David Stearns held his end-of-season press conference on Wednesday, discussing the future of Pete Alonso, the team’s surprising success in 2024, and the team’s financial flexibility heading into 2025.
That flexibility, coupled with the riches of Steve Cohen, will have Stearns in a position that he never had in Milwaukee, and while Mets fans eagerly await to see blockbuster moves made, C-Mac says that strategy could always come with pitfalls.
“Heavy lies the crown of having that financial flexibility,” C-Mac said. “You have to go out and spend big money when the opportunity presents itself.”
C-Mac noted the Yankees making a splash for Giancarlo Stanton after the team surprisingly came one win short of a pennant in 2017, and it took seven more years for the team to finally get further than it did during that exciting campaign with the emergence of the Baby Bombers. Surprising success leads to big moves to try and capitalize on a championship window that is seemingly just opening, but sometimes, that doesn’t materialize into success.
“Those are the kind of moves you have to do. The kind of moves the fans will clamor for…you can’t afford to not sign stars,” C-Mac said.
“It’s not as easy as ‘Look what he did in Milwaukee. Add some money to it, and here we go.’ We’ll see if he leans more towards being ‘smart,’ or more towards, ‘Hey, I got some money and we have a core here that can win. Let’s spend some money and go win a championship. Let’s sign Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes.’ It sounds wonderful until Corbin Burnes, like every other pitcher in this league, goes down with an injury. Now where are you when you have $30 million or more invested in a pitcher who doesn’t pitch?
“Heavy lies the crown.”