To say that the New York Mets' 2026 season was a failure would be an understatement. Fresh off their 2025 collapse, expectations were postseason or bust for this year's version. But a 12-game losing streak in April nuked this hopes almost immediately, and the Mets wound up selling off a third of their roster at the trade deadline.

Yes, there were some bright spots from young players, and New York has a core in place that can realistically compete in 2027 with the right pieces around them. Given how the past two seasons have gone, though, Mets fans have little hope at a major turnaround, especially with a lockout looming.

For David Stearns to win back the trust of Mets fans and get them enthusiastic ahead of December's likely lockout, here's a list of boxes the executive needs to check ASAP.

Sign Tarik Skubal

The most obvious one is quite simple: Sign Tarik Skubal. The Mets have a strong rotation foundation forming with Nolan McLean, Christian Scott and Zac Thornton. They even have intriguing prospects like Jonah Tong, Jonathan Santucci and Jack Wenninger in the upper Minors. What this rotation lacks, though, is a bonafide ace.

The Mets attempted to get that ace in the form of Freddy Peralta last winter, but that experiment failed spectacularly. From there, why not sign arguably the best pitcher in the sport, who proved he can pitch in a big market for a contender down the stretch this season? All it'd take is money; New York wouldn't even have to give up additional draft picks or international bonus money, with Skubal being ineligible for the qualifying offer after being traded midseason.

Signing Skubal might not age particularly well, especially given his injury history, and Stearns has a history of only displaying a willingness to sign starting pitchers to short-term deals (with Yoshinobu Yamamoto as the lone exception). But brushing all of that aside feels like a must. It's rare to have a chance to acquire a player of Skubal's caliber for nothing more than money. The Mets signed Juan Soto to the richest contract in MLB history and are better off for it, so why not double down and hand Skubal the richest contract for a pitcher in big-league history? There isn't a single other free agent who comes close to comparing to this left-hander, making him a must-add.

Add rotation depth

Beyond their need for an ace, an area in which the Mets have lacked in the past couple of years is rotation depth. New York relied heavily on guys like David Peterson, Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga to start games this past season, and that went about as you'd expect.

The Mets can realistically rely on McLean, Scott and even Thornton to start games next year, but who should be expected to fill out the rest of the rotation even if Skubal's aboard? What happens if one of those four were to suffer an injury? Having prospects like Tong, Wenninger and Santucci as the next men up probably isn't ideal, nor is relying on Manaea every fifth day after the struggles he's had since 2024.

Adding an ace is important, but the Mets need more than just one starting pitching addition if they want to be in contention next season.

Acquire a first baseman

Letting Pete Alonso walk in free agency was a decision that made sense given how power-hitting first basemen over 30 tend to age historically, but it also required the Mets to find an adequate replacement. Given the fact that their first basemen ranked 29th in the Majors with an 85 wRC+ and dead last with -1.4 fWAR in 2026, it's clear that Stearns did not do a good enough job in that area.

Jared Young as a platoon option at first base is fine enough, but the Mets either need to acquire a good right-handed bat to pair with him against left-handed pitchers or acquire a legitimate every-day starter — whether that's Teruaki Sato in free agency or someone else via trade. It's hard to field a potent offense if you get nothing out of the first base position.

Don't bet too much on bounce-backs and uncertainty

The Mets had a chance to be a playoff team in 2026, but needed a lot to break right. They were relying heavily on players to bounce back and/or defy career health trends, and they simply didn't.

On the mound, the Mets were banking on guys like Senga, Peterson and Manaea, all of whom had pitched well in the not-so-distant past but were coming off rough endings to the 2025 season, to be key members of their rotation — and they were anything but that in the first half of the year. They hoped Devin Williams would be more like the dominant closer he was in Milwaukee than his 2025 performance with the Yankees, and while he was better than his final ERA might suggest, he certainly wasn't elite. The Mets hoped a guy like Mark Vientos would find a way to revert to his 2024 form, but 2026 was a struggle for him and he could very well be a non-tender candidate this offseason.

They also hoped players with serious injury histories like Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr. would find a way to stay healthy this season. Polanco suffered an immediate injury that severely hampered him at the plate and limited him to just two appearances at first base, while Robert found his way onto the IL in late April and didn't return until after the All-Star break. Polanco and Robert hitting fourth and fifth in the Mets' Opening Day lineup signaled their importance to the team, yet neither was on the field much at all.

The Mets can, and should, try to find players who they believe will bounce back in 2027, but making them a featured part of the offseason would be a mistake. The Mets need to center their offseason around bringing in proven talent first and foremost, and taking lesser shots on those they hope to be value deals.