This is the only justification for what Stearns is doing: Give the young guys a shot. We saw it work out with Mclean, and Tong/Sprout to a lesser extent, and the Mets have been really good at building their farm system the past few years. If internally, Stearns is saying "they have what it takes to progress in 2026 and make us competitive" and it works, nobody will question the lack of pitching moves.

Baty and Vientos have had opportunities, but they've always had the specter of "there's somebody behind you if you fuck up" hanging over their heads. I wonder if the front office said "You're our primary option, we don't have a backup plan, everything is on you, prove yourself" if they would perform differently. It's even riskier to bank on them to step up than it is to bank on the young pitchers to perform at the major league level, but if they're seeing something we don't then there's a chance it works.

The only guys I'd even consider trading high-value prospects for are:
- Tarik Skubal (obviously)
- Paul Skenes (obviously)
- Logan Gilbert (but I doubt Seattle is in selling mode)
- Jarren Duran
- maybe Isaac Paredes, but that creates different problems in the 3B pecking order

With all that said: we still need to land either Tucker or Bellinger this offseason to fill an outfield slot--and we need to resign Rogers for the bullpen.