Cohen says he's not considering firing David Stearns despite Mets' brutal season

What happened

Steve Cohen wants the baseball world to know that David Stearns isn't going anywhere. The Mets owner told Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of The New York Post — on Sherman's and Heyman's The Show podcast — that he has not considered a change at the top of the front office. "It's a five-year contract and we're going to live that contract out," Cohen said, per the podcast. Cohen also praised Stearns' communication skills and aptitude, according to the Post's reporting.

The remarks followed the first significant personnel move of what has been a difficult Mets season: the dismissal last week of manager Carlos Mendoza, whose contract was in its final year. Andy Green will manage the club on an interim basis for the remainder of the season, per MLB Trade Rumors, before returning to the front office at year's end. A search for a permanent manager is expected to begin at the start of the offseason — a process that, per the report, Stearns will lead.

Why it matters

In a season that has gone sideways, the question of organizational accountability tends to travel upward. Cohen's public statement is notable precisely because he volunteered it: reaffirming a front office leader's standing, unprompted, on a widely followed podcast, is a different kind of signal than a quiet non-answer to a reporter's question. Whether that confidence is warranted is a separate debate, but the operational reality is now clear, per the report — Stearns will be the one conducting the managerial search, not the subject of one.

That matters for how the offseason takes shape. A president of baseball operations who is secure in his role can pursue a manager with a longer-term vision in mind. One whose own seat is uncertain tends to attract candidates who are similarly provisional. Cohen's remarks, per The New York Post, appear designed to remove that ambiguity before the search formally begins.

The Mendoza dismissal itself carries some operational texture worth noting. His contract was in its final year, per MLB Trade Rumors, which means the club was already facing a decision about his future regardless of how the season finished. The timing — mid-season rather than at year's end — suggests the organization decided not to wait out the remaining schedule. Green's arrangement is explicitly transitional: interim manager now, front office role later, with no indication per the report that he is a candidate for the permanent position.

The numbers

The backdrop to all of this is a record of 74-88 (.457), which places the Mets fifth in the NL East, 20 games back in the division. The club has been eliminated from both the division race and the Wild Card race, sitting 14.0 games relative to the Wild Card cut line and ranking 10th in that field. They enter the weekend having lost their most recent game, carrying a streak of L1.

Those numbers don't require much editorial commentary. A team that is 20 games out of its division and double-digit games out of a Wild Card spot in early July is playing out the string, and everyone in the organization knows it. The remaining schedule is, at this point, less about winning a pennant and more about evaluating personnel for the next cycle — which makes the stability of the front office structure all the more relevant.

Where the club stands

The Mets head into the holiday weekend on the road, with three games at Truist Park against the Atlanta Braves. On Friday, July 3, Christian Scott is the probable starter for New York against Atlanta's Grant Holmes. Saturday, July 4, brings Sean Manaea to the mound opposite Chris Sale. Sunday, July 5, Nolan McLean is slated to start against Martín Pérez.

Fifth place in the NL East, eliminated from both postseason paths, and playing a division rival that has every reason to take the series seriously — it is not the schedule a fan base circles on the calendar in March. But these games will matter to the people inside the organization who are watching which young arms hold up, which roster pieces earn a longer look, and which decisions need to be made before the offseason evaluation begins in earnest.

What we don't know yet

Cohen's statement, per The New York Post, addresses the front office structure but leaves the managerial search itself entirely open. No candidates have been reported, no timeline beyond "beginning of the offseason" has been specified, and no criteria for the search have been described in the material available. The search is expected to happen; what it produces is unknown.

It is also worth noting that Cohen's remarks were made on a podcast, not in a formal club announcement. The confidence he expressed in Stearns is real and on the record, but it is a statement of intent from an owner mid-season, not a contract extension or a structural change. Circumstances have a way of evolving, and the report preserves that as a statement rather than a guarantee.

Green's interim role is defined by its endpoint — he returns to the front office at year's end, per MLB Trade Rumors — but the specifics of what that front office role looks like, and how it interacts with whoever is eventually hired as manager, have not been reported.

What to watch

The managerial search is the obvious thread to follow once the season concludes. Stearns will lead it, per the report, and the profile of candidate he pursues will say something about how the organization intends to operate going forward — whether it wants a veteran presence, a younger voice, a tactician, or some combination. None of that has been reported yet, and the desk will not speculate on it here.

In the shorter term, the three-game series in Atlanta offers a window into how Green manages the roster in an interim capacity, and how the young starters on the probable-pitcher list — Scott and McLean in particular — handle a competitive environment with nothing in the standings at stake for their club. Those performances will be part of the file Stearns reviews when the offseason work begins.

Cohen's public reaffirmation of Stearns is, in one sense, a story about what isn't happening: no front office shakeup, no second dismissal following Mendoza's, no organizational free-fall beyond what the standings already reflect. Sometimes the news is the dog that didn't bark — and in this case, the owner made sure the dog barked loudly enough for everyone to hear it wasn't going to bite.