Managing Partner

BY KEVIN KERNAN

With all the mistakes the Mets have made this year under the direction of David Stearns, to me, one comment from Stearns stands apart in his Carlos Mendoza post-firing press conference Friday at Citi Field.

Don’t forget, Stearns was welcomed to New York as a front office superhero by owner Steve Cohen, media and the fans, the man who was going to finally lead the Mets to the Promised Land, back to winning a World Series for the first time since 1986.

At least that is what everyone else was saying and writing.

Here at BallNine, though, I openly questioned the hiring of David Stearns from Day 1 saying, “Be careful what you wish for, Mets fans.’’

I felt that Stearns would go too deep into the analytic waters, and also he was not beloved by some people who had worked for him in Milwaukee, good baseball men who were cast aside.

It’s funny, with Stearns back home in New York, the Brewers under Pat Murphy, a baseball man, a real manager, have not missed a beat and have the second-best record in baseball. Go Brew Crew. Keep playing baseball.

In New York, it was Stearns’ way or the highway, so I had to laugh in his post-firing comments when he tried to throw this one out to the media. It is a dandy.

“In these roles you are a partner with the manager,’’ Stearns said of his “partnership’’ with Mendoza.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

That is The Big Lie David Stearns is pushing.

In Stearns’ world the manager is not a partner. He is there to be a conduit for the front office, whatever the analytics spit out, Stearns wants his manager to do.

That’s not being a partner. That’s being a puppet, and that is the biggest problem with baseball today. It is happening throughout the game.

David Stearns is the one and only managing partner for the Mets.

This year, and really since June 13th of last season, it has been all downhill for Stearns.

After all, Stearns thinks anybody not named Pete Alonso can play first base for the Mets, 264 home runs out the window. Stearns also gave no weight to the leadership qualities of Brandon Nimmo. Both have new baseball homes. Stearns thought third baseman Brett Baty could play right field, yep, no problem moving from third to right. In addition to the defensive lapses in right, Stearns thought all that moving around would not harm Baty’s offense. Baty has the third worst OPS in the majors at .587. Stearns also thought it was okay to slide Mark Vientos over to first base and Vientos has struggled mightily defensively. Vientos is best suited for designated hitter.

Simply put, Stearns did not consider first base to be a difficult position to play. That’s a common mistake by analytics-based leadership, thanks to Moneyball. First base is a vital defensive position because, most of all, the first baseman has to earn the confidence of his infielders. He must prove he is there to dig out bad throws and also cover the first base line on hot shots, and now with new positioning from the Nerds, the first base line is often given away because the first baseman is too far towards second base.

In Stearns’ world the manager is there to sing songs around the campfire with the boys while he and his baseball-ops people run the show. More like baseball-oops. 

Stearns and his baseball ops people made the lineup card a daily merry-go-round for Carlos Mendoza. All this after Stearns got rid of Mendoza’s coaching staff, some excellent coaches, too, so he essentially knee-capped Mendoza from the start of this season.

Mendoza, his partner, was set up to fail.

When I saw Mendoza in spring training, he told me he was hopeful that the Mets would be more baseball-influenced this year rather than analytic-influenced.

That never happened.

Doesn’t sound like Stearns treated Mendoza as much of a partner as he said in that post-mortem. Mendoza certainly has his faults, and like most managers today, at some point he had to put his foot down and that never really happened.

When Stearns took over the Mets after the 2023 season, he was singing the same partnership song, “I view the manager position as one of true partnership. Someone who is working side by side with me and the rest of our baseball ops group. The manager has so many responsibilities these days. It’s a big job. But first and foremost is the ability to manage people, manage personalities and create and facilitate an organizational culture where people enjoy coming to work and work hard. So that’s at the top of my list.’’

The media lapped it up. Every word.

In Stearns’ world the manager is there to sing songs around the campfire with the boys while he and his baseball-ops people run the show. More like baseball-oops.

However, if I were having a “partnership’’ conversation with Stearns, I would have asked, “That is all well and good, but what about managing the game? Isn’t that important?’’

Not in David Stearns’ world because the analytics people or as he calls them, “our baseball-ops group,’’ manages the game. The manager is there only to serve at their whim, whatever they want, they get, and that is how you get so many players playing out of position and being sent away. And players that remain going backward, not forward in their development like pitcher Nolan McLean, whose ERA has jumped from 2.06 last season to 4.03 under Stearns’ new pitching coach Justin Willard. Jeremy Hefner is doing quite well in Atlanta, where the Braves are in first place.

“They changed McLean’s Bert Blyleven-like curve ball and have made him an east-west pitcher,’’ one scout told BallNine.

And here is what the analytics people, for the most part, never consider. What if the team suffers injuries? Seems like every player Stearns acquired got hurt and you could see that was frustrating Mendoza, especially when he talked about the latest injury problems to Marcus Semien. Mendoza kind of dropped that all in Stearns’ lap, and at that point it was evident Carlos was soon to be gone.

“See you, partner.’’

Isn’t it interesting too that when Stearns came to the Mets, he dumped veteran manager Buck Showalter, a manager who actually manages the game? Stearns wanted a fresh start when he took over and got rid of Showalter without ever talking to him. Stearns said that because he was still under contract with Milwaukee, he could not reach out to Buck.

Really. He could have waited until he was officially the Mets honcho and then at least have talked to Showalter, who is always willing to give his opinion on the game, and it is always a fascinating discussion. Get Buck’s thoughts on how the Mets could improve and his read of the players in the clubhouse, but Stearns could not be bothered to have a fact-finding sit down with Showalter.

Nope, Stearns wanted a blank slate and got it. He did not need a lifelong baseball man’s opinion. Again, that’s his prerogative.

Now Stearns has another blank slate with interim manager Andy Green on board with Green coming over from his farm director position. At least Green has a relationship with the young Mets who came up through the system like Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing. That is a positive.

If nothing else, the firing of Mendoza did force the Mets players to take a hard look in the mirror and realize, “Hey, we are the problem.’’ The Mets snapped their seven-game losing streak Saturday night agains the Phillies. At least they put out a lineup Saturday night that had a real right-fielder, Benge, and a real first baseman, Jared Young. The Mets are 13 games under .500. Abysmal is the word.

It would help, too, if Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto (.966) can stay on the field and play together.

It is interesting to note that while SNY’s Steve Gelbs was trying to do his ultra-serious report Friday on the firing of Mendoza, and noting “it’s become clear that the Mets simply changed too much this offseason at one time,’’ there was goofy Mr. Met behind him in the background, seemingly dancing on Mendoza’s grave.

Read the room, Mr. Met.

What is wrong with this franchise?

That is no way to treat a partner.

Stearns will be looking for another “partner’’ to manage the team after the season or should I say a partner he can manage while Stearns and his baseball ops people manage the game.

Mendoza is gone. The Mets’ entire coaching staff was sent packing after last season, and one of those coaches, Eric Chavez, a person I have known for many years, since his All-Star days with the A’s, and deeply respect, dropped this on social media: “So, Stearns decided to fire Mendoza, why not the whole staff? Well, he has already used that bullet in the chamber, right. He’s running out of bullets. This was inevitable. This was the next step. But Carlos wasn’t a problem. I’ve said it before, none of the moves (Stearns) has made, have worked out. They just haven’t. I am going to break this down on the next podcast, EC-3 Podcast, don’t miss it. It’s going to be hard-hitting; Carlos wasn’t a problem.’’

That should be one interesting podcast, partner.