New update emerges on when Mets owner Steve Cohen could make final David Stearns decision

Recent reports have indicated that New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns has more job security than manager Carlos Mendoza amid the club's woeful start to the 2026 season. 

That makes sense if only because Mendoza is in the final guaranteed year of his contract, while Stearns is signed through 2028. However, MLB insider Chelsea Janes of SNY suggested in her latest mailbag posted on Monday that big-spending Mets owner Steve Cohen will only tolerate so much before he shows Stearns the door. 

What has to happen for David Stearns to hold onto his job?

"I think Cohen gives Stearns a chance to fix this between now and the end of the season," Janes wrote. "If [the Mets] miss the playoffs, I do not think he will get more chances beyond that."

Stearns accepted the Mets job in the fall of 2023. Together, he and Mendoza helped the club reach the 2024 National League Championship Series, and New York later ended June 12 of last year with a record of 45-24. Since then, however, the Mets have been arguably the biggest and most expensive disappointment in all of MLB. 

Last year's Mets endured a brutal collapse that ended with the team missing the playoffs and with Stearns rebuilding the core of the club's roster via offseason decisions that were unpopular among many members of the fan base even before the club lost 25 of its first 40 games this season. 

While the Mets recently teased that they could soon begin turning things around, they lost three of the final four games of their road trip that wrapped up on Sunday. 15-25 New York next hosts the Detroit Tigers (19-22) for a three-game series that gets underway at Citi Field on Tuesday evening. 

Mets have to make the playoffs...or else? 

"Everything I have heard about Steve Cohen’s stance during the last few weeks is that it is largely one of patience," Janes said. "Stearns would not have told MLB.com he is not firing Carlos Mendoza had Cohen not ok’ed the message. And Cohen does not have a history of dramatic reactivity. That being said, Cohen knew what he was doing when he told reporters in spring training that he is annoyed that his team has not won regularly during his tenure. He was not bloviating when he said the Mets 'have to make the playoffs.' With a roster as expensive as his, that standard seems more than fair."

As of the second Monday of May, there's no sign the Mets will even flirt with competing for a playoff spot this year. In fact, the NL East team reportedly could become a seller as soon as June. If such a scenario plays out, Stearns may only be permitted to begin the Mets' latest rebuild before he is relieved of his duties.