A more appropriate mantra for the NY Mets after David Stearns retires run prevention

Heading into last offseason, David Stearns' mantra was run prevention. After the New York Mets finished the 2026 season 74-88 and in last place in the NL East, it's pretty clear that the executive's vision for the club was not effective.

Whether or not Stearns' moves actually tightened up the defense is up for debate. To a certain extent, injuries prevented New York's vision from coming true, but that comes with the caveat that in some cases the club was banking on injury-prone players to fulfill the run-prevention dream, and their replacements were not always up to par. Overall, it's hard to say that the numbers were markedly better than in 2025.

If there was a positive impact, it was marginal. Stearns realizes that. He's retiring the mantra and going back to the drawing board for the 2026-2027 offseason.

"In the first half, not well. I think I'll retire the phrase run prevention. I don't know that that one wore particularly well," Stearns told reporters during the season-end press conference. "I think our pitching and defense were much better in the second half than they were in the first half."

Stearns was also critical of his own decisions, though the way he expressed it felt like a robot trying to imitate human language, rather than a being with feelings, who understands that the game extends beyond a spreadsheet.

"We and I made a number of decisions that created the potential for an uncapped downside scenario," Stearns explained.

Ignoring the fact that no one should ever use the phrase "uncapped downside scenario," it's clear that Stearns needs a new mantra, and we have the perfect one for him: "keep it simple (Stearns)," or K.I.S.S. for short.

David Stearns and the Mets need to keep it simple and embrace big-market efficiency this offseason

By keeping it simple, we mean being efficient, but not in the way that the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays are. Those teams have to think outside the box and take gambles, and it's clear, to a certain extent, that Stearns has struggled to shake that thinking in Queens.

The thing is, the Mets have oodles of financial resources at their disposal, so the front office doesn't need to overcomplicate things. Think of it this way: the best way to score runs is to hit homers, and the position (other than DH) that is most homer-dependent is first base. K.I.S.S. would dictate that the smart move would be re-signing Pete Alonso, and not giving Jorge Polanco, an injury-prone player who was just one year removed from a .213/.296/.355 line in 2024 $40 million over two years.

Another example would be not betting on multiple best-case scenarios to align with the oft-injured Luis Robert Jr. while also taking on his $20 million salary, and instead going big to sign Cody Bellinger, who led MLB left fielders with 21 defensive runs saved, despite missing 25 games due to injury.

Alonso and Bellinger would have cost more money than Polanco and Robert Jr., but dollar for dollar, they created substantially more value. See, that's efficiency.

This isn't the first time we've pleaded with Stearns to keep things simple. His entire Mets tenure has felt as if he needs to prove that he's the smartest kid in the class, when in reality, he doesn't have to be.

This winter, Stearns needs to realize the advantage he has and actually wield that power. The Mets have spent a ton of money in recent years, but part of that has been due to inefficiency. The mission is simple, make Steve Cohen open up the checkbook for superstars and put the ego aside. There aren't any extra points added for degree of difficulty, so keep it simple.

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