New York Mets Joel Sherman There is no one left to protect David Stearns from his miserable Mets mess anymore By Joel Sherman Published June 26, 2026, 10:58 a.m. ET David Stearns constructed the roster that got Carlos Mendoza fired. Robert Sabo for NY Post Gil Hodges could not make Jorge Polanco healthy. Davey Johnson could not make Marcus Semien young. Bobby Valentine could not make Mark Vientos athletic.
Carlos Mendoza did not assemble this Mets’ jigsaw puzzle of the mismatched and injury prone and not-as-good-as-hoped.
Access the Mets beat like never before Don’t miss Mike Puma’s text messages from Queens and beyond — he’s giving Sports+ subscribers the inside buzz on the Mets.
This is David Stearns’ use of money, philosophy and, thus, roster building.
But this is the way it generally works in the baseball world when large disappointment follows great expectations. First, coaches are fired, as they were after last season. Then the manager is, as Carlos Mendoza was early Friday morning. Now there is no further buffer between Stearns and two outcomes: