David Stearns is willing to acknowledge that the Mets are not playing up to the level he expected when he put together a talented group for the 2026 season. The club’s president of baseball operations will concede that the team has been wildly inconsistent in just about every facet of the game all season.

“We’ve been inconsistent at various times around all segments of our team,” Stearns said Tuesday at Citi Field. “Which is why we have the record we have right now.”

Opening a series at home against the Chicago Cubs, the Mets have a 34-43 record, the third-worst in the National League, yet still somehow good enough to only be 6.0 games away from the Wild Card standings. As the chief architect of the Mets, it’s his job to take accountability for the record on the field. It’s tough to know if he’s actually taking any when he isn’t really answering the questions posed to him.

Stearns tends to speak in a way that is very polished and poised, without getting to the heart of the issue. For instance, when asked why he thinks the starting rotation has struggled to such a great extent, Stearns gave no concrete answers.

“I think each of our starters would say that there’s another level of performance in there,” he said. “It’s our job as an organization to do everything we can to get the best versions of each of those players.”

Throughout the last two seasons and the offseason, Stearns has been asked about his analytical projections, his processes for building each position group, and more detailed information on why the Mets thought it would be a good idea to sign injury-prone veterans like Jorge Polanco to play out of position at first base while letting the greatest power-hitting first baseman the club has ever developed walk without an offer from the team in free agency.

With regards to Pete Alonso and other former players, he has typically declined to comment, other than wishing them well. That’s not a sin for an executive, but it makes it tough to understand his thought process.

Fans want to know, will it always be like this?

They to know why the club felt comfortable letting a player like him go, just as they want to know what he sees in the starting rotation that currently owns the fourth-worst ERA in baseball and the 10th-highest walk rate. Stearns was quick to point out that the Mets struggled with high walk rates last season as well, which doesn’t explain anything, but it might indicate that it’s a trend within the system.

Stearns doesn’t appear to see it that way.

“I don’t necessarily think it’s systemic,” Stearns said. “If we look at whether it’s our starts at the Major League level or our starts at the minor league level, we’re getting to walks in slightly different ways. Some guys are getting ahead and having a tough time putting guys away. Some guys are not getting ahead, some guys we get to these 3-2 counts, and we’re out of the zone too much on 3-2. I think it’s a very fair critique that we got to throw more strikes.”

In the case of Freddy Peralta, Stearns sees a pitcher getting behind in counts and failing to put hitters away when he has two strikes. The right-hander who was supposed to be the Mets’ ace has looked anything but ace-like this season, going 5-6 with a 4.83 ERA. The team doesn’t seem to have an answer as to why.

“I could let our pitching coaches speak to that,” Stearns said. “I think there are probably some mechanical tweaks. That’s not unusual. I think pitchers, even when they’re going well, are constantly evaluating their mechanics and trying to improve upon things. But yeah, Freddy is working on some mechanical things.”

The pitching coaches he referred to are frequently unavailable for comment.

Stearns deflected questioning about the process of putting together the rotation by saying there are different ways to go about that task every year. He did, however, admit to being worried about the rotation being unable to go deep into games, and that it’s tough to get any external help this time of the year.

As far as the coaching staff, Stearns said he’s still very happy with the job they are doing. If owner Steve Cohen isn’t happy with Stearns, then he hasn’t said anything to the executive, and he certainly hasn’t said anything publicly.

Stearns isn’t interested in “fixing” the Mets; if the players he put on the field perform to their full capabilities, they’ll be “fixed.” So, Cohen and Stearns plan to give the team, as it’s currently constructed, a chance to “prove” they can get back into playoff contention before the July 31 trade deadline.

“The word fix here, I don’t think is something that I’m thinking about,” Stearns said. “I’m thinking about, how do we get our players to play up to their potential? Because in a large segment of our roster, I don’t think we’ve seen that this year.”