The Mets reboot more often than an aging computer behind on its updates, so it doesn’t take long to find examples of new eras that started in promising fashion before unspooling in extraordinarily Mets-like fashion.
In fact, lately, it happens every two years.
In 2018, when Sandy Alderson finally got a chance to select a hand-picked manager, the Mets won 11 of their first 12 games under Mickey Callaway, which is absolutely the only good thing that can be said about any element of his managerial tenure.
In 2020, when Luis Rojas was named to replace Carlos Beltran after the latter “resigned” following the revelation of his role in the Astros’ cheating scandal, the Mets beat the Braves on the pandemic-delayed Opening Day thanks to a solo homer by Yoenis Cespedes. Of course, because that was Cespedes and these are the Mets, he went AWOL nine days later and the Mets never got back to .500 in the 60-game season.
In 2022, when Steve Cohen finally hired a general manager who didn’t almost immediately commit an embarrassing career-ending mistake and brought aboard a manager with previous big league experience, the Mets won their first three games and didn’t spend a day under .500 for the first time since 2007.
The 2022 season, alas, ended with the 101-win Mets getting one-hit by the Padres in the third game of the NL wild card series. The Billy Eppler/Buck Showalter era ended with a nightmarish, injury-plagued 75-win 2023, but at least that allowed Cohen to clear the decks for the longtime object of his desire.
So maybe a poor start to the David Stearns era doesn’t portend another bad season or another bleak period in Mets history. But this weekend, the only good thing that can be said about the start of the David Stearns era is at least the Mets got swept by a team loaded with players acquired by David Stearns.
The Brewers joined the ever-growing list of teams seemingly better positioned for the near- and long-term than the Mets by completing a three-game sweep with Sunday’s 4-1 win.
Colin Rea, signed as a free agent by Stearns in 2021, allowed one run over five innings in the third straight strong performance by a Milwaukee starter. Freddy Peralta, acquired from the Mariners in 2015 in one of Stearns’ best deals, allowed one hit over six innings Friday before DL Hall, whom the Brewers acquired from the Orioles in exchange for Stearns draftee and former Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes. With Devin Williams out for months due to stress fractures in his back, Abner Uribe, whom Stearns signed as an international free agent in 2018, recorded saves on Friday and Saturday.
Phenom outfielder Jackson Chourio, who was signed by Stearns in 2020 and became the youngest player in the majors upon his debut Friday, went 4-for-11 over the weekend. Christian Yelich, the Brewers’ oldest everyday player at 32 years old and a product of Stearns fleecing the Marlins in 2018, went 5-for-11 with a pair of steals.
That’s two long graphs on the Brewers because there wasn’t much positive to say about the Mets, whose season began with Cohen channeling the Wilpons on Friday morning by saying he thought “…we’ve built a club that’s going to be there in September.”
They were barely there on the final three days of March, when the Mets paid an immediate price for Stearns’ lack of activity this winter. Even with Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell basically holding signs that said “Will pitch for food,” Stearns failed to add an upper-rotation pitcher to pair with Kodai Senga, who is out until at least May with a shoulder injury.
The piecemeal rotation got off to such a rough start that the longest outing was delivered by Luis Severino, who allowed a career-high 12 hits in five innings Saturday in his first appearance since posting a 6.65 ERA last season. Jose Quintana lasted 4 2/3 innings Friday and Tylor Megill tossed four innings Sunday before exiting due to a tender shoulder.
The Mets led for one full inning against the Brewers, who outscored them 14-8. But the bulk of the Mets’ offense, such as it was, came in the eighth and ninth innings Saturday, when Brett Baty hit a three-run homer and Pete Alonso delivered a solo shot to turn a 7-2 deficit into a more cosmetically pleasing 7-6 loss.
The easy thing is to say at least things will get better when J.D. Martinez, who wasn’t signed until Mar. 23, is done getting into baseball shape and moves into the major league lineup as the designated hitter. But the Mets’ designated hitters — DJ Stewart, Marte and Francisco Alvarez — went 3-for-8 this weekend while the rest of the team hit a combined .187 (17-for-91).
Three games, of course, is a super small sample size, especially for what the Mets hope will be at least a five-year era for Stearns. But the Mets’ first 0-3 start since 2014 is a reminder of the risks involved in punting or squib kicking a season while waiting for the farm system — which Cohen said is “starting to look stacked” this spring — to finally begin harvesting some difference-making big leaguers.
The first few days of the 2025 season may look and feel much different if some or all of the likes of Luisangel Acuna and Drew Gilbert — acquired at the deadline last July for Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander — can join Mets signees such as Ronny Maurcio, Christian Scott and Jett Williams.
But in the meantime, the Mets might be wasting another prime year for their four core position players. Francisco Lindor is 30, Brandon Nimmo just turned 31 and Jeff McNeil is a week shy of turning 32. Alonso is 29 and, as you might have heard by now, is an impending free agent, Is the next contending Mets team going to have some or all of this quartet? Contrary to Cohen’s optimism, such a question does not feel like it’ll be answered this September.