I believer that if there were no such thing as fans that David Stearns would have traded Pete Alonso, Edwin Díaz and Brandon Nimmo upon taking over Mets baseball operations following the 2023 season.
Being a native New Yorker who grew up a Mets fan, Stearns knew what the reaction would be — namely that even with his New York/Mets bona fides, he would be criticized for a small-market mentality brought from Milwaukee. And that was no way to open his regime.
Then the Mets had a magical run to the 2024 NLCS, so Stearns couldn’t break up the team then. Thus, it wasn’t until this offseason — after one of the most disappointing years in franchise history — that Stearns could follow his instincts. Even with the dismaying result, Stearns still understood the noise that would come (and has come) from moving off fan favorites, notably Alonso.
But anyone who has talked to Stearns since the season ended has heard some version of the Mets’ on-field performance in Steve Cohen’s five seasons of ownership not justifying the money invested. He did not believe keeping this core intact would bring sustained success. He thought substantial positional changes — notably improving on defense and working in youngsters — was vital. So he added Bo Bichette, Jorge Polanco, Luis Robert Jr. and Marcus Semien while keeping a runway of importance for Carson Benge to break through and Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos to firmly establish themselves.