Even the sharpest front office operator can get caught looking, and David Stearns has had a few of those moments with the Mets since 2024. Some of the misfires were obvious from the start.
Others looked workable until they weren’t. But a handful of players managed to convince the Mets to keep believing long after the warning signs were flashing.
Not every disappointment belongs in the same bucket. Bo Bichette was never going to be worth $42 million, and that was part of the plan from the beginning.
Freddy Peralta, too, gets filed away as a separate kind of letdown. The players below are the ones who actually managed to pull one over on Stearns and the Mets.
Frankie Montas sits at the top of the list because the contract itself never made much sense. The Mets gave him $17 million for one year with a player option for the same amount in the second season, and it quickly turned into a costly mistake.
Health problems were part of the story, with Montas limited to 38.2 innings in the middle of the season after a spring training injury and Tommy John surgery. The result was a 6.28 ERA in less than three dozen innings, making the deal one of the most wasteful free-agent signings in recent memory.
Sean Manaea comes next, and while he hasn’t been nearly as rough as some of the others here, the money attached to him has aged badly. The Mets handed him $75 million over three years after his strong 2024 run made a return trip too tempting to pass up.
He missed about half of 2025 and wasn’t especially effective when he was on the mound. He was a little better in 2026, but still nowhere near worth the contract.
That strong second half and postseason created a pricey piece the Mets don’t really need in either the rotation or the bullpen.
Jorge Polanco lands in the middle of the ranking, though the injury excuse keeps him from being a total disaster. Still, Stearns should have known the risk given Polanco’s history.
He didn’t have the same upside as Luis Robert Jr., and his tendency to end up on the injured list never really stopped. The Mets needed him as an offensive answer after losing Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo, more directly tied to Nimmo but at a different position.
Instead, Polanco couldn’t stay on the field or do much damage at the plate when he was available, leaving the fit awkward from the start. His future could swing sharply depending on the 2027 results.
Ryan Helsley checks in at No. 4, and this one was one of the Mets’ biggest trade misses. The warning signs were there from the jump, especially with the move asking a closer to become a setup man.
Helsley never settled in, finishing with a 7.20 ERA and looking rattled almost immediately in blue and orange. Walks and home runs piled up, and his fastball was hit .422 against in 2025.
The return the Mets sent to the St. Louis Cardinals was headlined by Jesus Baez, who then put together a huge minor league season with 39 home runs and 109 RBIs.
Ryne Stanek rounds out the group, and his inclusion says plenty about how the Mets handled their pitching depth. They brought him back, which was part of the problem in 2025.
Unlike Jesse Winker, Stanek didn’t have an injury excuse, and his 2024 performance should have pushed the Mets in another direction. A 6.06 ERA in the regular season, even with a strong postseason, wasn’t enough to justify another run.
He lasted through the end of 2025 anyway, despite posting a 5.30 ERA. The issue was never just the price tag.
It was the way he kept walking himself into trouble before giving up a hit.
In Other News...
Mets Are Finally Moving On From A Pitcher Fans Knew Too Well
David Peterson had become one of those familiar Mets fixtures by the time the 2026 season arrived, the longest tenured player on the roster and a pitcher the organization had watched grow from prospect to established arm over more than six seasons. But the year never really settled for him in New York, and his struggles eventually pushed the club to move him midseason to the Chicago Cubs, ending a run that had stretched across multiple front-office eras and plenty of turnover around him.
Peterson did show some improvement after the trade, enough to remind teams why his name had lingered in the conversation for so long. Now he is headed into free agency for the first time, and the timing adds another layer of uncertainty with looming CBA negotiations expected to shape the market. For the Mets, it is another sign that a once-familiar chapter is closing, even if the next one for Peterson is still waiting to be written. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Risk Letting A Dangerous Bat Slip To A Rival
The Mets offseason priorities are starting to come into focus, and for now Teruaki Sato does not appear to be at the top of the list. According to The Athletic, New York is less inclined to chase the Japanese slugger this winter, with Bo Bichette having opted into his 2027 deal and the organization already carrying a group of young infield prospects in the minors. Sato, one of the premier power bats in Japans NPB, has drawn attention around the league, including from the Phillies, Dodgers and Yankees.
For the Mets, the calculation seems to be less about the players talent than about timing and roster fit. Their bigger push is expected to come on the pitching side, though that does not necessarily close the door on Sato completely. If the market shifts or ownership decides to get more aggressive, New York could still circle back, but for now the danger is obvious: a bat with real thump could end up landing with a rival while the Mets wait on a different part of the board. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Could Make A Costly Bullpen Bet Fans Would Debate
Adrian Morejons market is already shaping up to be one of the more interesting bullpen stories of the winter, and it is easy to see why the Mets are being mentioned as a possible fit. The left-handed reliever has been handed a qualifying offer that could pay him $23.15 million next season if he accepts, a figure that would set a new high-water mark for a pitcher in his role. Even without closing duties right now because of his current teams setup, his underlying performance has been strong enough to keep him squarely in the conversation.
For the Mets, the appeal is obvious even if the cost would spark debate. Morejon is viewed as a pitcher who should move into a closers job with his next team, and the expectation is that he can still get better from here. That makes the qualifying-offer attachment a real hurdle, but also the kind of bet a bullpen-needy club sometimes has to weigh if it wants impact rather than just depth. [Read more 🡒]