I was not in favor of letting Alonso walk. He was available every game, knocked in a lot of runs, hit a lot of home runs, and played adequate (not great) defense. Letting him walk without a plan to replace him is inexcusable. And, that is on Stearns. Signing an injury prone second baseman—Polanco— to play first was not a good idea. Converting third basemen (Baty and Vientos), who have not proven their offensive abilities and one, who is a poor defender (Vientos) is not a solution. And , neither is Young.
This is 100% on Stearns. He showed no forward thinking. I am curious how he will address first base during the next off season.
I called this out last year.. I said if they lose Pete, who’s gonna play first.. how come all of the fans knew of the looming disaster but the front office didn’t?.. what does that say?.. Vientos looks totally like a joke at the plate as well.. Bret Batt at least looks like he’s trying.. but they put a Band-Aid on it and how many games did they lose now because they didn’t have a qualified first base..? a true low point in Mets history.. you let your homegrown hero leave and replace him with people that are totally unqualified for the job!! Steven Cohen should know better..
As recently as late Winter/early Spring, the Mets roster options were (preponderantly) a collection acquired middle infielders being touted to play the corners. Seemed to me to be a comedic Re-imagination of the old “who’s on first” skit (gold glover middle infielder? THIRD BASE!!).
The so-called Baby-Mets were a bunch of them. McNeil, a veteran who could serviceably play anywhere was soon to be gone. Enter the Stearns utterly flawed and disrespectful LEGO-strategy. Need third or first covered at a WS contending MLB level? I got a guy….
Then the “guys” did not defend well. Out of position and concentrating on their defense (gold glovers do not like looking bad),their plate concentration dipped and bats went to sleep. Disrespect for a young athletic professional dedicating his life to mastering something hard. Incompetent.
It was interesting last night that Keith got a little heated when defending Jared Young at first base. While Young is no Keith, he has done a passable job at first base I think. Baty was good, hit some struggles, lost confidence. Vientos should have all his gloves burned. Never saw a player with worse hands, defensive instincts. Makes Kingman look like a gold glover.
Sterns is entirely responsible for this mess, no doubt. When Pete left, I was okay let's see what will Sterns do. He signed Polanco which was interesting but several players successfully switch positions. I was open to the idea. But when Sterns never signed a legitimate 1st baseman as an insurance, thats what truly killed me and he lost my willingness to be open minded. Everyone knew/knows Vientos is a defensive liability anywhere on the diamond. Baty, in my opinion, is too young and inexperienced to be a McNeil type player. Sterns is an arrogant, egotistical person who never played a day in the bigs assumes anyone can play any position and play it well because his little hand held computer says so.
One last note, given Sterns (at least to my knowledge) has not played professional baseball he has "advisors" and "assistants", such as Carlos Beltran. I would like to know just how much input Beltran had in this past off season decisions? I could only imagine he had some say and if he did why is he the "leading" candidate for manager in 2027? I'm not feeling the confidence.
Neither have I. So I'm to think, Sterns does not seek out/listen to the advise from his staff of professionals or Beltran and others are there in name only and have no actual duty. I only say this because it casts a different light light on Sterns' thought process.
I was not in favor of letting Alonso walk. He was available every game, knocked in a lot of runs, hit a lot of home runs, and played adequate (not great) defense. Letting him walk without a plan to replace him is inexcusable. And, that is on Stearns. Signing an injury prone second baseman—Polanco— to play first was not a good idea. Converting third basemen (Baty and Vientos), who have not proven their offensive abilities and one, who is a poor defender (Vientos) is not a solution. And , neither is Young.
This is 100% on Stearns. He showed no forward thinking. I am curious how he will address first base during the next off season.
I called this out last year.. I said if they lose Pete, who’s gonna play first.. how come all of the fans knew of the looming disaster but the front office didn’t?.. what does that say?.. Vientos looks totally like a joke at the plate as well.. Bret Batt at least looks like he’s trying.. but they put a Band-Aid on it and how many games did they lose now because they didn’t have a qualified first base..? a true low point in Mets history.. you let your homegrown hero leave and replace him with people that are totally unqualified for the job!! Steven Cohen should know better..
Mr. Mears:
As recently as late Winter/early Spring, the Mets roster options were (preponderantly) a collection acquired middle infielders being touted to play the corners. Seemed to me to be a comedic Re-imagination of the old “who’s on first” skit (gold glover middle infielder? THIRD BASE!!).
The so-called Baby-Mets were a bunch of them. McNeil, a veteran who could serviceably play anywhere was soon to be gone. Enter the Stearns utterly flawed and disrespectful LEGO-strategy. Need third or first covered at a WS contending MLB level? I got a guy….
Then the “guys” did not defend well. Out of position and concentrating on their defense (gold glovers do not like looking bad),their plate concentration dipped and bats went to sleep. Disrespect for a young athletic professional dedicating his life to mastering something hard. Incompetent.
Stearns owns this. Full stop.
Who’s on First?
It was interesting last night that Keith got a little heated when defending Jared Young at first base. While Young is no Keith, he has done a passable job at first base I think. Baty was good, hit some struggles, lost confidence. Vientos should have all his gloves burned. Never saw a player with worse hands, defensive instincts. Makes Kingman look like a gold glover.
Sterns is entirely responsible for this mess, no doubt. When Pete left, I was okay let's see what will Sterns do. He signed Polanco which was interesting but several players successfully switch positions. I was open to the idea. But when Sterns never signed a legitimate 1st baseman as an insurance, thats what truly killed me and he lost my willingness to be open minded. Everyone knew/knows Vientos is a defensive liability anywhere on the diamond. Baty, in my opinion, is too young and inexperienced to be a McNeil type player. Sterns is an arrogant, egotistical person who never played a day in the bigs assumes anyone can play any position and play it well because his little hand held computer says so.
I don't go along with the personal invective at all. I do think he's made some bad decisions and I'd be happy if he was replaced.
One last note, given Sterns (at least to my knowledge) has not played professional baseball he has "advisors" and "assistants", such as Carlos Beltran. I would like to know just how much input Beltran had in this past off season decisions? I could only imagine he had some say and if he did why is he the "leading" candidate for manager in 2027? I'm not feeling the confidence.
I haven't read or heard a drop of anything about any input of beltran on decision making.
Neither have I. So I'm to think, Sterns does not seek out/listen to the advise from his staff of professionals or Beltran and others are there in name only and have no actual duty. I only say this because it casts a different light light on Sterns' thought process.