David Stearns Early Returns Not Great

We waited something like three years for David Stearns to arrive in New York and work his magic on the Mets roster. Well, if his early returns are any indication, we waited for nothing.

Stearns had an entire offseason to improve the team. Instead of swinging for the fences and acquiring players who might make a difference, Stearns instead operated on the margins, shopping at the bottom of the market to fill in the holes. It was very Sandy Alderson-like, in my opinion (not the only similarity I see between these two. But that’s for another day).

When Alderson did it, fans and the media excused him because of the Wilpons shaky finances. Stearns can’t use that as an excuse. This is said to be a reset year or something while Stearns evaluates the franchise. That’s all well and good, but overall, the players he signed or traded for have been underwhelming. Here’s the list of players who have appeared in games with the team this season:

So bad, they are no longer with the team:
Zach Short
Joey Wendle
Jorge Lopez
Julio Tehran
Yohan Ramirez
Michael Tonkin

Strangely, both Ramirez and Tonkin were sent away, only to be reacquired and quickly jettisoned again. You know who else liked to reacquire players? That’s right — Sandy Alderson.

Still on the team but are disappointing:
Adrian Houser
Tyrone Taylor
Cole Susler

The only saving grace is that the Mets did not give up much in the trade to get Houser and Taylor.

Playing well:
Luis Severino
Sean Manaea
Harrison Bader
J.D. Martinez
Jake Diekman

Have to give credit where credit is due. Stearns was hoping for bounce-back seasons from Severino, Manaea and Bader and so far, he was right.

Sample size too small:
Danny Young

And let’s not forget Shintaro Fujinami, whom Stearns signed for $3.35 million and couldn’t make the team out of spring training. He’s currently pitching to a 14.09 ERA in AAA. This shouldn’t be a shock, since his ERA last year with Oakland and Baltimore was 7.18.

So yeah, not a great track record. Stearns is still new so he deserves the benefit of the doubt. But we Mets fans are an impatient bunch. Stearns should know he doesn’t have much rope here.