3 ways the Mets can achieve stability

The New York Mets have struggled to build their foundation for years now. With instability in the franchise, the mindset of the organization has changed every season. From 2015 to 2019, they were a team built on the backs of great starting pitching. In 2021, they relied on a young core that was dismantled for a veteran squad in 2022. In 2023, they relied on the same team with two 40-year-old aces to pave a path to the postseason. Suffice it to say, these decisions have left the 2024 Mets searching for an identity.

Teams around baseball have a vision for the future and have front offices in place for at least a few years to build toward a championship. Due to both internal and external factors, the Mets have experienced neither. As J.D. Davis stated over the summer, instability at both the general manager and manager positions affected the team and the way they performed. That leaves fans asking, what can be done to fix the culture of instability the Mets currently have?

1. Stabilize the General Manager and Managerial positions

The Mets have gone through constant turnover at the general manager position since the ladder years of Fred and Jeff Wilpon's tenure. This has been abnormal for the franchise as they had stability from 1997-2003 in Steve Phillips, 2005-2010 with Omar Minaya, and 2011-2018 with Sandy Alderson. Since Alderson stepped down in June of 2018 due to his second cancer diagnosis, there has been a revolving door of GM's. The Mets have gone through Brodie Van Wagenen, Jared Porter, Zack Scott, and Billy Eppler, and now settling on David Stearns.

With an ever-changing front office comes a revolving door of managers on the field as well. The Mets had stability with Bobby Valentine from 1996-2002, Willie Randolph from 2005-2008, and Terry Collins from 2011-2017. Since Collins stepped down in 2017, the Mets have gone through Mickey Callaway, Luis Rojas, Buck Showalter, and now Carlos Mendoza. This type of overturn in the organization even left Brandon Nimmo frowning his face at the end of 2023.

Stability in the front office and coaching staff will help the Mets lay out a long-term vision for the franchise. For the past couple of years, the Mets have not had a stable direction, pivoting from trading top prospects for the likes of Edwin Diaz, Francisco Lindor, and Javier Baez, to trading their hall-of-fame talent for Drew Gilbert and Luisangel Acuna. This type of constant change in philosophy leaves the team with just 2 winning seasons since 2016. For this to change, the front office needs to stick with one direction moving forward: build around a young group of talent for sustained success and avoid going for the "quick fix".