Steve Cohen is making it plain: the Mets are going to bring in outside help for the front office this offseason, and David Stearns will be working with a wider circle of voices after a rough 2026. Cohen said in a recent interview, "We're going to try to add certain voices into the front office that I think will be helpful," adding, "I know David supports that and I'm looking forward to, when we make those decisions, announcing it."
He also made clear the club is not locked into one specific title. While a general manager would be the obvious fit to work alongside Stearns, Cohen said, "It doesn't have to be a GM," and added, "It could be other ways to support David and the front office."
However the Mets choose to structure it, the message is the same: fresh perspectives are coming. And if the organization is serious about fixing what went wrong, the first advice for those new voices should be simple - push Stearns away from betting on players who come with durability questions.
That was the biggest miss of the year. Stearns added Jorge Polanco, Luis Robert Jr. and Marcus Semien as replacements for franchise mainstays Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil, but the plan backfired badly. All three newcomers missed time with injuries and underperformed, while the players Stearns moved on from stayed on the field and hardly ever missed time.
Polanco and Robert already carried injury-prone labels before arriving, and the Mets paid for ignoring that history. The front office cannot head into another season counting on Polanco to handle first base after ankle surgery or on Semien, who is 36-years-old, to be the everyday second baseman. Both are tied to significant money next season, but that does not mean the Mets should force them into full-time roles if they are not dependable.
Robert is no longer part of the equation anyway, after being claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles, which leaves the Mets off the hook for his $2 million buyout.
The bigger lesson for the new voices is to help Stearns find smarter ways to build the roster - creative trades, and lower-risk veteran additions with real upside. For a team that carried the second-highest payroll in baseball behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and still collapsed, that kind of course correction is overdue.
In Other News...
Mets Just Turned Another Special Weekend Into A Fan Frustration
The Mets spent Sept. 19 trying to make a weekend feel celebratory, but the timing never quite let it breathe. Carlos Beltrans jersey retirement ceremony landed in the middle of a critical stretch of the season, and the weather did the atmosphere no favors, turning what should have been a polished tribute into another reminder that even the clubs special dates have been hard to stage cleanly this year.
Howie Roses long-awaited celebration is now being pushed to the opening weekend of the 2027 season, a delay tied to ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations and, reportedly, his own preference. Still, it fits a broader pattern for the Mets, who have managed to create multiple calendar headaches around their feel-good moments, leaving fans to wonder why so many of the years best intentions keep arriving with some obvious complication attached. [Read more 🡒]
Carlos Beltran Just Changed The Mets Manager Search Mood
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The Mets are widely viewed as needing someone with experience and a steady hand, and Beltrans response only sharpened that conversation. He remains a beloved figure in the organization, but his uncertainty adds another layer to a search already tied to broader questions about fit, readiness and leadership. Even on a night meant to honor his place in franchise history, the discussion drifted back to the future and the challenge of finding the right person to manage it. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Are Still Waiting For These Offseason Trades To Pay Off
The Mets spent the offseason reshaping the roster with three moves that were supposed to help now and later, most notably swapping Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien and Jeff McNeil for Yordan Rodriguez. They also dealt Franklin Gomez for international bonus slot money, a quieter transaction that was meant to open another avenue for future talent. On paper, it was the kind of activity that signals a front office trying to balance immediate needs with longer-term flexibility.
But as 2026 unfolds, the return on those deals still has not arrived in the majors. Semien and Rodriguez have yet to provide the sort of impact the Mets were after, and the bonus pool space from the Gomez trade has not yet translated into any visible payoff either. That leaves these moves sitting in a holding pattern for now, with the real judgment on them likely coming only after the organization finally gets something tangible from one or more of the pieces it acquired. [Read more 🡒]