Why David Stearns is remaking the Mets’ core

The New York Mets are going to look a lot different in 2026. After watching Edwin Diaz walk in free agency on Tuesday, the Mets saw their other top free agent depart on Wednesday as Pete Alonso finally landed the long-term deal he was seeking with the Baltimore Orioles.

Orioles, 1B Pete Alonso reportedly agree to 5-year deal, per multiple reports including MLB's @Feinsand. pic.twitter.com/joQjttQhXG
— MLB (@MLB) December 10, 2025

Those two join Brandon Nimmo, who was dealt to Texas earlier in the offseason, as three core Mets no longer on the team. The current Met with the longest tenure is Jeff McNeil, whose name has been floating around in trade rumors since the Mets acquired Marcus Semien to take his position in the Nimmo trade.

Ron Darling on the loss of Pete Alonso:

“You’ve now paid, unless you get a bat, Juan Soto to walk 150 times a year.”
pic.twitter.com/0vE6oKTy8s
— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) December 10, 2025

Those four players, alongside Francisco Lindor, were the core of the team since Steve Cohen bought it after the 2020 season. If the Mets do trade McNeil and David Peterson, who has been a steady presence since his big league debut in 2020, Lindor would now become the longest tenured player on the team.

David Peterson is reportedly "generating interest" as a potential trade candidate https://t.co/LC35BawMwH pic.twitter.com/EUrqQATK5A
— SNY (@SNYtv) December 9, 2025

The fanbase is not thrilled with all of these long-time Mets moving on, but what has become clear is that David Stearns did not think this core is good enough to invest in for the long haul. The group has largely underachieved in its time, making only two postseason appearances in six years, while staging end-of-season collapses in 2021, 2022 (which was one of their two playoff appearances) and 2025.

David Stearns has a lot of pressure to build the Mets into a consistent contender

While Stearns did show some level of interest in keeping Diaz and Alonso, he was only willing to do it on his terms, which involved shorter deals at higher salaries. A lot of the players the Mets have moved on from are in their early 30s, meaning longer-term deals are buying into decline years that could hamper Stearns' team-building efforts.

"Our resources that we have here are an enormous advantage. As long as we allocate those resources intelligently, they're going to continue to be an enormous advantage. I think Steve gives us everything we need to have not only a great roster, but a competitive organization in… pic.twitter.com/xQZupH0msy
— SNY (@SNYtv) December 9, 2025

The 2025 Mets' collapse was often compared to the infamous 2007 collapse, which led to calls then to break up the core group, with WFAN's Mike Francesa infamously saying that the Mets' core was rotten. The Mets stayed the course with their group and didn't make the postseason again until 2015, although injury luck and the Wilpons' financial issues following the Madoff saga didn't help the cause.

Stearns took the opposite tactic, seeing a core that underwhelmed yet again and deciding to take the opportunity to shake up the room to build a team more in his image. The Milwaukee Brewers have proven that the philosophy Stearns built can win a lot of baseball games, which is something to consider when you can add stars like Lindor and Juan Soto to the top of that formula.

There are still plenty of quality players on the market who could help the Mets, including Robert Suarez and Pete Fairbanks for the bullpen along with hitters like Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger. Some of the money the Mets figured to allocate towards Alonso and Diaz will be redirected to new talent, but exactly what pieces the team will add remains to be seen.

There were portions of the Mets' fanbase online clamoring for a core shakeup during the 2025 collapse and that same group of fans is now upset seeing what a shakeup actually looks like. Stearns has definitely aggravated a vocal segment of the fanbase, which could impact ticket sales for 2026 after the Mets got a record number of fans into Citi Field last year, and it is unfair to make a final judgment on his decision making until we see what the 2026 team actually looks like.

Mets fans may sing a different tune if Stearns brings in Kyle Tucker and trades for an ace. If the Mets spend money on guys like Michael King and Eugenio Suarez, who would help to some degree, the fanbase would be significantly underwhelmed and could become apathetic when the season starts.

It does take some guts to make unpopular decisions and Stearns undoubtedly has the backing of Cohen, who waited three years to hire him to build a consistent winner in Flushing. The core group earned a reprieve after their strong finish in 2024 and even saw a big addition with Soto, but reverting to underwhelming performance in 2025 made it easy for Stearns to justify moving on from longtime Mets who haven't come through in the clutch enough.

It is fair for fans to be angry at Stearns but he does deserve a chance to see his plan to build a better Mets team come to fruition. Stearns has chosen to believe what the core showed him, that it wasn't good enough to get over the hump, and is now taking the less popular road to build a team he thinks can consistently contend for championships. Time will tell if these choices were the correct ones.

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David Stearns has a lot of pressure to build the Mets into a consistent contender

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