What had been a bad week [1] regarding saviors of professional sports franchises in New York is now a promising week regarding saviors of professional sports franchises in New York. At the very least, nobody should be sacking and tearing David Stearns’s Achilles tendon in the days ahead.
Never mind Aaron Rodgers and never mind the 2023 Mets, save for the nineteen games from which we pledge to not pull ourselves away unless something important happens (like we suddenly remember to get a life). Your 2024 and then some New York Mets President of Baseball Operations is en route, per multiple reports that we are delighted to help disseminate [2].
David Stearns is coming! David Stearns is coming!
Old news? Feels like it. It seems Stearns has been talked about as the next/first Mets President of Baseball Operations — or POBO, as in what can a POBO do [3], except sing for a rock ‘n’ roll band? — since the day Steve Cohen entered the picture. There’ve been so many days and so many introductions of potential front office saviors since then, including current and not-going-anywhere general manager Billy Eppler. But none of them was an upper-case President. None of them was David Stearns.
Stearns we’ve heard is responsible for the continual success of the Milwaukee franchise and grew up loving the Mets. Most of grew up loving the Mets. None of the rest of us built the Brewers into an NL Central perennial contender. We thought the Mets had already solved the perennial contender part when they topped 100 wins last year and loaded up to maintain their status atop the riff-raff of the NL East. Turns out we riffed and raffed our way toward the bottom of the division as quickly as we scaled to its almost heights. How the hell did that happen?
Seriously, how did it? During the rain delay that preceded Monday night’s loss [4], SNY aired Mets Yearbook: 2022. I caught the last few minutes, the part where everything looks rosy for the 2023 Mets, what with the signing of Justin Verlander and everything else. We know Verlander’s no longer here. Whatever became of everything else?
I’ll stop asking questions until David Stearns — more than a year younger than Aaron Rodgers but sage enough to ply his trade in street clothes — completes his ride to Flushing and begins Presidenting Baseball Operations. Word has it he will be officially appointed following the end of this season that can’t end soon enough. When Mets Yearbook: 2023 debuts, we’ll likely see a segment devoted to the appointment of our POBO and how this augurs well for the future. I sure hope some future rain delay proves it a most prophetic segment.