Mets' David Stearns would 'love to' have Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz back, but also touts internal options
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns speaks during Amazin' Day at Citi Field on Jan. 25. Credit: Jeff Bachner
LAS VEGAS – Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns didn’t provide much more clarity on the team’s pursuit of Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso Tuesday, but he once again underlined the organization’s desire to flourish via its young players and promising prospects.
“At this stage of the offseason, it’s really tough to predict any outcomes but certainly we’d love to have both those guys back,” Stearns said of Diaz and Alonso at the general manager meetings at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, nonetheless adding that he needed to wait and see how the market evolved – something that potentially could take months.
At the same time, the Mets are looking to plug some of their other holes internally – potentially with Brett Baty as a mainstay at third base, No. 2 prospect Carson Benge as an option in centerfield, and with their promising young pitchers factoring into their depleted rotation.
In a wide-ranging conversation with reporters, Stearns provided a broad outline of the Mets’ offseason priorities, but the theme throughout was flexibility.
The team is very open to acquiring a front-line starter, but “I don’t know how many true No. 1 starters are out there right now,” Stearns said. They’ll continue to focus on improving defensively, but much of that might have to start with the players already on the roster simply playing better. And though they hope to create sustainability through their farm system – among the best in baseball – that same farm system allows them to further wade into the trade market.
“I think if a front-line pitcher, top of the rotation pitcher is available, we’re going to be involved in those discussions,” Stearns said. “There are limits to what we would 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 really near-term help if that’s available.”
The only real absolute Tuesday was obvious: The Mets don’t have much of a bullpen anymore, and will have to acquire multiple arms – something further complicated if they don’t re-sign Diaz, who opted out of the final two years, $38 million of his contract.
That process there involves “reading how different segments of player markets evolve and that’s a fairly healthy strategy to pursue,” Stearns said, adding that he hasn't drawn a hard line against allocating significant money toward relief. “We understand that both Pete and Edwin are integral parts of our team.”
Alonso, meanwhile, wants a long-term deal, and Stearns also didn’t shut down that possibility, even while continuing to hammer the idea that the Mets need to focus on run prevention – an area where a defensively subpar first baseman is a liability. Stearns, though, said he believed Alonso could improve, and that his defense was far from the only factor involved in the organization’s assessment of his worth.
“I think all parts of player contribution inform how we view the player,” Stearns said. “For a position player, that’s certainly going to include offense and what they do in the box and also what they do defensively. It also includes what they mean to us off the field, what they mean to us in the clubhouse, what they mean to us in the community.”
Alonso appeared to be open to a return to the Mets, but also didn't indicate that it would be on a "home-town discount"-type deal.
“Nothing’s guaranteed, but we’ll see what happens,” he said after the team was eliminated from playoff contention on the last day of the season. “I loved being a Met, so hopefully they appreciated me . . ."
And while the Mets already have long-term deals with three other players in Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo, that, too, wouldn’t preclude them from adding another in Alonso, who’s entering his Age 31 season, Stearns said.
“Length of contract, number of existing commitments, that’s always going to be a conversation internally,” Stearns said. “Somewhere, there’s a tipping point there. I don’t think we’re necessarily there yet…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.”
One of the things that allows them to do that, he said, was the number of young players they’re hoping will be a part of their future – something that includes Benge, whom Stearns floated as a centerfield solution. The left-handed hitting Benge, 22, rocketed through the ranks last year, beginning the season with High-A Brooklyn, ending it in Triple-A Syracuse, and slashing .281/.385/.472 with 15 homers, 73 RBIs and 22 stolen bases over 116 games along the way.
“We’ll see where the offseason takes us beyond that,” Stearns said about center, while adding Tyrone Taylor could also be in the mix.
“When you have good, young players at the upper levels of the minor leagues, we have to find space for these players to play. Carson’s among them," Stearns added. "We have to ensure that as we go forward, there’s 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 baseball team.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
