David Stearns says it’s too soon to decide on Mets’ season: ‘We’re still in information-gathering mode’
The Mets began a crucial 10-game homestand on Friday against the Giants.
Coming off a 2-8 stretch the Mets are a season-worst seven games under .500, opening up conversations on the direction the team should take ahead of the trade deadline this summer. It’s concerning for Mets fans, and president of baseball operations David Stearns shares that concern.
“We’ve had periods of this season where we played good, complete baseball and clearly that hasn’t been the case over the last 10 days,” Stearns said on Friday’s broadcast on SNY. “Whenever you go through a stretch like that It’s generally not one particular part of your team. In our case, We had lapses from of each segment of our team.”
Stearns said this past stretch has also shown where the Mets just couldn’t have all aspects of the team play well at the same time. If the team hit well, they didn’t pitch and vice-versa. He also pointed to defensive lapses that “compound the whole thing.”
Despite the stretch, Stearns sees potential in this group to get out of their current slump and will give them a chance to do so.
“We have talent on this team,” Stearns said. “We’ve got a group of veteran players that are committed to fight through adversity and we’re going to give them a chance to do that.”
This is the first season with Stearns heading up the Mets organization. He was with the Brewers last year when the Mets decided to have a fire sale at the deadline a season ago. So when a year ago was brought up in the booth, Stearns made sure to state that it’s too soon to talk about the direction the team is going in.
“We don’t have to make any decisions about this team right now,” he said. “We’re in mid-May about to be late May. We’ve got another couple of months before we really have to make concrete directional decisions about how this season is going to shape out.
“We’re still in information-gathering mode. We’ve had periods where we’ve played pretty well and clearly, of late, we haven’t. We’re going to have to play better. We know that certainly, our players know that. We are going to have to play better to have the type of season that we expect to have."
As the Mets try to climb back to .500 and fight for a Wild Card spot, Stearns praised the organization’s young players. He pointed to David Peterson and Tylor Megill who have come back to the team, or are on the verge of a return, as well as Friday’s starter, Christian Scott.
Stearns called Scott a “great amateur scouting and development success story.” He and the organization see the young righty as a major piece to the team’s puzzle as well as the hitters currently on the roster.
Names like Luisangel Acuna, Jett Williams and Drew Gilbert. Although Williams and Gilbert are making their way back from their own injuries, Stearns knows they have a future with the team.
“We’re going to let those guys continue their development. Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert, they are working their way back. They are not there yet, but we are excited about all those players. When healthy, We believe they can contribute whether its this year or next year.”
