Consider this an open letter to Steve Cohen:

I don’t have to tell you what an absolute mess the Mets are. It’s been well documented here and in just about every other New York media outlet that your President of Baseball Operations, David Stearns, the guy you pursued like a dog in heat and signed to a record five-year, $50 million contract in 2023 after his contract with the Brewers expired, has done an abysmal job of roster construction and personnel decisions. Because he’s only hallway through that contract I know you’re reluctant to admit what a mistake Stearns has been, but you need to take stock of what a $329 million embarrassment the Mets have been turned into and give the disheartened Citi Field fans a whole lot more proof of your feeling their pain than just firing Carlos Mendoza.

The Mets are in need of a near-total overhaul now and do you really expect anyone to believe that Stearns and his analytic army of propeller heads are the people to do it? Just look at the personnel decisions alone Stearns has made in his two and a half years as baseball ops chief beginning with his first which was to fire Buck Showalter, a proven winning manager who completely changed the toxic Met clubhouse culture, with one year remaining on his contract and not even talking to him.

Why did he do that? Because it’s the belief of analytic general managers that managers are there to merely carry out the lineup directives of the front office. In hiring Mendoza as a first-year manager, Stearns knew he would get no push-back.

Of all the players Stearns has acquired via trades or free agency, we’ll give him credit for the successful conversion of Clay Holmes from reliever to starter, and, with your largesse, the signing of Juan Soto. After that, one blunder after another. Frankie Montas for $34 million in ’24 and then this disastrous last winter when he let Pete Alonso, one of the most popular Mets ever, leave as a free agent and replaced him with Jorge Polanco (who has played only two games at first base) for $40 million; the signing of Bo Bichette to that ridiculous three-year, $126 million deal to also play out of position, the money-driven trade of Brandon Nimmo, another fan favorite, and the ill-conceived idea of replacing him in center field with perpetually injured Luis Robert Jr.. All in the name of “run prevention.”

All of these decisions wreaked of a glaring lack of baseball intelligence, and that’s the problem when you place all your organization weight in analytics at the expense of old fashioned baseball scouting. A look at Stearns’ baseball operations shows 26 people in the analytics department, including eight “data scientists” (whatever they are) — and just four pro scouts, none of whom Stearns ever talks to. That was the skinny on Stearns in Milwaukee. Secluded himself in his office with his propeller heads and never talked to his scouts.

This season needs to be a lesson. The Mets need a change of philosophy and keeping Stearns as head of baseball operations is only going to be an extension of a status quo that clearly isn’t working. There is nothing in his first two and a half years to suggest he has the baseball acumen to make sound player evaluations. But I am here to help. There are any number of respected, accomplished baseball people not yet GMs but clearly ready to be one of them. Here are three in particular:

Dan Jennings — Currently a senior advisor to Rangers’ GM Chris Young. A “scout’s scout,” he broke into front office work as VP of Player Personnel with the Marlins in 2002 and was instrumental in their drafting of Giancarlo (then Mike) Stanton in 2007, Christian Yelich in 2010 and Jose Fernandez in 2011. After a falling out with Marlins mercurial owner Jeffrey Loria, he was hired by the Nationals as a top assistant to GM Mike Rizzo in 2016 and played a key role in the composition of their 2019 world championship team.

Randy Flores — After an eight-year major league career as a left-handed pitcher (2002-1010), went back to Southern Cal and earned a Master of Science degree in athletic administration. Hired by the Cardinals as Director of Scouting in 2015 and promoted to assistant GM in 2018, he’s credited with an incredible streak of successful Cardinal drafts which have produced six of their nine present regulars — catcher Pedro Pages, first baseman Alec Burleson, second baseman (and leading Rookie of the Year candidate) JJ Wetherholt, shortstop Masyn Winn, right fielder Jordan Walker and left-fielder Nathan Church.

Josh Barfield — Hired by the White Sox as assistant general manager in 2023 after nine years in the Diamondbacks baseball operations department, the last four as director of player development which produced among others Corbin Carroll and Merrill Kelly. Reportedly declined an interview for a GM job from the Orioles last year to stay with the White Sox. His daddy Jesse was a Yankee favorite right-fielder from 1989-92.

The one common denominator of these three is that they are all baseball people with proven resumes in player evaluation — and that’s what the Mets need. More baseball people. Less propeller heads.

Met fans are hoping you are sufficiently embarrassed by the 34-48 last place mess Stearns has created at Citi Field.

I wasn’t going to tell you this, but as you might expect your major league peers are laughing at your plight. As one of them told me Friday shortly after the Mendoza firing came down:

“Steve fired the wrong guy today. The guy he should’ve fired was himself. He’s the one who hired Stearns.”