This past Friday, amid the Mets' then-eight-game losing streak, president of baseball operations David Stearns spoke with reporters in the dugout ahead of the team's three-game series with the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Stearns, who regularly makes himself available to reporters once per homestand and also speaks to provide updates on big injuries or big player moves, does not ordinarily have the kind of press gaggle that he did on Friday.
The Mets were on the road. There was no injury to announce. There was no move to discuss.
Stearns was simply being accountable, given the Mets' rough stretch.
That day, Stearns expressed confidence in manager Carlos Mendoza, talked about the team's offensive difficulties, and said that urgency was not the issue.
Then, the Mets went out and got swept by the Cubs, extending their losing streak to 11 games while falling to 7-15 on the year.
The season is by no means lost, but it's getting to a point where the Mets are flirting with digging a hole that might be too big to climb out of.
With that as the backdrop, who is to blame for what has gone wrong this season?
Let's assess it, from least responsible to most...
Carlos Mendoza
Managers are often the fall guys when teams underperform. And Mendoza, who is in the final guaranteed year of the three-year contract he signed when he was hired by Stearns in November of 2023, is a lame duck of sorts.
The Mets hold a club option on Mendoza for the 2027 season, but just overhauled most of his coaching staff and jettisoned a big chunk of the roster's core.
Still, there's seemingly not much Mendoza could be doing that would change what has befallen the Mets.
During their 11-game losing streak, the Mets have lost nine times because they couldn't score more than a few runs, and lost twice because Kodai Senga got shellacked.
This entire streak has also come without Juan Soto, which should add an asterisk to it -- especially when assessing the manager.
Meanwhile, already without Soto, the Mets recently lost Jorge Polanco to the IL.
That has left Mendoza to insert players who would either be backups or in Triple-A into a lineup that was already drastically underperforming.
If there's one thing that is fair to partially lay at the feet of Mendoza, it's the alarming amount of mental errors the team has made, including forgetting how many outs there are and being out of position. But it's unfair to blame him for whatever has been going on with Francisco Lindor, who has been in a bit of a fog in the field at times.
With all that said, it's fair to wonder what the Mets will do if their losing streak reaches 13 or 14 games, or if they have a brutal nine-game homestand against the Twins, Rockies, and Nationals.
David Stearns
As the person responsible for assembling the roster, it is Stearns who shoulders much more of the blame for what is happening.
That these struggles are going on a few months after Stearns really put his stamp on the team by moving on from Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, and Edwin Diaz has put an even bigger magnifying glass on the situation.
However, it's fair to point out that most people who cover baseball for a living (and most projection systems) had the 2026 Mets being a very good team. And after the 2025-26 offseason started slowly for New York, Stearns pounced late, turning the Mets into a team many thought would win the NL East.
But paper doesn't always translate to the field. And while Stearns brought in players whose additions were lauded (including Bo Bichette), his plan also meant that a big portion of the roster would be adjusting on the fly to a new team, a new market, and -- in some cases -- a new position.
About the positional situation...
Bichette being at third base (where he's looked much more smooth lately), a revolving door of players who aren't natural first basemen manning that position, and some others who are natural infielders being in right field with Soto out (including Brett Baty) hasn't helped. But it has also been blown out of proportion. Specifically, fielding issues haven't cost the Mets any games during this losing streak.
It should also be noted that Stearns' infamous "run prevention" term had just as much to do with pitching as it did with defense. It's strange that many seem to have forgotten that.
In any event, the early on-field returns on Stearns' offseason are poor. Aside from Luis Robert Jr., all of the key offensive additions have performed poorly at the plate. That includes Bichette (54 OPS+, uncharacteristically high strikeout rate), Jorge Polanco (who had a 52 OPS+ before landing on the IL) and Marcus Semien, who was brought in mostly for his glove, but whose struggles have been a tough juxtaposition with how Brandon Nimmo is performing for the Rangers -- slashing .311/.386/522 with four homers.
While Nimmo has excelled, the three other core pieces who are no longer Mets are not performing well. Alonso (92 OPS+, two homers), McNeil (94 OPS+), and Edwin Diaz (10.50 ERA, 2.33 WHIP, diminished velocity, possible health issue) have all had their own issues.
Devin Williams, Diaz's replacement, got off to a great start before getting tagged last week in the first game he had pitched in eight days, and blowing the save in Sunday's loss. So the jury is still very much out on that move.
The players
There have been some unforeseen circumstances thrown in the players' way to start the season.
The most crippling was the injury to Soto, which has taken an MVP-level bat out of the middle of the lineup.
Another is the fact that Lindor could still be dealing with the after-effects of surgery on his hamate bone.
The Mets have also played in some truly awful weather conditions over the first three-plus weeks of the season, and have been handed a schedule that borders on the absurd (including the fact that they've already made two separate trips to the West Coast).
But good teams persevere through obstacles, and this Mets team has not done so.
The most alarming thing on the offensive side has been the performance of Bichette. And while Lindor's bat has start to come around, others -- including Baty and Mark Vientos -- haven't done much. Carson Benge has been better lately, but still needs to do a lot more.
There's also the approach, which has been in between far too often, with hitters expanding the zone, failing to work deep counts, hitting the ball on the ground too much, and watching hittable fastballs go by.
On the pitching side of things, Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, and Freddy Peralta have been formidable in the rotation. But both Senga and David Peterson have struggled so badly lately that their spots in the rotation came into question.
The bullpen performed well out of the gate, but has stumbled lately, including poor performances by Williams, Luke Weaver, and Brooks Raley -- who were all terrific for the first few weeks of the season.
As has been noted already multiple times, though, this tailspin has been mostly on the offense. And it will be on that group to turn this around before it's too late.
COVERS INTEL: Lugo is one of seven qualified starters not to allow a home run in 2026.
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