NY Mets Monday Morning GM: 5 unpopular David Stearns decisions that turned out well

4) Converting Clay Holmes into a starting pitcher

It was criticized all year-long until Clay Holmes put together an impressive final start in the 2025 season. Overall, it was a roaring success for Holmes in his first year converting back to a starter after becoming a successful closer for the New York Yankees.

Finishing with the 45th most innings pitched in MLB last year with the 20th best ERA among qualifiers, it’s hard to not like what Holmes was able to do. He wasn’t always around for long in starts. In frustrating fashion, he often began to melt down around innings five and six.

No doubt the Mets could have used more out of Holmes. But for the designated role, he was as good as they could have hoped for. Throughout the 2025 season, no one was as consistently steady as him. Not an ace or anything, he was a quality number three starter who stayed on the field.

Deciding to sign Holmes and make him a starter was puzzling, weak, and unpopular; at the time. The signing aged well and became one of the better ones made by Stearns in offseason number two. In fact, Holmes is probably one of the better free agent starting pitcher signings the Mets have made in the Steve Cohen era. It was a risky one that paid off.