulted in Brett Baty taking over as the starting third baseman; Baty put together a career year with the bat and showed off his stellar glove at the hot corner.

However, Stearns all but confirmed that Vientos will get an opportunity to redeem himself next year, even with the Mets' abundance of infield options.

"I think he's very motivated to prove that last year is the outlier and he's much closer to the player that we saw in 2024. Regardless of how our roster shakes out, there's going to be opportunity."

Brett Baty will get 'significant time' at third base in 2026

Brett Baty is expected to be the Mets' third baseman next year.
Sep 7, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; New York Mets third baseman Brett Baty (7) high fives teammates after hitting a solo home run in the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images | Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

As for the aforementioned Baty, Stearns gave an early indication that the 25-year-old will be the Mets' starting third baseman on Opening Day.

"Going into the offseason, he's probably someone we would pencil in for significant third base time next year. He earned more and more opportunity as the year went on; he's going to continue to get that."

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Logan VanDine
LOGAN VANDINE

Logan VanDine is a contributing writer for On SI's Mets. Logan is a graduate of Rider University where he majored in Sports Media and minored in Sports Studies. During his time at Rider, Logan worked for Rider's radio station, 107.7 The Bronc as a sports host, producer and broadcaster, and for the school's paper: The Rider News. He began his time with The Rider News as a section writer for sports and was a copy editor for two years followed by being one of the sports editors during his senior year. Logan also placed third in the New Jersey Press Foundation Awards for sports feature writing. Aside from his work at On SI, he is also a writer for FanSided covering the New York Giants and Mets and also covers the Giants for Total Apex Sports. Give him a follow on X: @VandineLogan

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