Insider ranks New York Mets as top five front office

Ahead of the Mets are the defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the NL East rival Atlanta Braves, and the Arizona Diamondbacks; Heyman has the Baltimore Orioles behind New York at No. 5. Heyman prefaced his list by refuting criticism that he has a "east cost bias," but admitted he may have a "big-market bias." In regard to the Mets, Heyman cited the "fantastic job" that Stearns has done in his less than two years with the team.

David Stearns

Stearns came to New York after eight years in Milwaukee as general manager of the Brewers. After three seasons, he was promoted to president of baseball operations while remaining general manager of the club.

Stearns quickly became one of the most respected executives in baseball, and in 2022 he transitioned to an advisory role with Brewers ownership and became linked to president positions with the Houston Astros and Mets. In October 2023, Stearns was officially announced as the Mets' new president of baseball operations.

Stearns has introduced unique philosophies during his tenure with the Mets. One of them is his decision to spend less on pitching, opting for smaller contracts with middling arms in the hope of maximizing their potential through training and development. Just a few weeks into the 2025 season, his strategy seems to be paying off, as the Mets lead MLB with a 2.38 ERA despite being down two starting pitchers.

Soto Signing

Still, the early highlight of Stearns' New York career is unquestionably the signing of Juan Soto. The Soto sweepstakes consumed the MLB from the moment his Yankees fell to the Dodgers in the World Series until his singing in mid-December.

According to Soto, he had bigger contracts on the table than what he ended up taking to join the Mets. It has been widely speculated which teams he could be referring to, but in March, SNY insider Andy Martino all but confirmed that Boston was of the bunch that would have exceeded the Mets' offer if they knew Soto would agree.

Steve Cohen

Ultimately, money wasn't the only deciding factor in this unprecedented free agency decision. In an exclusive with Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci, Soto admitted that the Yankees were his top choice entering free-agency, and the "effort" from Mets owner Steve Cohen was what swayed him.

"I mean, the effort that he puts in." Soto said of Cohen. "He put a lot of things out there. They put my family into it. My family, and the way they take care of everything."

Soto's 15-year commitment also came down to a long-term belief in the Mets, a credit to both Cohen's aggressive spending and the infrastructure that he and Stearns have built. When asked what he thought the deciding factor was for Soto, Cohen was unsure.

“I’m curious what he’s going to say,” Cohen told SI. “I mean, I’m hoping it was the conversations. We met multiple times. Was that something to do with it? Was it the perception of family and how we treat families? Maybe it was he wanted to be his own man? I mean, we can all speculate."

As Cohen alludes to, there are a variety of factors that Soto was faced with when making a decision of this magnitude. Money, future spending, infrastructure, treatment of families: all possibilities. While no one but Soto will ever fully know what separated the Mets from the rest of his finalists, the historic signing marked a shift in attitude and direction for the team that will hopefully carry into the future.