David Stearns on Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz’s return to Mets: ‘We’d love to have them both back’

David Stearns on Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz’s return to Mets: ‘We’d love to have them both back’

Can you tell us about how Korea and Jeff Albert first? Yes. Jeff obviously a very familiar
face to our organization has done a great job impacting our
hitters at the development landscape has a great deal of
familiarity with a number of the players who are at the major
league level and was really a natural a natural fit
for us. He’s very familiar with Troy as
well and Troy comes extremely well.
Recommended a guy We were very excited to be able
to access bring into the organization and Chi comes to us is really
one of the best defense of coaching Minds in the game. Someone who has established a
reputation from people whose worked with players. He’s
coached repeatedly is as Innovative who can really move teams and organizations forward
on that side of the ball. And so we’re ecstatic to be able to
add all those guys to our staff. Best defensive Minds, elaborate
a little on what that means. We See where the infield coach is
ground balls. The guys working with guys in the afternoon, what
make Sky at that level Reese with desire
that Jeff, what is it? What does he do? Yeah, so I think
coaches can impact players in a number of different ways. I
had a base level, it’s what
drills are we asking players to do? How
are we catering? Some of our instruction to individual player needs how we’re working
with players on a daily basis. And then, yes, some of the
in-game strategy elements that coaches are working on day in
and day out with some members of our front office. And then
it’s the coach’s job and responsibility to execute and make those real in-game
decisions about some of our defensive
strategies and so Kai has distinguished himself
and all those areas throughout his career and we think he’s
really gonna help our organization. Not ready to comment on a
pitching. Coach, what’s your commitment to bring
it back Pete and Edwin Diaz, we love both key and Edwin.
They’ve been great representative of the
organization. We’d love to have them both back at this stage of the offseason.
It’s really tough to predict any out. Comes. But certainly
we’d love to have both those guys back. Is there going to be a market
there and they will react to it, maybe at the end. Why would anything change? Well, like I think we always
have strategies as we go into offseasons with how we’re going
to progress and some of that is reading how
different segments of player markets evolve, and that is a fairly healthy strategy to
pursue. And so we’ll continue to read how
different What segments of the player markets evolved? We understand that both Pete and Edwin art were,
integral parts of our team. And we’re certainly interested in
bringing them back. You need to know early in the process game. I think I think you’d always loved
Clarity early in the process sometimes. That’s not realistic
and I’ll seasons are really long and it can be tough at times in November, when we’re
all really excited to get going and standing here at the
GM meetings, wherever the GM meetings, happened to be that
particular year but a lot of signings occur in
January, February and March and off Seasons now go into
spring training and and we have to recognize that be
patient and let the offseason play out. How much
is peace? Invest that time these value. I’m sorry how much is
this defense affect? How you move value? I think all parts of player
contribution inform how we view the player for a position player that
certainly is going to include offense and what they do in the
box and and also what they do defensively, it also includes
what they mean to us off. The feel what they mean to us in the
clubhouse. What they mean to us in the community, all of that gets factored in
with every player and Pete. So different internally to replace them. If
you don’t retain him, Or would you like to go outside for that? I think we have internal
options, we have younger players who could
deserve some more opportunity. We have players, we can move around positionally and we
would probably also explore. What is available outside there, but I think all
that’s very premature. We’ll see how the off season
progresses and go from there. Okay. I think part of improving
our defense in particular, is having some of our players
who were with us last year, played better defense. That is going to be essential. I’ve talked to some of our
players about this already. This is going to be an emphasis
of us of ours throughout the offseason into
spring training into the season. Sure. We would expect some new players on our team
somewhere around the diamond that’s natural and an offseason but we’re going to need our
current group of players to play better defense. The brand
of baseball, the brand of defense that we played over the last two
months of the Season. Wasn’t close to good enough. It has to get better. One of our players who we Leave
can perform better defensively than he did last year and I
think he believes that he’s going to work hard on it. This
offseason, he’s motivated to do that. He’s proven that at
previous times in his career that he can perform better and
right-field, we believe you
will. Yes I do because there have been points
in his career where he has and he’s also very motivated,
dedicated player. Serious dollars to a reliever sorry appetite for allocating
serious dollars to a relief pitcher, allocates first
officer. Okay. I think we’re always evaluating each
situation on the individual situation. I try not to draw lines in the
sand. Certainly, we understand the benefits and
risks of In every segment of the player
Market, that’s part of the work that we do. But we’re never
going to rule out any particular type of player going
after any particular type of player I’m not going to comment
on a specific contract negotiations. Have anybody internally that you
think could be a closer if everyone isn’t here. Or is that
position? You think you have to fill out side? I would imagine
over. The course of the offseason.
We’re going to add to our
Bullpen. You never know exactly what how
the back end of your Bullpen is going to take shape, but I would
certainly imagine over the course of the offseason.
