4 Mets mistakes fans want to see David Stearns clean up
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The New York Mets have reached an agreement with David Stearns to be the team's new President of Baseball Operations. The news reported by Andy Martino kept everyone by surprise and is expected to be announced at the end of the season.
The contract signed by the former Milwaukee Brewers President of Baseball Operations would be for five seasons, giving the Mets the long-awaited head of baseball operations who is expected to transform the organization. In this sense, the expectation created around Stearns carries a hopeful sign so that the team does not continue making the same organizational mistakes of the past.
1) Under Stearns, the Mets will finally focus on developing pitchers
One of the areas of improvement in the Mets organization has been the development of pitchers. In recent decades, the team has had problems enhancing the talent of the arms of their farm system, something that has worsened over the years.
Since the Mets' long-awaited big five of pitching prospects, the organization has not been able to exploit its internal pitching talent. This has been seen with concern in recent years to the point of investing in the creation of a new pitching lab to emulate successful organizations in this regard.
The problem in the Mets organization has not just been with starting pitchers. The team has not been able to develop relief talent that allows them to be sustainable season after season.
David Stearns has been known for his focus on pitching and defense, developing starting pitchers through his pitching lab, such as Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff, or elite relievers such as Josh Hader and Devin Williams. Under Stearns, technology has been driving the development of pitchers from the major leagues to the Brewers' complex in the Dominican Republic, creating a complete organizational system for improving their pitchers.
Through David Stearns, we can expect the Mets to incorporate more technology that helps develop the pitching talent necessary so they don't have to go to the free agency every season to spend the most money to be competitive. The future of pitching in the Mets organization has just changed drastically.
2) The Mets will build a stable coaching staff
Another element in which the Mets have not been able to be consistent over time has been the coaching staff. For several seasons, the Mets have had radical coaching changes, especially in the hitting area.
The Mets have had several hitting coaches, each with their form and indication of what approach to take at the plate. The constant change of direction creates confusion and stress among hitters in the Mets lineup season after season, something that has been widely criticized.
J.D. Davis has been one of the latest critics of this system within the Mets organization, which he has defined as a lack of stability. The former Mets super-utility man argued that: "it wasn't only me. There were a lot of guys in the clubhouse that felt like they were in survival mode."
This criticism came after the firing of Chili Davis, who has had two changes in hitting coaches in three seasons. Currently, the problem has become even more acute.
After a successful 2022 season in terms of hitting, the Mets traded Eric Chavez for Jeremy Barnes, who modified the team's approach at the plate, hurting the team's offensive production. These recurring cases in the Mets organization prove the inefficiency of the baseball operations areas in maintaining a stable core of coaches on the team.
In this sense, Stearns is known for being an executive with an eye for the selection of coaches and a stable person in his decisions. Craig Counsell and his team of coaches have maintained a certain degree of stability in the Brewers, creating with the baseball analytics and sports science areas guidelines to improve the team's batting, pitching, and individual and collective defense.
Stearns will not only bring his extensive knowledge of the game to bear on recruiting and developing talent. The new POBO of the Mets has the expertise to create a group of coaches that provide stable direction to the players, promoting the best talent of each of them.
3) Identify and preserve the best talent within the Mets organization
A fundamental aspect of an organization's sustainability is its ability to identify, develop, and retain talent from within. In this area, the Mets organization has failed in a fundamental point that has harmed its sustainability.
The Mets have been an organization with a good team of scouts capable of identifying talent with the ability to develop on their way through the minor league system. However, due to the team's inability to efficiently develop talent, these prospects tend to fall short or are traded for a lesser return.
In recent seasons, given the instability in the areas of baseball operations, we have seen how prospects of a certain value have been traded to other teams for talent that has not performed up to par or has not returned the value that these prospects develop going forward. Examples such as the Joey Lucchesi trade, where the team sent catcher and top prospect Endy Rodriguez, or the Javier Baez and Trevor Williams trade for Pete Crow-Amstrong, are some of the recent examples that show the organization's lack of evaluating its players own players.
For decades we have seen the Mets organization's internal talent develop in other organizations and even become stars in MLB. This shows that it is useless to draft future talent if you are unable to evaluate what you have and how far they can go.
At this point, the arrival of David Stearns will have a significant impact on the team. Observing Christian Yelich's trade from the Miami Marlins to the Milwaukee Brewers under his command is a reliable example of his ability to change talent that he does not anticipate will have a high impact on the organization, achieving an enormous return on his team without sacrificing its sustainability long-term.
4) Define a stable long-term Mets plan instead of changing plans each year
The lack of identifying talent and knowing what the Mets have within their organization has led them to suffer from an inability to project long-term. For years we have seen the team change direction between competing for a championship to starting a slight rebuild and competing again.
Changes in direction bring instability to the organization as a whole. From planning, management, and decision-making, to focusing on production on the playing field. This has been evidenced even more recently with Steve Cohen's drastic decision changes regarding the team.
The fault is not Cohen's. As an owner, he has had the necessary resources to foster the development of his organization on and off the field of play.
Without firm and correct direction within baseball operations, a team cannot seriously plan about where it is and where to migrate shortly. In this regard, Billy Eppler had the necessary support to prosecute the team, something in which he failed masterfully.
Now the team has the arrival of a baseball executive with impressive management skills. Who led a small market, underperforming organization to multiple postseasons and put together a core of players that continue to show results to this day.
David Stearns will bring to the Mets something that has been missing in recent years, a long-term plan for the organization. Whether it is a rebuild or a winning mode now, the team cannot continue making the mistake of carrying temporary and contradictory messages, Stearns will provide stability that will allow the future of the Queens team to be correctly projected.
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