Chapter 1: What recent trade did David Stearns discuss?
Without further ado, I'd like to turn it over to Mets President of Baseball Operations, David Stearns. Thank you, everyone. Appreciate everyone joining us this afternoon. Very excited to talk about our recent trade. Very happy to be able to add both Freddie Peralta and Tobias Myers to our organization, to our team. Freddie has clearly established himself as...
one of the top starters in baseball, one of the most consistent starters in baseball over the past few years, a player I know well, a player I trust, and a player who I think is going to mesh very well with our organization, our team, and our city. Tobias is a player who's a great development story. He worked really hard to get to where he is right now.
A pitcher who has demonstrated an ability to help a team both in a rotation and out of the bullpen. That versatility fits well on our roster, and I think he's going to help us as well. We've talked throughout the offseason about our desire to add to our starting pitching group, to find a starter who can pitch in the top half of our rotation.
Chapter 2: Why is Freddy Peralta considered a top starter in baseball?
And I'm certainly very pleased that we're able to do this here with this transaction. And then before I take questions, just also want to thank our baseball operations department and our group. really since the moment we made our last out in Miami. We've asked a lot from this group.
I've asked a lot from this group and very much appreciate the work, the effort, the time that everyone from our leadership group in baseball operations to our interns have put in throughout this offseason. And with that, happy to take questions. Our first question comes from Tony DeComo.
Hey, David, you just called him a player you trust based on your obviously longstanding relationship with him. I just want to dig a little deeper into that. What about him gives him that reputation in your eyes?
I don't know that it's only my eyes. I think it's probably anyone who's interacted with him, anyone who's been around him, and people have watched him pitch for a long time. This is someone who, first and foremost, is a really good person. He meshes well with his teammates, with his organization. He's emerged as a really quality leader in the clubhouse and with the Brewers.
And he's constantly getting better. And I had a front row seat of that during his development, during his first few years at the major league level. He was never satisfied. He wants to get better. And he's been able to get about as much out of his ability as any player can. And that's been fun to watch.
And then separately, I mean, there's been a lot of rumors around him specifically for a long time. Can you take us through just the entire timeline of whenever you first started talking to the brewers about Peralta to obviously getting it done last night?
Similar to a lot of discussions that can happen over the course of the offseason. These began in November when the offseason started, and they took a lot of twists and turns and involved a lot of different names at various points, different constructs, different size of deals.
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Chapter 3: What makes Tobias Myers a valuable addition to the team?
I think talks probably accelerated over the last few days, and ultimately we were able to get it across the line for both sides last night. Thank you. Next question is from Dave Lennon. Dave, you started the offseason with a lot of notable subtractions, obviously. And recently you managed to check a lot of boxes.
How satisfied are you with that job you're able to do in checking a lot of the boxes that the team needed? Not a lot of offseasons. Teams aren't able to do that that often. We feel good about where our team is. We think we've got a very good team. Certainly happy with the additions we've been able to make over the last couple of days and weeks.
And also, frankly, really happy with the existing group we have coming back too. And we think we've got a lot of good young players. Clearly, anytime you're starting a position player grouping with Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, you're starting from a really good spot. And so we're confident in this group. I think it's a group that's going to fit well together.
And yeah, I am happy that we've been able to address the needs of the team as the offseason has gone along. Thank you.
Chapter 4: What are the Mets' goals for their starting pitching group?
The next question is from Dan Martins. Hey, David, I was curious after, now that you've done all this work, where you think you are in the division? I mean, do you feel like you guys are at the top of the division? Is this where you want to be? We've got a really tough division. We've got... We've got some really good teams and some teams that are getting better.
Until we win a division, we can't claim we're at the top. So we've got to keep going. We've got to keep working.
And whether that's continuing to find every incremental edge that we can find from a roster construction standpoint, whether it's finding every incremental edge we can from a player improvement standpoint, from a game management standpoint, from a transactional standpoint during the season, We've still got work to do, and we're committed to doing it. Thanks.
Your next question is from Abby Mistraco.
Yeah, given that, I mean, Sproat's a tough one to lose, so how important was it to get another starting pitcher back in this return?
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Chapter 5: How has the offseason impacted the Mets' roster construction?
Yeah, I think we recognize that we've parted with some very good young players here, players who are going to have good major league careers. And that's part of it when you're acquiring a very good player in return. Brandon, as you mentioned, he's going to be a good player. Very tough for us to give him up.
And I do not think we would have given him up in a deal where there was not a starting pitcher coming back.
What do you like about Tobias Myers?
I think Tobias, first and foremost, when you look at him, he fills up the zone and he goes right after people. He can zone up pretty much his entire arsenal. He's not afraid. He's pitched well in very big moments, as we saw firsthand a couple of years ago. And it's also the versatility and being able to have success in both the rotation and the bullpen.
We like his ability to give us multiple innings out of the pen when needed and also flex into the rotation if that's the way it goes. So that versatility, the roster flexibility that can come with it will really help us.
David, I'm sure a lot of Mets fans were a little nervous this offseason, not sure what the outcome was going to be. It felt like Nemo, Alonso, Diaz leaving and what was next. Can you talk about the anatomy of an offseason, of how it comes into play? Like just in the last 48 hours, you guys have been able to make some serious moves.
Off seasons are long, and I understand when fans see good players going elsewhere.
I've been turning down interviews all week. Coda Copy reached out, Oprah, George Stephanopoulos. So I said, no, I was booked on the Deitch podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility.
Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. You guys got me? Thank you. I understand when fancy good players leaving or going elsewhere at the front end of an offseason, they're going to be disappointed.
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