We’re going to add to our Bullpen. We have plenty of vacancies
there, and I think we’ll have the opportunity to improve that
area. And that role struggled that might presented
its own challenges, but he’s building up. And I think right now we’ve used
sanghas part of Our rotation, he’s proven at the major league
level that he could have really good years and clear the last
two years at times have been struggles for him. But the
talent is there the desire is certainly there to have a bounce-back year and
we’re going to do them every opportunity to do that. I think length of contract number of existing commitments,
that’s always going to be a conversation. We have to have
Have internally and and somewhere there is a Tipping
Point there. I don’t think we’re necessarily
there yet but sure somewhere there is a Tipping Point. I also recognize that you generally get good free
agents when they’re in there when they’re in their 30s and to
get good free agents. Sometimes you have to extend
them into places in their career where performance isn’t always going
to go up. Philosophy by words but it felt like love the. I like the flexibility roster. Why I am able to
maneuver that at some point? Yes, there is a need. There’s a Tipping Point there
and and roster flexibility is important. And being able to
evaluate your team, on an annual basis to determine
where the needs are. I think is very important, I don’t think we’re landlocked,
Not yet, but it’s something we have to
be. We have to be aware. We also have to be cognizant of,
we’ve got some really good young players coming and we’re very optimistic about
what our team is going to look like going forward. We need to give young players a
chance to play and as we go through this
offseason and likely future off seasons, part of the balance is
going to be filling the team with players
that we think make us better and, and keep us
competing at a very high. Level will also Allowing space for our
younger players to get to the major league level have
legitimate shots of. It’s a contributor situation right now and was the
rotation between those young players and effective way to do
it, go about that last season. All right, I think, I think
Brett had a really good year. Took some real steps forward in his development. I think
going into the offseason, he’s probably someone we would pencil
in for significant third base. Time next year, probably premature in
mid-november for me to outline. Exactly how playing time is
going to be allocated. But Brett did a really nice job. He earned up more and more
opportunities as the year went on. I think he’s going
to continue to get that. Are you, were you happy with how
it worked out to have those younger players, sort of
rotating in at third base? Do you feel like that was an
effective situation for their development and for you
guys for the lineup defense as well?
Yeah, I think I did a very good job of trying
to find The right matchups for players of trying to get players into the lineup when it was called for trying to
keep everyone fresh. Also trying to keep everyone rested. So I was pleased with how it
went, what you’re finding the maybe finding a
number one type starter. Is that something that is high on
the agenda? You’d always left us. Find a
number one type starter. I don’t know how many numb true
number one starters are out there right now. I don’t know
how Many are actually going to be traded. I don’t know how many
are truly available in free agency, but you’d always like to find
that top of the rotation guy certainly makes building out the
rest of the rotation. The rest of the pitching staff, a
lot easier. And so, one of those guys happens to be
available will be right there with them. I will also go back to what I’ve
said many times, and the way to ultimately have a
True Ace on, your staff is to develop the a sign here. And I think we’re on our way to
do doing that. I think we will do that. And we’re going to continue to try to supplement that any
way we can. I don’t think we go into an off
season with with any set payroll number. Clearly. Steve is very committed
to supporting our baseball team in any way
possible. And as opportunities, arise, he and I are in regular
contact as to what Mike Make the most sense for the team and I’m not going to comment on
any specific free agent at this point. But certainly understand that
those players are available. Starting pitching staff right
now. I think we have numbers in the
starting pitching staff. I remain very optimistic about
the younger starters that we have about the guys, we have coming,
even behind the group that we saw got
get its feet wet at the major league level. We’re also certainly not going
to turn away from any opportunities that we think.
Ourselves better at the major league level. And so we’ll be we’ll be looking at
starting pitching in both free agency And Trades very early for
me to predict how how active, or what
discussions are actually going to take place. But we’re
certainly getting involved in that market. I don’t have a set number and
and some of that’s going to depend as too. Maybe the shape of what those
relievers are and whether part of it is is the true lockdown diet, the back
end, or whether part of it is, is Distributing that over over
multiple relievers, clearly, we need to add some and more than one, we do not have a distinct number
as to how many relievers we think of that. TBD. I think it is possible to
start the season. It is more likely a little bit later in
April. So you have the singer also, just
have to success with Japanese prayer. So, how about, you know, your
attention to the Japanese player
in free agent Market? Sorry, I’d say at a high level,
every single year, they’re really good players coming over
from from Japan. You have to be very Vigilant and
involved in that market. We are. And I don’t think this is, this is a fleeting Trend. I
think this is going to persist.
