Sometimes, it’s the optics that make these things difficult to digest. Sometimes, it’s watching as three of the Mets’ staples — Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Díaz and Pete Alonso — depart in a matter of weeks that creates an impossible reality for president of baseball operations David Stearns to escape. One singular response can’t serve as the cure-all antidote, either.
Alonso bolted for the Orioles on a five-year, $155 million deal Wednesday, and the Mets didn’t even extend an offer to the franchise’s all-time home run leader because they knew the term and dollar amount exceeded their comfort zone. Those aren’t good optics. Díaz, who collected 144 saves during six regular seasons in Queens, went to the Dodgers on a three-year, $69 million deal after the Mets offered three years and $66 million. Díaz never circled back to the Mets before signing with the two-time defending champions. That doesn’t ace the optics test, either.
And then there was Nimmo, asked to waive his full no-trade clause in a deal that sent him to the Rangers for 35-year-old infielder Marcus Semien. Also not the best optics to lose the longest-tenured Met who wanted to log the most games in franchise history.
The last 48 hours won’t dictate whether the Mets make the World Series, win the Fall Classic or, heck, just even return to the playoffs after a disappointing 2025 campaign. That will be shaped by the weeks and months that follow, by the emergences and bounce-back years that unfold between April and October.
