David Stearns acknowledged a fact with which every Mets fan agrees:
Through a month and a half, his trade deadline moves have not worked out.
The Mets president of baseball operations, while providing the caveat that he is pleased with the “process” that led to the team’s decision-making on July 31, nonetheless said he “absolutely” would have handled the trade deadline differently if he knew how the late season would play out.
“We did not play well during the month of August, and frankly at this point through September,” Stearns said before the Mets opened a series with the Padres at Citi Field on Tuesday. “We’ve had various segments of our team that haven’t performed to the level that we certainly anticipated as we approached the trade deadline.
“And had I had that knowledge going in, yes, I would have changed what we did.”
What the Mets did: Theoretically bulked up their bullpen in acquiring Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto, plus theoretically finding their everyday center fielder in Cedric Mullins.
What the Mets did not do: Turn those theoreticals into realities for a trade-deadline haul that largely has struggled, or add rotation help to a team that has needed some.
Since the start of August and through Monday, the Mets rotation had logged the ninth-fewest innings in the majors with a 5.40 ERA that was sixth worst.
Kodai Senga fell apart to the point he accepted a demotion to Triple-A Syracuse, and Sean Manaea fell apart to the point he served as a bulk reliever behind Clay Holmes (who had not been able to pitch deep into games) on Tuesday. David Peterson has a 6.53 ERA after the trade deadline.
The Mets now are relying upon three top prospects, Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat immediate contributors while Jonah Tong could not survive the first inning in his most recent outing.
“We understand we’re not going to get everything right,” Stearns said of the evaluation process. “We’re unlikely to predict with perfection what seasons are going to look like, what stretches of seasons are going to look like. So I think certainly we have to learn from this … but also, I am confident in our evaluative capabilities and the work on the whole we have accomplished.”
Their deadline work received praise by just about everyone at the time and has been panned by just about everyone since.
Rogers has performed, Soto has been OK, but Helsley entered Tuesday with a 10.29 ERA with the Mets.
Mullins also has disappointed and lost at least a chunk of his playing time, the lefty swinger now platooning with Jose Siri because he entered play hitting just .188 with a .571 OPS with the Mets.
“First of all, I’d say we’re not at the end of the line yet, and so there are potentially chapters yet to be written,” Stearns said of the haul. “But to this point, it’s a fair assessment that our trade deadline — at least some of our trade-deadline acquisitions — have not performed at the level that we expected, or the level that they have performed at throughout their careers.
“Part of that is streakiness and randomness, and this happens every year in baseball with some trade-deadline acquisitions. Part of that we need to look at to 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.”
The Mets have tried to fix Helsley and believe they have diagnosed a pitch-tipping issue — and yet the results still have not normalized.
Mullins, a lifelong Orioles outfielder, has been a part of early batting practices daily as he works with co-hitting coach Jeremy Barnes on his swing.
“Adjusting to a new organization, a little bit of a different role,” Stearns said of Mullins’ struggles. “Got off to a little bit of a struggle, and sometimes that can put pressure on players. … I do think he’s beginning to come out of it. I think we’re seeing him have a little more productive at-bats.”
Visiting this week is Padres outfielder Ramón Laureano, who also came from Baltimore but has been excellent (.845 OPS) with his new team, as well as fireballing closer Mason Miller, another deadline pickup for a team that acted bolder.
Stearns was more measured — in part because his team had been the best in baseball through June 12 and was winning the division at the deadline.
“I think when you’re sitting where we were in mid-June, we would not have expected to be in this spot,” Stearns said of a team fighting for the final wild card. “There’s no question about that.”