Stefano Vaccarino

When David Stearns took over in 2024, the core was: 29-year-old Pete Alonso 30-year-old Francisco Lindor 30-year-old Edwin Díaz 31-year-old Brandon Nimmo 32-year-old Jeff McNeil The Mets had a terrible farm and an organization that couldn’t develop anyone. There wasn’t even a single starting pitcher in that core. In 2026, less than three full seasons later, that core is now: 21-year-old A.J. Ewing 23-year-old Carson Benge 24-year-old Nolan McLean 27-year-old Christian Scott 27-year-old Juan Soto 28-year-old Bo Bichette 32-year-old Francisco Lindor Other than Lindor, the oldest guy in that group is 28. The youngest is 21. When Stearns took over the youngest in that group was 29 years old! Now the organization can actually develop players and has one of the better farm systems in baseball. Stearns reset a core that made the playoffs twice in six years — ONCE UNDER HIM! Alonso, Nimmo, and McNeil were not even why the Mets made the playoffs in 2024. Instead they were a big reason that team was fighting until the very last day of the season to clinch. Lindor along with the players Stearns put around them carried that team into the playoffs while those other guys all had down years. Yet fans will still tell you Stearns has done an awful job. Almost every other team in baseball would take him tomorrow. Claiming he has run the Mets into the ground and that he’s a total disaster is dishonest and irrational. Thinking he hasn’t built this roster to be a future consistent contender just means you’re not watching or you’re out of touch. It’s egregious. Missing the playoffs one year into a core reset is not some unprecedented disaster. Especially when most of the team’s core was either hurt or in the minors during this season other than Bichette, McLean, and Benge. Missing the playoffs happens to a lot of teams when they move on and stop running it back with a stale, aging group and actually start focusing on their future building the next core. The other option was keeping a group that was only getting older and punting the future. That tradeoff makes no sense. This is the most realistic way to build a World Series contender. Especially one that can compete year after year. #LGM