NEW YORK (AP) — As several ballparks around the majors buzzed with playoff preparations Monday, from Yankee Stadium to Wrigley Field, the one standing at 41 Seaver Way in Queens sat conspicuously empty.
A weathered New York Mets tarp covered the mound, another one encircled home plate. No possibility of any October baseball coming to Citi Field this year.
Ya Gotta Believe? More like hard to believe.
After building the best record in the majors at 45-24 through June 12 with baseball’s most expensive opening-day roster, Juan Soto and the Mets finished 83-79 and missed the playoffs when they lost 4-0 in their season finale Sunday at Miami.
It was a gradual and yet stunning second-half collapse for a star-studded team that began the season with seemingly legitimate World Series aspirations and drew 3,182,057 fans to Citi Field — most in the ballpark’s 17-year history.
So on Monday, before digging into what in the name of Tom Seaver and Keith Hernandez happened out there, the only thing for leadership to do was answer for a colossal failure.
“Mets fans everywhere. I owe you an apology,” owner Steve Cohen posted on social media after spending $429 million in payroll and projected luxury tax for an also-ran. “You did your part by showing up and supporting the team. We didn’t do our part. We will do a post-mortem and figure out the obvious and less obvious reasons why the team didn’t perform up to your and my expectations.
“We are all feeling raw emotions today. I know how much time and effort you have put into this team. The result was unacceptable. Your emotions tell me how much you care and continues to motivate the organization to do better.”
President of Baseball Operations David Stearns immediately took the blame at a Citi Field news conference for a club he said “underachieved greatly,” acknowledging New York’s pitching and defense were especially problematic as the Mets went 38-55 over their last 93 games.
The players acquired leading up to the July 31 trade deadline were mostly major flops in New York, namely Cedric Mullins, Ryan Helsley and Gregory Soto, and Stearns lamented “we didn’t do a good enough job of fortifying our team when we had injuries midseason.”
“Tremendously disappointing season. Not nearly good enough. I think we all know that,” he said at the outset of a question-and-answer session that lasted 31 minutes.
“I’m the architect of the team; I’m responsible for it. I understand how frustrated our fan base is. I understand how frustrated everyone in this building is today, everyone associated with the Mets. We’ve got to be better. And I’m committed to moving us forward and doing better.”
As the first order of business, Stearns said manager Carlos Mendoza is definitely coming back next season — although anything else would have been a surprise. Mendoza was a huge hit last year in his debut and remains under contract through 2026 with a club option for 2027.
“I believe Carlos has all the same traits and assets that I believed in when we hired him two years ago, and I think over the course of his tenure here he has demonstrated that,” Stearns said. “We are all disappointed, we are all frustrated — Mendy as much or more than anyone else. But I still believe he’s a very good manager, and I think he’s going to demonstrate that.”
Stearns said the whole coaching staff, however, will be reviewed over the next couple of weeks.
Young catcher Francisco Alvarez will have surgery in the coming days to repair an injured ligament in his right thumb.
First baseman Pete Alonso, a fan favorite and the franchise leader with 264 career home runs, already said he’ll opt out of his contract this fall and test free agency again following a terrific season.
“Pete is a great Met. He had a fantastic year. I said this last year and it worked out: I’d love to have Pete back, and we’ll see where the offseason goes,” Stearns said. “I don’t think I can sit here and speculate what’s going to happen with Pete Alonso negotiations this time.”
All-Star closer Edwin Díaz also is expected to opt out of his deal, and the entire bullpen needs another rebuild.
So there’s much work to do if the Mets are going to quickly rekindle their rousing success of 2024, when they made an unexpected run to the National League Championship Series.
“Right now I think everyone’s pretty damn motivated to get going and ensure that we can do better,” Stearns said.
That probably begins on the mound, where Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Ranger Suárez, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are among the likely free agents who could augment the rotation.
Stearns indicated the Mets might also consider making changes to their core group of position players in order to improve their run prevention.
“I think we have to be open to everything,” said Stearns, adding he could be more proactive than previously. “We need more innings out of our starting staff.”
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AP MLB: https://www.apnews.com/hub/MLB
By MIKE FITZPATRICK
AP Baseball Writer
