NY Mets Monday Morning GM: 3 lessons David Stearns can learn from last offseason

2) Be cautious about a platoon with a strong potential to fail

Even before Montas came to the Mets, Stearns made his most significant offseason trade. Reliever Eric Orze was sent to the Tampa Bay Rays for center fielder Jose Siri. The move declared Harrison Bader wasn’t coming back and the plan up the middle in the outfield would be for Siri to share time with Tyrone Taylor.

This isn’t a half-bad plan when there’s a midseason solution in the works. For instance, the Mets now have Carson Benge and Jett Williams pushing for center field playing time in 2026. There was no prospect at their level who seemed destined. Drew Gilbert struggled mightily in 2024. He shouldn’t have been in the team’s blueprints when the Siri trade was made.

We knew the deal with Siri before his flight touched down in St. Lucie. An all-or-nothing type of hitter who’ll dazzle with speed and his glove, the Mets received all of nothing from him in 2025. His lengthy injury erased any chance of changing the narrative. He ended up DFA’d before the regular season was even over.

The mistake here was essentially starting off the season with a poor platoon plan at the position. At the end of 2024, the Taylor/Bader platoon was all they could do. The move pitted two right-handed hitting center fielders with good gloves against each other. At their best, Siri and Taylor canceled each other out.