Up next in 10
The "Genius GM" Trap Is Killing the Mets 👀
Jun 29, 2026
The New York Mets fired manager Carlos Mendoza.
D.A. says they're blaming the wrong person.
The bigger issue is president of baseball operations David Stearns.
Here's the theory:
Some of baseball's smartest executives become so attached to being the "genius" who finds market inefficiencies that they overthink jobs in big markets.
Instead of using the Mets' financial advantages, they keep trying to win like they're running a small-market club.
Nickel-and-dime moves.
Value signings.
Hidden bargains.
Trying to outsmart everyone.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
The New York Mets fired the wrong guy
0:04
because they couldn't fire the right
0:06
guy. And the right guy
0:09
right now is without a job.
0:13
And the right guy right now is swimming
0:18
unemployed. But really, was it Carlos
0:20
Mendoza's fault?
0:25
The issue with David Sterns
0:28
is that when you do it in a small market
0:31
and you prove yourself to be smartest
0:34
guy in the room, you lack resources, but
0:37
you're just creative in how you put
0:39
together a team, put together a winner,
0:41
and with a marginal budget, you keep
0:43
getting to the playoffs. You begin to
0:46
have to believe that it's your knowledge
0:49
and your sophistication that is getting
0:51
your franchise that far. And then when
0:53
you get a bucketload of money like David
0:56
Serns, the GM of the Mets has gotten,
0:59
well, you know what? It's not enough to
1:01
just go spend it. It's not enough to
1:03
just cut checks to Juan Sodto and
1:05
company because then what have you
1:06
proven? You have not proven that you're
1:08
smarter than the average GM. See,
1:11
therein lies this kind of trap with
1:14
really bright small market guys. And I
1:17
think this might be the reason Billy
1:20
Bean stayed in Oakland as long as he
1:23
did. Billy Bean had his pick of jobs
1:25
across Major League Baseball and yet
1:27
continually went back for the punishment
1:30
of working for John Fiser and the A's on
1:33
a shoestring budget, knowing that all of
1:36
his great drafting and developing and
1:38
player acquisition was just going to
1:39
walk out the door the moment that it
1:41
fully blossomed. He would never be able
1:43
to build a true winner. Why did he stay?
1:47
I think when it comes to guys that
1:49
become geniuses at the small market
1:51
level,
1:53
it can be intimidating to go to a big
1:55
market because then you're not the
1:58
genius anymore. Then you just have the
2:00
hammer.
2:02
Then there is no kind of of magic behind
2:06
your persona. You're just the guy that
2:08
can outspend. And I think this really
2:11
got in David Stern's way this year.
2:14
David Sterns could have probably spent
2:18
his way out of a lot of problems with
2:20
the Mets roster, but instead he let Pete
2:23
Alonzo walk. He had to trade Brandon
2:25
NMO. He had to break up Jeff McNeil. He
2:28
had to do all these things to prove that
2:30
when he brought in the deals, the
2:33
bargains, the guys that were under the
2:35
radar, we're going to build through
2:36
defense and up the middle and chemistry
2:39
and on base percentage. He tried to find
2:42
those voids in the marketplace to prove
2:45
once again he was the smartest guy in
2:46
the room because I think there is this
2:50
underlying insecurity about the smart
2:52
guys from the small markets just
2:56
spending an owner's cash cuz anybody can
2:59
do that. So how do they validate
3:02
their salary? How do they validate their
3:05
hiring? They validate it by boss, I'm
3:08
going to save you money here because we
3:10
found we've found the the inefficiency
3:13
in the marketplace. Boss, you can trust
3:16
me. We're doing it a smarter way. You
3:18
know, if you just keep going to your
3:19
boss and saying, "Well, I need more
3:21
money. I need more money to spend our
3:22
way out of this. We need to fill this
3:24
hole." The boss is going to come back
3:25
and be like, "Well, I can I could give
3:27
anybody a a blank check."
3:30
And I think David Cerns overthought
3:34
the construction of this roster and
3:36
thought he was going to be the smartest
3:37
guy in the room. It has completely
3:40
imploded in his face and Carlos Mendoza
3:43
was the fall guy for it. And it's not
3:45
right cuz you can't sit here and say
3:47
that managing was the problem with the
3:49
2026 Mets. No Mets fan, including
3:52
myself, would ever say that it's
3:53
Mendoza's fault that they're in the rut
3:55
that they are. It's roster construction.
3:58
But when you entrust the smartest guy in
4:01
the room, when you entrust the big bad
4:04
GM, when you entrust a guy like David
4:07
Sterns to build a franchise,
4:09
you are really reticent to fire that guy
4:12
because you've handed over the keys of
4:14
the franchise and then it would set it
4:15
back even further. But David Sterns dug
4:18
his own hole here. He had to be smarter
4:22
than your average GM. He had to couldn't
4:24
help himself. Had to validate his own
4:27
worth. There you go.
#Sports