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PORT ST. LUCIE — David Stearns remained consistent from the outset of the offseason that he was “not going to run it back” with the same group that formed the most disappointing team of 2025.
Yet, as the Mets president of baseball operations ad-libbed from Plan A to B to … whatever letter it was for Bo Bichette at more than $40 million a year to play third base and Jorge Polanco at $20 million per to play first, and Luke Weaver and Devin Williams but no Edwin Díaz, the certainty as the Mets world changed so much was the stability of Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. They were the firmament amid the facelift.
Except now Soto is going to left field and Lindor for an examination Wednesday that could lead to surgery to address a stress reaction in his left hamate bone. Stearns announced, then minimized, the seriousness of these details before taking questions at a news briefing Tuesday on the dawn of spring training.
With San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. set to be the Dominican Republic’s right fielder in the World Baseball Classic, Soto had been working out in left field this offseason. Multiple conversations were held with player and team deciding it made no sense for Soto to train in left in the offseason, play there in the WBC and then switch to right for the Mets, especially since the club believes there would be no negative impact defensively in such a flip from right to left.
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