The Mets keep finding fresh reminders that their biggest offseason problem wasn’t just the moves they made. It was the way they evaluated the risk behind them.
Luis Robert Jr. being claimed off waivers by the Orioles on Monday won’t change much for the Mets on its own. They were never going to pick up his $20 million club option anyway. But it does serve as another ugly little snapshot of a front office that misread too much, too often, and now has work to do to fix the thinking that led it here.
That’s why the conversation around David Stearns keeps circling back to one point: the Mets need a general manager under him.
Owner Steve Cohen didn’t exactly hide his concern earlier this month when he talked about Stearns’ offseason approach.
“When you add risk upon risk upon risk…all of a sudden you can have a dispersion of results,” he said. “I equate it with running a portfolio. The more risk you take in a portfolio - yeah, you can have a major upside but also your downside can be bigger.”
Cohen, a hedge fund manager who understands that kind of calculation better than most, has a point. Stearns went for the high-end outcome in February, and there was always a trapdoor beneath it.
The upside looked exciting. The floor, as this season has shown, was far lower than anyone wanted to admit.
There were smart elements in the plan. Pivoting to Bo Bichette after losing out on Kyle Tucker was a strong move on paper. But with Jorge Polanco out for the season and Robert now joining Pete Alonso in the Orioles’ playoff push, the overall result of Stearns’ offseason has to be judged as a negative.
Even so, Cohen said he wants Stearns to keep going and see his vision through, and that’s not a crazy stance. Stearns does have a clear method.
The deadline haul brought back prospects that look promising. Weeks before the season, he essentially signaled Carson Benge would be an Opening Day outfielder, and he stuck with that idea instead of getting cute with service time when Benge struggled early.
He has moved players up when they earned it, shown a feel for bullpen building, and made choices that weren’t always popular. Cohen also said Stearns is willing to adapt as the game changes.
He’s been labeled too analytical, but there’s at least an understanding there that balance matters.
The issue is that he’s also shown blind spots.
The first one was obvious: after a disastrous 2025, he tried to bounce back by stacking too many risks at once. The front office seemed to believe it could manage Polanco’s and Robert’s injury histories through a careful spring ramp-up and support from the performance staff.
But players are not machines. They break down, no matter how tidy the model looks on paper, and history usually tells the better story.
There was another layer to the problem, too. A roster overhaul and a coaching staff shake-up can hit players hard.
The daily grind of 162 games depends on routine, and a lot of players draw comfort from familiar habits. That transition was clearly not simple for everyone, and it had to be especially tough for Carlos Mendoza to keep the group steady with so many new voices around him - most of whom had never played in the major leagues.
The Mets also need people who understand that New York is its own animal. Analytics can help, but they can’t touch every part of the job, especially not the psychological side of playing in this market. They need a manager who can handle that pressure, push back when necessary, and deal with the mental and physical demands of a team that has spent two years looking like a monument to failure and now risks wasting a near-generational talent in Juan Soto.
That is where a general manager comes in.
Andy Green said he has no intention of going after the managerial job next year, and until that changes, there’s no reason to assume otherwise. But there has been speculation that he could instead be a candidate for the GM role.
It makes sense. Green has worked in player development, knows the farm system well, and has earned respect in both the clubhouse and the front office.
He also has enough presence to challenge Stearns if he disagrees with something. That matters.
If the Mets hire a GM, they need someone who complements Stearns, not someone who mirrors him.
Green’s biggest value might be the same thing Stearns sometimes lacks in business decisions: emotional intelligence.
And if Green doesn’t want the job, the Mets still need somebody in that lane under Stearns - someone with that kind of feel, not just another version of the guy already running the show.
The timing matters, too. The Mets already have a little more than $240 million committed for next year, which sits just shy of this season’s $244 million competitive balance tax threshold.
The 2027 number is still unclear, but this winter is going to be messy either way. A free-agent rush before the collective bargaining agreement expires in December is a real possibility, as teams try to lock in expensive players before any new spending restrictions arrive.
A months-long lockout is also on the table. And with a weak free-agent class and the season in limbo, trades could become even more common.
That’s exactly why another voice in the room would help.
Cohen said earlier this month that he admires Stearns’ ability to learn from mistakes. But sometimes a mistake is more than a lesson. Sometimes it’s a blind spot.
And Robert’s exit on Monday was another sign that the Mets might need a little more help seeing clearly.
In Other News...
Mets Just Saw Their Luis Robert Decision Take An Awkward Turn
The Mets decision to place Luis Robert Jr. on waivers was always going to invite some attention, but the outcome turned quickly once Baltimore stepped in and claimed him. New York moved him because of the salary still attached, a cost-saving move that made sense on paper, while the Orioles, hanging around the Wild Card race, saw enough value to take the shot. It is the kind of roster shuffle that can make a front office look pragmatic one day and a little exposed the next.
For the Mets, the awkward part is less about the mechanics than the optics. Robert is gone before the waiver process could even settle into a quiet footnote, and the Orioles recent trade deadline activity made it clear they were still willing to keep adjusting their outfield mix. In a stretch where every roster move gets read through the lens of timing and intent, this one leaves New York with an uncomfortable reminder that saving money and losing a player can be two very different kinds of business. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Give An Outfield Prospect Another Chance To Claim A Bigger Role
The Mets latest roster move brought Nick Morabito back into the picture, giving the outfield prospect another shot to carve out a larger role after a brief major league stint earlier this season. Morabito has kept his name in the conversation by performing well at Triple-A, and the organizations belief in him has been clear for a while after he was named the Mets Minor League Player of the Year in 2024.
His return comes in the wake of Luis Robert Jr. being released by New York and then claimed on waivers by the Baltimore Orioles, opening a spot for the Mets to take another look at a player they view as part of the future. For Morabito, the opportunity is simple enough in theory and difficult in practice: keep producing enough to make the Mets think twice before sending him back down again. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Gamble On Luis Robert Jr. Now Looks Much Harder To Defend
The Mets took a swing on Luis Robert Jr. with the expectation that he would be a meaningful part of their lineup, and for a brief stretch it looked like they might have found a difference-maker. Instead, the early burst faded, injuries followed and the move quickly became harder to justify as the production never matched the price or the projection that came with him.
By the time the Mets put Robert on waivers to cut costs, the transaction had already turned into one of those deals that invites an uncomfortable second look. The bigger issue now is not just what Robert did or did not provide, but what the club gave up to get him in the first place, especially with other internal and external options available to fill the same role. [Read more 🡒]