OK. I’ll be honest. I’ve been around awhile, and I’ve seen some things. I’ve been following the Mets since I was a kid – and I mean “kid.” I can remember my Dad pointing out for me to watch a particular pitcher when I was about four. That pitcher was Tom Seaver. As I got older, I enjoyed reading up on the stuff I missed out on when I was very young, especially the Mets’ history pre-Seaver. In my reading over the years – dacades, even! – I discovered all the familiar names: George Weiss, Casey Stengel, Marvelous Marv Throneberry and the rest of that doomed, hilarious team of 1962 (Hey! White Sox! Back off!).
While it was fun for awhile, after three seasons of frivolity, ownership decided to get serious about the baseball side of things. Weiss had the title of Team President – de facto General Manager, since he couldn’t have that actual title due to his separation agreement with the New York Yankees — and upon his retirement after the 1964 season, the Mets were lucky to scoop up a fellow named Bing Devine, who had recently been fired as GM in a foolish shakeup by the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. Upon his arrival, Devine discovered he had a better than average farm system, inheriting a couple of gems – outfielder Cleon Jones, shortstop Bud Harrelson and pitcher Tug McGraw – among the flotsam of failed prospects and has-been big-leaguers. He immediately went to work supplementing and polishing those gems. He drafted and signed key contributors to an eventual and unlikely World Series winning club — Jerry Koosman, Nolan Ryan, Jim McAndrew and Gary Gentry, in particular on the pitching side – and swinging canny trades for veterans like Ed Charles, Art Shamsky, and Jerry Grote, and setting in motion a trade that would be completed after his return to St. Louis in December 1967, acquiring outfielder Tommie Agee and second baseman Al Weis from the Chicago White Sox. And he was able to pull Seaver out of a hat. Not a bad run for only three years in the chair.
This all might sound very familiar in a couple of years.
At the time, the collective attitude in New York was “We got who?” Grote, Agee and Weis were solid, if unsung or unspectacular pros, coming to a town that was used to housing names like Willie Mays, Yogi Berra and Jackie Robinson. As time went on, of course, all these guys shone on the big stage and burnished their own reputations and are looked upon fondly by Mets fans to this day. Mets’ President of Baseball Operations David Stearns seems to be well on his way down the path trod by Devine. His pickups in the 2024 preseason and at this just-passed trading deadline all bore a distinct “Who the hell is that??” aura, but it seems a majority have panned out in this surprise run towards a playoff berth. Yes, Sean Manaea and Luis Severino are familiar names, but the consensus at the time of their respective acquisitions was that neither would move the needle much. The consensus was badly mistaken, as both have been mainstays of the pitching staff. Stearns was able to buttress the staff with the deadline acquisition of Paul Blackburn from the Oakland A’s. Again, the fact that Blackburn was the major coup of the deadline for Stearns drew howls of derision from talk-radio and the fan base. It looked like the Peggy Lee deadline: is that all there is? After his first two starts, this is looking like a move that’s going to go the Mets’ way, as well, each one getting through the sixth inning and each one allowing only one earned run. His next start will come at home against his former team, and while nothing is guaranteed, of course, we can at least circle that one on the calendar. To bolster an already robust offense, Stearns brought in former Enemy of the People – Mets’ people anyway – Jesse Winker. While he’s yet to have an extra-base hit in Mets togs, he is hitting .292 in his new surroundings, and his track record suggests there’s a hot streak coming.
Will all this be enough to get the Mets into the playoffs and make a deep run this year? Probably not. But is it all a good first step to building a solid organization in the minor leagues and a sustainable contender at the big-league level? Sure looks like it. Stearns was able to make all these moves without any significant impact on his minor league stores of talent. And with some major luxury-tax money coming off the books this off season – looking at you Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander – some of those more familiar names might find themselves in Queens come next April. I just keep going back to the old saw from when he was hired: if he could do that on a budget in Milwaukee, imagine what he could do with a checkbook behind him.
Otherwise, the guys he’s brought in will have to make their names for themselves. That might be nice, too.
“In 1969, “Is That All There Is?” won Peggy Lee the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance.”
My Uncle Google can often clear up seemingly obscure references
As I said, I’m old…
Stearns has done a nice job in his first year with the Mets. The big question is how much his job description changes in his second year. Does he get to spend the money that’s coming off the books? Or does he have to do what he did this year – sign guys to one-year deals or two years with the second one being an option not likely to be exercised?
I’m curious to see if the Mets make an effort to retain Manaea.