And, and if anything, just grow, in terms of the
number of really talented players coming over from Japan,
we just said of real, the right now. Who’s our center fielder, think
we have a couple of options. I think Tyrone Taylor has
proven, he can play out there,
to high-level defensively, Carson bench is going to come
into spring training with a chance to make our team and we’ll see where the
offseason takes us beyond that. I think any time you go through
the type of season and certainly the ending of the
Season that we went through, it provides a great opportunity
for reflection and evaluation
post-mortems. All of that. I do think we came
out of that with some very distinct and notable lessons. I think
we’re going to keep those distinct note of the lessons internal, but I do think it’s going to
help us. All be better going forward and and likely influence, how we
go through every stage of Claire acquisition process where
that’s offseason Spring Training, trade deadline presents impact, which may or may not do externally at Centerfield. I think it’s, it’s part of a
larger conversation that I alluded to earlier. When you
have good young players at the upper levels of the minor
leagues. We have to find space for those
players to play Carson’s among them. He’s not, he’s not the only one, but he’s
among them. And so as we build out our team, we have to ensure that. That as
we go forward, there is room for our young players to get to
the major leagues when they deserve to get there and have an opportunity to
really contribute to our major league team. Same boat, as far as maybe being
in that mix for center field. We can
spring training. I think jet in spring training. I
wouldn’t Was the door on anything. I think we’ll see. Where are
where our roster, our roster stands. I wouldn’t
close open. Close the door on anything right now. Nemo’s year defensively, I think Brandon had a had a year where he made a lot of really
good players defensively. And then there were probably some
plays that that he knows, he can make that he wants to make
that that we didn’t quite secure. I
think, He would tell you that he’s a better Defender overall,
but what he showed last year and I think I think he’s going
to prove that that’s Alvarez health-wise. He’s
doing well he’s his hand is getting better. He’s going to hear as we get
into December progressed into sort of the normal offseason
routine and should be full go at spring training. Because your appetite. I think if I front line picture top of the rotation picture is
available, we’re going to be involved in those discussions. There are limits to what we do
as there would be for any player, but we do have the depth and quality of farm system. At
this point that we can both have those players impact our major league team in
a real way and potentially trade. Some of them to get some, some
really near-term help, if that’s if that’s available,
you’re thinking, do you think more fundamentally as far as the
expense? But I think we are always on. I
open and have always been open to adding the top-line starter the the guy who can truly
stabilize the staff, we recognize There’s real value to that. I think we also have to
evaluate. How many of those pictures are actually available
available on annual basis when those pictures are available? We
are going to be heavily involved in the pursuit of those
pictures. How many do you think there are? I don’t know. We’ll find out as
we go through the offseason. I mean philosophically you
always have been I mean you’re not alone in this but where are
you spending too much money on pictures of a certain age
mileage, that sort of thing. I just want to be based on what
the Dodgers did this year. They had a lot of success with
their does. Many of them did pitch in to the
season but in the playoffs does that change
when you see what the market has to be for those
guys now 30 40 million dollars a year, those pictures. So I think it’s the combination
of what is the market for those pitchers who is the particular
picture of the individual. Pitcher. And and then obviously what are
the years for the individual picture? So I don’t think it’s
necessarily fair to cast, a one-size-fits-all rule, I think we are always open and
have always been open to pursuing players for very lengthy contracts at
high aavs. We think have the ability to really impact us
and help us and we can continue
to do that. That’s real sad sometimes recovery what possibly left
this. So it’s interesting if you look
at our our injuries in our
organizations, even the major league level, we certainly are not outliers
relative to the leak. This was this was an industry. This was this is an industry
wide phenomenon. I have a lot of confidence in
our medical staff. I think we have a very Good medical staff. I think what happened to us as
we had a string of injuries to Pitchers, who are all pitching
very well and then the replacements for when those
guys got hurt frankly didn’t pitch very well and it really exacerbated the injury issues we had but what I don’t think we have an issue with our training
protocols. Or our workload protocols or
anything like that. What’s next for jet? Look, Jets gonna come to spring
training. And as I said earlier, I’m not going to rule
anything out in terms of where he’s going to start. I think there’s probably some
still, some growth there, some room for development, but here
in November, I’m surely not going to close any doors. See him as a guy with a lot of
Versatility or would you like to maybe move him to a
position where he can get more playing time? Well, I think he is a guy who
can play at a high level at all. Three positions up the
middle, that’s extremely valuable. Where his ultimate
home is going to be at the major league level is going
to be partly determined by what our need is at a particular moment and
partly by where his performance excels.
And right now, we think he’s performing really eat Equally
well at all three which is a great place today. Vientos is roll, kind of
contingent upon what happens with some other
pieces like feet. I think I think Mark had a disappointing year last year.
I think he’s very motivated to prove that last year was the
outlier and he’s much closer to the
player that we saw in 24. And the one thing that’s apparent is
regardless of how our roster shape It’s out. There is going
to be opportunity there through performance or injuries. There is always opportunity,
there are always plate, appearances,
there’s always playing time for players who are performing as.
So we’re encouraging Mark to do is put himself in a spot where
he comes to spring training, ready to perform regardless of
what our offseason looks like.

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns speaks about Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz’s looming free agency, the Mets’ starting pitching, and Juan Soto’s defense in right field.

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