This is a prove-it offseason for Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns.
Following a slow collapse in 2025 that resulted in New York being eliminated from postseason contention on the final day of the regular season, the club spun out of control early in 2026 and never recovered.
That the failures of the 2026 Mets came after an offseason of drastic change engineered by Stearns has put even more pressure on him to right the ship this offseason.
Speaking in July, owner Steve Cohendiscussed the future of Stearns, who is about to enter the fourth year of the five-year deal he signed before the 2023-24 offseason. While Cohen said the Mets are going to “live that contract out,” he added the caveat that there are “no guarantees.”
On the day after the season ended, Stearns was reflective and accountable, explaining that he simply had too many misses last offseason and that he’s going to learn from it.
Put everything together and it seems fair to believe that Stearns might be more aggressive than usual this offseason, which would likely mean stepping out of his comfort zone of pragmatism and risk mitigation.
As Stearns looks to take a 74-88 team and turn it into a group of players who can return to the playoffs in 2027, here’s a step-by-step plan forward…
Add two starting pitchers, including an ace
Reading between the lines, the Mets might view their starting rotation like this heading into the offseason:
Nolan McLean is a lock, and Christian Scott should be close to a lock. Beyond that, things are up in the air.
It’s easy to see Zac Thornton breaking camp as the No. 5 starter, but it’s also possible he opens the year in Triple-A Syracuse as incredibly valuable depth. If Thornton meets his goal of adding two-to-three miles per hour to his fastball this offseason, though, it could be hard to justify keeping him down.
As far as Jonah Tong, manager Andy Green made it pretty clear toward the end of the season that the young right-hander has to pitch himself into the Mets’ plans. That means it will be a surprise if he doesn’t begin the season in the minors.
Sean Manaea, who is coming off an up-and-down season, is owed $25 million in 2027 in what is the final season of the three-year deal he signed ahead of the 2025 campaign. So it’s fair to believe he’ll be in the rotation from the jump if he’s healthy.
No matter what, the plan should be to add two legitimate rotation pieces this offseason.
One of them should be Tarik Skubal, and here’s why.
As far as the other arm, the Mets could turn to a short-term, relatively low cost free agent like Tyler Mahle. It could also make sense to call a team like the Mariners, who could possibly be open to trading from their relative excess of starting pitching.
Go external at first base
During his end-of-season news conference, Stearns talked up Jared Young and Brett Baty as first base options, but also said the plan was to look externally for help. That’s a wise idea.
While Young had an impressive campaign in 2026, he does not hit for enough power to profile as the regular first baseman. He also struggles against left-handed pitching.
Baty, who is not a natural first baseman, finished this past season strong but has yet to find consistency during parts of five years in the majors.
If Bo Bichette opts in (which seems to be the likeliest outcome), the Mets will be set at third base, shortstop, and all three outfield spots, making first base perhaps the most sensible spot to try to upgrade.
The pickings are slim in free agency, with Ty France a decent choice. But he’s entering his age-32 season and will be coming off a career year that could jack his price up.
If the Mets want to go bold, a pursuit of Japanese slugger Teruaki Sato makes sense.
Sato, who will be entering his age-28 season, had a career-best 1.012 OPS this year for the Hanshin Tigers while smacking 37 homers and 39 doubles in 136 games. There is serious swing-and-miss in Sato’s game — he struck out 156 times this season. But if the Mets feel like his bat will translate well in the majors, he could be a lethal option in the middle of New York’s lineup.
In a world where the Mets don’t go big at first base, it would make sense to instead add a free agent DH option, with Seiya Suzuki standing out.
Go internal at second base
Despite Marcus Semien being set to make $24 million toward the luxury tax payroll each of the next two seasons, he is not a lock to enter 2027 as the starting second baseman.
That’s because Semien’s offensive slide continued in 2026 and his defense fell off dramatically, creating a potentially untenable situation.
Aside from Semien, the Mets could theoretically turn to Baty at second base. But the long-term plan there is likely one of New York’s highly thought of prospects — Jefferson Rojas, Mitch Voit, or Émilien Pitre.
All three players could possibly make their big league debut in 2027, and Rojas and Voit have serious upside.
Depending on how Semien plays, it’s easy to envision one of the Mets’ prospects grabbing the second base job during the first half of the season and never looking back.
Aim high for a free agent reliever
Despite dealing two relievers during their trade deadline sell-off who were under team control beyond 2026 (Luke Weaver and Huascar Brazoban), the Mets’ bullpen is in decent shape.
As things currently stand, the depth chart looks something like this:
Devin Williams
Kodai Senga
Nate Lavender
Daniel Duarte
Dedniel Núñez
Tobias Myers
Austin Warren
Jefry Yan
Williams is coming off a bumpy season, and might be best suited for a setup role. Meanwhile, Senga showed that his fastball-ghost fork combination can play up in relief, but it’s impossible to know if a bullpen role would work for him over a full season given his meticulous routines and past health issues.
So the Mets should be aiming to find a closer this offseason.
Fortunately for them, the electric Adrian Morejon is set to be on the free agent market. Morejon, who will be entering his age-28 season, has a four-seamer and two-seamer that both averaged near 100 mph in 2026, and graded out in the 90th percentile or better in in 10 of 12 key metrics tracked by Baseball Savant.
As is the case with Skubal, Stearns would likely have to come out of his comfort zone to land Morejon, who should command a deal of at least four years.
Adding the trio of Skubal, Sato, and Morejon this offseason would be pricey, but the Mets would do so knowing that there will be lots of money coming off the books after 2027. Specifically, Manaea ($25 million), Jorge Polanco ($20 million), and Senga ($15 million) are entering the final year of their respective deals. If Bichette opts out (either this offseason or next), it would free up an additional $42 million.
Be selectively bold via trade
Following the Mets’ moves at the trade deadline, Stearns was open about the possibility that some of the prospects acquired in those trades could be flipped in deals sooner rather than later.
The Mets shouldn’t be actively seeking to move on from any specific prospects. However, if one of their infield prospects can be a headliner in a deal for a difference-maker, they shouldn’t hesitate.
Depending on how the starting rotation is addressed, the Mets could also potentially use one of their close-to-the-majors pitching prospects in a trade.