Are we really new to the wave of fan frustration surrounding Mets GM David Stearns? Probably not. Because if you think back to 2023, when the Mets intentionally stayed out of the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes, New York radio legend Joe Benigno didn’t hold back. He famously labeled Stearns a “small-market GM,” saying, “Let’s be honest, he’s a small-market general manager. They brought him in to run the Mets like the Milwaukee Brewers.”

Fast-forward to now, and it feels like history is repeating itself. Stearns is catching the same kind of heat from fans, and his recent trade decisions look eerily familiar to the moves he made in Milwaukee.

So, coincidence or not, it’s enough to make WFAN host Marc G. Malusis openly wonder whether Steve Cohen is really the one calling the shots in Queens.

“I’ve said it before, Cohen’s going to remain aggressive. It’s just that he is not the driving force of this Mets team right now, and that guy is the guy that he waited a year and a half for. And that being the David Stearns. I mean, he is the driving force. He is going to build this team as he sees fit now,” Malusis shared via WFAN Sports Radio.

Honestly, the Mets’ offseason this year feels a lot like collecting Pokémon cards. Why? Because instead of locking down big stars with long-term deals, they’re scooping up one-year contracts and minor-league flyers!

And if a team like the Pirates did this, no one would bat an eye. But the Mets? This is the same franchise that handed out the largest contract in MLB history. They’re not supposed to be the team quietly bowing out of major sweepstakes. Yet here we are, and the losses keep piling up.

For instance, they couldn’t retain Pete Alonso. Edwin Díaz and Brandon Nimmo are gone. Now, Jeff McNeil has also been traded. Just like that, the much-hyped Mets core has vanished from Queens.

What about free agency? The Mets were linked to Kyle Schwarber, still didn’t get him. Dylan Cease and Munetaka Murakami were both rumored, but nothing came of it. Instead, the big additions are Jorge Polanco and Luke Weaver on two-year deals, and Devin Williams on a three-year deal. That approach feels awfully familiar, and not in a Mets way.

It looks a lot like the Brewers’ playbook, the same Brewers who reportedly just signed Akil Baddoo to a one-year deal.

So the obvious question is: Is David Stearns running the Mets the same way he ran Milwaukee? And how much influence does Steve Cohen actually have over these moves?

Either way, whoever’s calling the shots, this low-key, bargain-focused offseason has fans bracing themselves for yet another painful season in Queens.

The Mets still have time for a turnaround

While the Mets’ offseason so far has definitely been demoralizing, it’s still too early to write them off completely. And there’s a reason for that!

Players like Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, and Kyle Tucker remain on the market, and since the Mets haven’t made a major splash yet, fans have every reason to believe one of those stars could still end up in New York.

Even someone like Cody Bellinger, if signed, would go a long way toward filling the void left by Pete Alonso. And let’s not forget, the Mets still have Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto anchoring the lineup.

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So, that said, 2026 will mark the first season without Alonso since 2019, which puts even more pressure on Lindor and Soto to carry the offense, especially if the Mets want to keep pace with the Phillies, Braves, and the rest of the NL East.

Still, there’s another way to look at this. If the Brewers managed to sneak into the playoffs in 2025 without any actual superstar names, maybe David Stearns knows how to pull off that kind of magic again in Queens. He’s often labeled a “small-market GM” because of his Milwaukee background.

But if he can get the Mets to perform the way those Brewers teams did, fans might not mind that label after all.