Mets Monday Morning GM: A fair David Stearns criticism

David Stearns, as it turns out, had a pretty good offseason. By far his weakest additions were some of the pricier bullpen pieces added into the New York Mets bullpen. Adam Ottavino and Jake Diekman cannot be trusted. Will we even see Shintaro Fujinami in the majors this season? He has had a quick hook on several relief pitchers. Maybe to some extent, it has been too trigger-happy.

We loved to see the Mets DFA struggling players early on this season. As it turns out, some of those they sent into the wind have been pretty good since leaving the Mets.

The Mets were too quick to dump some of their relievers because they didn't allow the roster space to be patient with them

Since joining the New York Yankees, Michael Tonkin has been a brilliant bullpen piece for Aaron Boone. In 38.1 innings he has a 1.64 ERA while averaging just over a strikeout per inning.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Yohan Ramirez was pitching well with the Los Angeles Dodgers until recently. A fellow two-time Mets player this season who was brought back via waivers, Ramirez is 0-4 for the Dodgers with a growing 4.08 ERA in 28.2 innings. He has pitched with good command, allowing walks at a rate of 2.5 per 9. His last three outings have been bad and included at least 2 runs allowed (not always earned). The numbers are still better than many others who’ve passed through the 2024 Mets roster.

It was easy to understand why both were eliminated from the picture. Neither pitched particularly well. The Mets, with little wiggle room on the roster to demote a pitcher, were forced to cut bait quickly for the sole sake of adding a fresher arm.

An eyebrow raiser before Opening Day, the Mets didn’t allow themselves the courtesy of having any flexibility. As a result, they were forced to have little patience with pitchers who got off to a bumpy start.

This might have been, in part, a result of the Mets finding what they perceived to be good opportunities later on in free agency. Who wouldn’t have wanted to add Ottavino and Diekman for the contracts they received? The problem was it created a bullpen situation where the Mets had zero ability to call up a player unless someone was injured or designated for assignment.

The lack of room for such roster moves has since been corrected. However, we can ponder what the Mets could’ve looked like if they were able to show some patience with pitchers like Tonkin and Ramirez. Jorge Lopez was a different case entirely and more of an emotional release than one based on performance. Nevertheless, a Mets roster with Tonkin and Ramirez on it right now would undoubtedly look much better. Imagine if Sean Reid-Foley didn't get conveniently hurt right before the season began and he ended up DFA'd pitching to a 1.66 ERA elsewhere albeit with a lot of injuries along the way.

In this same category was the decision to trade Rule 5 Draft pick Justin Slaten to the Boston Red Sox. Refusing to get boxed in with yet another player they’d have to keep on the roster, the Mets ended up trading him and his future 3.38 ERA and more than a strikeout per inning up to Beantown.

We would’ve been furious about going into the year without the likes of a pitcher such as Ottavino on the team because of how uncertain the others looked. Months later, we can only hope Stearns takes the lesson with him moving forward. Have a little more patience and save some roster space to allow the patience to play out.