Al Leiter is aware of a couple of issues about New York Mets overhauls.
Leiter, who pitched for the membership from 1998 by means of 2004 and ranks sixth in workforce historical past with 95 wins, was amongst the holdovers throughout a Mets overhaul following the 1998 season, which resulted in a visit to the National League Championship Series in 1999 and laid the groundwork for a World Series berth in 2000.
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Leiter was additionally amongst the holdovers throughout one other renovation following the 2001 season, which was decidedly much less profitable and yielded consecutive last-place finishes and a spate of firings.
Almost 1 / 4 century later, Leiter’s pitching days are nicely within the rearview mirror. But he had a main seat for the disclosing of David Stearns’ magnum opus Thursday afternoon, when the 60-year-old served as an analyst throughout NBC’s broadcast of the Mets’ 11-7 Opening Day win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
And like anybody else who noticed the Mets’ attention-grabbing winter, he’s undecided what to anticipate.
Mets Overhaul Brings Plenty of Intrigue
“My curiosity watching the Mets this year is was this part of a plan?” Leiter advised Lindy’s Sports Thursday morning. “And if so, OK, great, here’s what we want to do, here are the areas of concern, this is why we’re doing this and this is why we’re doing this.
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“I think probably the most questions are why (about) some of the moves and will it work?”
Stearns, after all, responded to the Mets’ second-half collapse — they went 38-55 after a 45-24 begin and missed out on the ultimate NL wild card berth by way of a tiebreaker — by buying and selling outfielder Brandon Nimmo and utilityman Jeff McNeil and permitting first baseman Pete Alonso and nearer Edwin Diaz to exit as free brokers.
Nimmo, Alonso and McNeil ranked fifteenth, seventeenth and 18th in workforce historical past in WAR, per Baseball-Reference, and mixed to play in 2,997 video games for the franchise, Diaz was third all-time with 144 saves.
“Instead of just going ‘He never played there, he never played there, why would you get rid of 35 homer, 100 RBIs, you’ve got the best closer,’ I just say, OK, well, they replaced lifetime Mets with good players,” Leiter stated.
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Stearns, who prioritized bettering the Mets’ protection, acquired Gold Glove second baseman Marcus Semien from the Texas Rangers in alternate for Nimmo and signed Jorge Polanco and Bo Bichette to play first base and third base — new positions for each gamers.
The Mets additionally acquired former Gold Glover Luis Robert Jr., who has performed greater than 110 video games simply as soon as within the final 5 seasons, to patrol centerfield and signed Devin Williams days earlier than Diaz departed. Bichette, Robert and Opening Day starter Freddy Peralta all arrived on consecutive days in late January.
“Their defense got better,” Leiter stated. “I think their bat to ball (skill) is better. Polanco is a tough out. Bichette, we know he doesn’t strike out, (works a) high pitch count.”
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Counting Peralta, six of the Mets’ 10 Opening Day starters have been newcomers. Overall, 11 gamers on the Opening Day roster weren’t with the membership final season — 10 outdoors additions in addition to outfield prospect Carson Benge, who homered and stole a base Thursday afternoon.
How Did the Mets’ 1998-99 and 2001-02 Overhauls Work?
Like Stearns, former Mets normal supervisor Steve Phillips made aggressive strikes following a disappointing near-miss.
A five-game season-ending dropping streak price the Mets a playoff berth in 1998, after which Phillips signed Robin Ventura, Rickey Henderson and Orel Hershiser as free brokers and bought Armando Benitez and Roger Cedeno by way of commerce.
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(He additionally re-acquired Bobby Bonilla, however we gained’t discuss that)
Ventura (first), Benitez (fifth), Henderson (tenth) and Hershiser (twelfth) all ranked amongst the highest 12 in WAR for the Mets, who scored a team-record 853 runs and featured Gold Glove winners on the left facet of the infield in Ventura and shortstop Rey Ordonez. The Mets went 97-66, earned the NL wild card when Leiter blanked the Cincinnati Reds in a one-game playoff and prolonged the Atlanta Braves to 6 video games within the NLCS after falling behind three video games to none.
After dropping the 2000 World Series to the Yankees in 5 video games, the Mets missed the playoffs by six video games in 2001, after they mounted a late-season cost to complete 82-80. But that they had the run differential (minus-61) of a 73-89 workforce, so Phillips turned over nearly half the lineup (buying Mo Vaughn, Jeromy Burnitz and future Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar in addition to signing Cedeno as a free agent) and importing a number of pitchers.
Yet the Mets completed in final place at 75-86 and supervisor Bobby Valentine was fired. Phillips was dismissed in June 2003 with the Mets on their technique to a 66-95 document — their worst since 1993.
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“I think when you look at the roster, you say, OK, we need a centerfielder, we need a no. 2 pitcher — you’re complementing the roster that you like, that you want to make better,” Leiter stated. “In ’98, I think (that’s) what we did. In ’02, it just seemed like, all right, let’s get a bunch of star guys. We added great player. Robbie, future Hall of Famer. Mo was great. But we never really (jelled).”
So which reconstruction will this most bear a resemblance to? Leiter is as curious as anybody to see the reply develop.
“Well, I think you have to give it all a chance, right?” Leiter stated. “To just all of a sudden just go through the litany of things, the reasons why potentially it might not be good, I think that’s not why you do things.”
Related: Luis Robert Jr. Trade Impact On The New York Mets
This story was initially printed by Lindys Sports on Mar 27, 2026, the place it first appeared within the MLB part. Add Lindys Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.