NY Mets Monday Morning GM: 3 lessons David Stearns can take from the LA Dodgers

3) Be bold and plan long-term with your trades

Very minimal movement happened with the Dodgers roster at this year’s trade deadline. One reason is because they were already amazingly good. How’d they accomplish that? Past trades helped give them the players they would’ve needed otherwise.

The team traded for Glasnow and extended him. They did the same with Tommy Edman. For a ball club that had Anthony Banda lead in games pitched with 71, it’s remarkable they didn’t need to make the kinds of midseason acquisitions the Mets felt they did in order to win a championship.

Two years into Stearns’ Mets tenure and we see how hesitant he has been when it comes to big-time trades. Arguably his largest thus far was the summer’s deal for Ryan Helsley. We shouldn’t fault him for such a poorly resulted move. It was a well-graded move that no one saw splattering as badly as it did.

Clever trades are important. It’s those bold ones an executive needs to make if they truly want to get to the next step. Stearns, backed by Steve Cohen’s money, will always have the ability to better the team in the offseason more than anytime else. Minimal trades in the winter months thus far, he might want to put his job and reputation on the line to save his job before the seat gets too hot.