David Stearns has earned a reputation in baseball that is very well respected.
He has led teams to successful seasons and has shown the ability to build a team that wins and wins consistently. Reports were that when Steve Cohen bought the Mets back in 2020, he wanted Stearns to run the team. Even if it eventually took a few years for Stearns to become available, Cohen finally got his man and things seemed to turn a corner. Stearns began running the team in November 2023.
Last season the Mets made a fun Cinderella run to the National League Championship Series (NLCS), eventually losing to the Dodgers in five games. The organization was heading in the right direction and Stearns had a lot to do with that. One of the things the Mets were praised for in 2024 was their ability to hold people accountable. When someone didn’t perform they were gone in short order.
Right now, the Mets are battling for another playoff berth and are within .5 game of first place as of the evening of Sunday, August 3. David Stearns had a great trade deadline filling some needs that the club has had for a long period of time. They sit at 63-49 and have the reinforcements, especially in the bullpen to compete for a deep run in the postseason.
However, if there was one thing lacking from the Mets deadline strategy this season it seemed to be the urgency to add a starting pitcher. Even though the rotation, especially in the backend, leaves a lot to be desired as it’s currently constructed. I believe the Mets thought that their depth in the minor leagues, particularly, Brandon Sproat and Nolan McLean could be options moving forward if needed. After another lackluster start by Frankie Montas this weekend, it’s time to see Sproat or McLean and for Stearns to have the same accountability he held players to in 2024.
The lack of consistency in the backend of the rotation reared its ugly head this weekend as the Mets lost two out of three to a lousy San Francisco Giants team. Montas started Sunday’s game and got absolutely annihilated giving up seven earned runs in the four innings pitched raising his ERA to a ridiculous 6.68.
During the offseason, Stearns signed Montas to a 2-year deal worth $34 million with a player opt-out after the first year.
It was a sort of puzzling move from the beginning as Montas has always seemed to be a pitcher that analytical front offices have always seemed to love more than anyone. He was coming off a bad year, splitting the season between Milwaukee and Cincinnati and accumulating an ERA under 5. It was especially puzzling as there were other starting pitchers who had a better track record and a better injury history than Montas out on the market.
Montas started the year on the IL, making his first start on June 24 against the Braves. Since then he’s struggled. Unless something extremely spectacular happens, he will surely opt-in to his $17 million contract with the Mets for 2026, putting the club on the hook for all that money. You can call it Stearns’ worst mistake in his tenure as Mets President of Baseball Operations.
Montas has become essentially unpitchable. The fact that he’s still due over $20 million should not prevent how the club handles him moving forward. No, not this team, not with an owner with this deep of pockets. Not in a year when the mantra has been “this is the year to win.”
You cut a guy like that no matter the costs. You call up one of your young stud starters and see if they can add some consistency to a rotation that is in desperate need of it. It’s time for David Stearns to get rid of Montas before he does anymore damage. It’s time to call up McLean or Sproat and see if they can go at least five innings in their starts. Hey, they can’t do worse than Stearns’ $34 million mistake. It’s time for him to rectify it, just like the Yankees did with Marcus Stroman.