Mets' David Stearns comfortable with organization's overall philosophy despite trade-deadline failures

David Stearns has regrets.

Not necessarily in the process behind his trade deadline decisions – the Mets’ president of baseball operations stood by that in a pregame news conference with reporters Tuesday. But as the Mets – a team that once looked like it was going to breeze into the playoffs – clung to the precarious third wild-card spot, Stearns acknowledged that if he knew how things would have played out with the roster he already had, he would have made different choices at the deadline.

“We made the decisions we made at the time with the information we had, [and] I'm very comfortable with the process we went through,” Stearns said of a deadline that, in part, brought in two inarguably poor returns in Cedric Mullins and Ryan Helsley, and didn’t address the giant holes in the Mets' rotation. “We've had various segments of our team that haven't performed at the level that we certainly anticipated as we approached the trade deadline, and had I had that knowledge going in, yes, it would have changed what we did.”

All that means is that the Mets will have an offseason of evaluations, particularly on whether they could have predicted a disastrous second half that’s seen them become one of the worst teams in baseball.

And while Stearns lauded manager Carlos Mendoza’s steady hand, and the coaching staff’s general consistency, he did add that they “need to look and ensure that we're doing everything we can to help these guys succeed…

“We take a lot of pride in, when players come here, allowing them to be the best versions of themselves. We've talked a lot about that, so when that doesn't happen, we need to be honest about that as well and see what more we can do.”

One thing seems likely to stay the same, though: While the rotation overperformed in the first half, it’s been one of the key reasons for the Mets’ potential collapse, and Stearns has gotten plenty of heat for not securing a front-line starter, both in the offseason and again at the deadline (though there weren’t all that many to be had then).

This year, they suffered season-ending injuries to Griffin Canning and Frankie Montas, a likely season-ending injury to Tylor Megill, and lengthy injured list stints from Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga, the latter of whom struggled so badly upon his return that he’s currently pitching in Triple-A.

Regardless, Stearns seems comfortable with his general philosophy: Extending large and lengthy contracts to fill a position with such a high propensity for injury is a dangerous and unnecessary game. A glut of veteran depth isn’t an ideal solution, either, he said.

“I think it continues to reinforce that we have to develop our own pitching, and we have to [consistently develop] our own pitching with tremendous abundance, and that's where our focus is going,” he said – something supported by their aggressive promotions of Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong.

Stearns was also asked about team chemistry, particularly as it relates to last year’s rollicking bunch, and noted that a lot that is predicated on success. This team’s streakiness – a product of poor pitching, early deficits, and unreliable situational hitting – has been a big reason for the energy shift.

“I think we have the ingredients for a very productive team chemistry and team energy,” he said. “We, in my opinion, just haven't allowed it to flourish yet, because we haven't gotten on a run and we haven't played, certainly over the last few months, consistently high-level baseball…[We] understand that this has been a grind for that entire group for a sustained period, but we still have an opportunity ahead of us to get to the postseason. That's a meaningful opportunity, and staying in the right mindset is probably a big part of what's going to determine our success.”

Regardless, this season continues to teach its lesson, and with three teams entering the day within two games of overtaking the Mets, potentially a very painful one.

“We understand we're not going to get everything right,” Stearns said. “We're unlikely to predict with perfection what seasons are going to look like, [and] what stretches of seasons are going to look like. So, I think certainly we have to learn from this and determine whether there are things we could have seen that we did not. But I am confident in our evaluative capabilities and the work on the whole that we've accomplished.”

And while hindsight is a useful tool, there’s not all that much Stearns can do with it now that there are only 12 games left in the regular season.

“I think when you're sitting where we were in mid-June, we would not have expected to be in this spot,” he said. “My focus is from here forward, what can we do to win as many games as possible, and that's in the regular season and the postseason.”

That is, of course, if there is one.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.