Padres confirm what David Stearns’ NY Mets future looks like, championship or not

I imagine A.J. Preller had a Wolf of Wall Street “I”m not leaving” moment with the San Diego Padres after signing his extension. The 2026 season is the last of his current deal. With the multi-year extension, exact years not yet known, he’ll have more time to try to finally win the first championship in Padres history. It’s a preview of what could be coming for the New York Mets in the not too distant future.

Preller has been with the Padres since 2014. It took him until 2020 to get them to the playoffs. That might seem like a long time. When he first stepped into the general manager’s role, the team hadn’t been to the postseason since 2006. They only had one playoff win (game, not series) since their trip to the 1998 World Series.

Preller hasn’t gotten the Padres to the World Series, making one trip to the NLCS back in 2022. They’ve missed the playoffs twice since 2020, and have been bounced out in the NLDS in 2024 and NLWC round in 2025. They’re a team with high expectations, but also an understanding of the value of some consistency in leadership. It’s probably a good glimpse of what we’ll see the Mets do with David Stearns as long as the floor doesn’t completely cave in at any point.

A.J. Preller’s extension even without a World Series appearance is good news for David Stearns

If Stearns wants to remain with the Mets, he’s going to get plenty of opportunities. History has shown guys like he and Preller stick around. Stearns never had a World Series appearance in all of those years with the Milwaukee Brewers. As much as we’d like to say it’s all about winning, it kind of isn’t.

In two years leading the Mets, Stearns has put together a pair of seasons matching closely what the Padres did in 2022 and 2023. They won 89 games and lost in the NLCS (like the 2024 Mets). They came back with an 82-win team in 2023 and no playoffs (like the 2025 Mets).

They’ve followed it up with 93 and 90 win seasons and second-place finishes in the tough NL West. Asked to build a team while working around some dud mega-contracts, Preller has a difficult mission ahead of him for 2026. He can rest easy, though. You don’t give someone an extension if you have any thought of firing them.

Front office consistency is something the Mets haven’t had a whole lot of. Under Steve Cohen alone, they’ve had multiple general managers with more than we can count in 2021. Stearns is young enough to put in a full decade of work. It’s all a matter of Cohen having the patience and belief in his star POBO to accomplish the mission no one has since 1986.

Preller is a bit of an anomaly. Only Brian Cashman, who took over in 1998, is a longer tenured General Manager/President of Baseball Operations. Multiple other teams who haven’t won a championship have been employed for a full decade. David Forst of the Athletics, Mike Chenoff of the Cleveland Guardians, and Ross Atkins of the Toronto Blue Jays are three of the longest tenured ones.

The Mets have done some stepping back, first doing so in the middle of 2023 when they sold at the trade deadline. It set Stearns up to arrive with a fresher slate. He made the most of it and raised the bar for year two.

Cleverly, Stearns has avoided any long-term contracts outside of Juan Soto during his three offseasons. It’ll save him from getting into the position Preller is in with Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, and more signed to large deals which are getting in the way of other impactful moves.

If Preller’s boldness at times can keep him employed, Stearns shouldn’t need to worry about his immediate future. Stay above .500, never go more than two years in a row without the playoffs, and you’re going to keep your gig.