David Stearns has been aggressive in plenty of ways since taking over the Mets, but one move still hasn’t shown up on his transaction log: the kind that sends out a major league player and brings back another major league player clearly meant to help the big-league roster right away.
He’s made deadline sales. He’s moved players with heavy financial motivation attached.
The Brandon Nimmo-for-Marcus Semien swap fit that mold, as did the Jeff McNeil dump. But even after all the turnover, that true need-for-need deal has remained absent.
That hasn’t been for lack of activity. The 2025-2026 offseason was packed, including trades that brought in Freddy Peralta and Luis Robert Jr. Brandon Sproat was part of the Peralta deal, and Luisangel Acuna was included in the Robert move, but those outgoing names barely had enough major league time to really count as the kind of straight-up big league-for-big league exchange that fits this conversation.
The Mets also haven’t exactly been built for that sort of trade. Anyone they could have shipped out last offseason probably would have looked more like a salary dump than a deal designed to improve the club immediately.
Kodai Senga stood out as the best possible candidate. David Peterson wasn’t far behind.
Looking ahead, the names on the board are still limited. Senga remains there, and so do Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, and Francisco Alvarez. There are other candidates too, but most of them fall more into dump territory than into the category of a move that would bring back an instant upgrade.
That kind of swap has been rare for Stearns in Queens, and the broader Mets history doesn’t exactly scream frequency either. Before Stearns, there were examples, including the Francisco Lindor deal that sent Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez to Cleveland. A smaller version came years earlier with the Neil Walker-for-Jon Niese trade.
More often, though, the Mets have leaned on free agency rather than winter trades. That’s been true under Steve Cohen and before him. It’s also not uniquely a Mets habit; plenty of clubs prefer the open market over shaking up the roster through trades.
After last offseason’s surge of deals, though, it makes sense to keep expectations in check. New York brought in Peralta, Robert, and Semien in a trio of trades, but those moves were ultimately unsuccessful in terms of what the Mets got back, even before accounting for the cost. A one-for-one major league trade is already a lot.
So while the Mets have not completely ruled out another surprise, the current crop of trade pieces doesn’t make a breakthrough feel likely. Vientos looks closer to a non-tender than a sought-after chip.
Baty has repeatedly been moved around to fit the roster. And Alvarez still carries options and promise, which makes it much harder to imagine the Mets dealing him for an immediate need.
Stearns has made plenty of unusual decisions with the Mets, so nothing should be fully dismissed. But for now, this is one kind of move he still hasn’t made.
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