One Offseason Mistake the Mets Cannot Afford to Repeat

The New York Mets have been risky with some of their big-league pickups in the past few years. David Stearns needs to avoid that mistake if the Mets want to contend in 2027.

David Stearns has made plenty of risky moves for the Mets that have backfired, such as signing Frankie Montas. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Milwaukee Brewers' deep October run should offer some credence to the model David Stearns is trying to build with the New York Mets. Fans have been impressed with how athletic and capable the Brewers are offensively and defensively, and the Mets are starting to resemble that vision with the addition of two-way players like Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing to their everyday lineup.

One of Milwaukee's core tenets of its team-building philosophy is a belief in finding undervalued players from other teams and utilizing their skills to enhance the team as a whole. Some recent value adds for the Brewers came in the form of Jake Bauers, who hit 27 home runs after signing a minor league deal, and Andrew Vaughn, whom they got as a salary dump from the Chicago White Sox last year.

Stearns has also tried to find value adds for the Mets, particularly in the pitching department, since taking over as President of Baseball Operations late in 2023. One big issue, however, is that Stearns has made very expensive bets on project players that have backfired far more often than they have hit.

Why the Mets should be taking on fewer "fix-it" projects this winter

One reason Milwaukee has explored the idea of taking on undervalued players and fixing them is due to payroll constraints. The Brewers play in the league's smallest market, making it tough to shop at the top of the free-agent market and to have enough flexibility to build a complete team.

The bets that Milwaukee makes on players they can fix are usually smaller one-or two-year deals that don't hamstring their payroll too much. Stearns has looked to shop in that area of the market too, with the Mets, but he's paying higher premiums to land players he likes who need tweaks, which is an inefficient use of Steve Cohen's financial resources.

A couple of recent examples that stand out in the negative window are Frankie Montas and Jorge Polanco. Montas didn't have a big demand in the winter of 2024 when Stearns gave him a two-year, $34 million deal early on, and the move predictably backfired. Montas was hurt for most of 2025 while looking ineffective when he did pitch.

The New York Mets gambled on Jorge Polanco last offseason, and it didn't pay off in 2026. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Polanco move, a two-year deal worth $40 million, was based on the idea that he could get most of his reps at first base to replace Pete Alonso, taking advantage of a breakthrough year in Seattle where Polanco significantly cut down his strikeout rate. That decision willfully ignored Polanco's injury history, which burned the Mets after he hurt his Achilles tendon in March and played in just 37 games.

Taking risks on short-term deals is one thing, but paying top dollar as well is a very poor strategy. Anyone who watched Montas struggle with the New York Yankees had an idea that asking him to succeed in Queens was a bad idea. Meanwhile, a simple look at the back of Polanco's baseball card would have shown he had played more than 104 games only twice in the previous five seasons.

This isn't to say taking risks should be eliminated from Stearns' profile, as he's made a few good bets over the years. One of Stearns' savviest free-agent pickups came when he bought into the idea that Clay Holmes could function as a big-league starter. The idea paid off as he was one of the team's most dependable starters when healthy in 2025 and 2026.

In essence, Stearns needs to be smarter about what risks he takes in the winter and how much he invests in them. Even if Cohen is a billionaire with a strong desire to win, essentially lighting $74 million on fire on players who barely contributed to the team isn't a solid team-building strategy.

The Mets can withstand a few bad years on a contract with Cohen's resources, so it's beneficial to pursue more proven players to upgrade the roster. A targeted strike at a fix-it project on good financial terms is still solid, but overpaying for the privilege of trying to get the best out of players is a strategy they need to lessen going forward.

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