Wake-up calls and ultimatums from the manager’s office have become a recurring theme in the Mets’ clubhouse this season. Yet nothing has sparked the turnaround Carlos Mendoza has been searching for. The Mets stayed as a basement dweller in the NL East.

This time, Mets president David Stearns took the responsibility to send a message, acknowledging that the team couldn’t perform to the expected level, but according to him, the battle is still not lost.

“We have not had a good year so far. There’s no question. We’re not where we thought we would be. We’ve dug ourselves a hole. It’s not an insurmountable hole, but it is definitely a hole, and we’re going to have to play a lot better baseball to do what we want to do this year,” SNY quoted Stearns.

Well, entering Friday, the Mets have played 56 games and are still 10 games under .500. They are in the series against the Marlins, the same team that swept the Mets last week. But Stearns can still take credit for a minor turnaround. Just before the first game against the Marlins, Stearns evaluated the clubhouse, and they won 9-7 on Friday.

Home runs came, most of the batters scored runs, Freddy Peralta had a dominant start at the mound, and the bullpen clicked. Thus, as per Stearns, the Mets surely played better baseball on Friday. That didn’t change the fact that the Mets are still ranked 28th in terms of average (.226) and 27th in terms of total runs scored (214).

While the Mets’ front office evaluated the clubhouse earlier as well, this is the first time Stearns acknowledged that time is running out to make things right.

“It’s really tough for me to take two weeks, even in two weeks where we didn’t win a baseball game, but take two weeks and say that’s going to dramatically alter who we think we are,” Stearns said back on April 29. “I still think we’re a good team.”

He shared a confident look that time, but still, the Mets went down against the Nationals to stand with a 10-20 record. Stearns took another 2 weeks to get back to the press podium. “I think we have the talent on the roster and the character on the roster to make a run,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of season left. I’m not going to say it’s early. It’s not. We’re a quarter into the season. It’s not early anymore, but we do have enough season left to make a run, and I think we have the talent to do that.”

If we notice a trend, the Mets’ president was confident about enough time left to recover. This time, though, he is expecting something drastic.

Statistically, a turnaround is possible. The 2024 team turned a terrible 22-33 start into a postseason berth after a late-May turnaround. But with rising injuries and marquee names struggling, we are uncertain if that’s possible without an aggressive trade deadline. Stearns, though, is still betting on his existing roster.

The Mets’ existing roster is battered

“I still think it’s early to have very robust trade discussions,” Stearns added. “If you look at the history of midseason acquisitions, we really are talking about the majority taking place in a very concentrated period after the All-Star break and close to the end of July. We’re still a long way away from that.”

While the Mets’ president is showing patience, the roster’s struggle suggests otherwise. Take David Peterson as an example.

Peterson is perhaps the biggest disappointment of the Mets this year. Coming off a 150 SOs and a complete game shutout, he blew up games this year. On Tuesday, his mental gaffe of not backing up the home plate was just an illustration of his struggle. Mendoza assured that there’s no issue of accountability in the team. And this time, Stearns once again relied on his manager.

“I think our coaching staff does a really good job,” he said.

August 3 is the trade deadline, and as Stearns confirmed no plans till now on the table about the trades, the Mets need to rebound with what they have currently. The fans may not be very assured with such a plan.