When speaking with the media after the New York Mets’ 2025 season ended, president of baseball operations David Stearns didn’t mince words about where his team needs improvement heading into next season.
“From a roster construction perspective, on the run-prevention side of the ball, we didn’t do a good enough job of fortifying our team when we had injuries midseason,” Stearns said, per a September 29 article from SNY’s Danny Abriano.
“Clearly, that was a point in our season where on the run-prevention side of things we went from a very good team to a team that wasn’t good enough to maintain a sizable lead; not only in the division, but in the playoff chase,” he added. “Our defense wasn’t good enough, and that certainly contributed to our pitching challenges… And we’re gonna work really hard to fix that going forward, learn from this, and do a heck of a lot better.”
Stearns continued by saying, “The entirety of our run-prevention unit was not good enough this year.”
Dec 12, 2024; Flushing, NY, USA; New York Mets general manager David Stearns speaks to the media during a Juan Soto introductory press conference at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Stearns has already made good on his desire to improve the Mets’ defense this winter, shown by him executing a trade to acquire Marcus Semien, who just won a Gold Glove Award and is considered arguably the best defensive second baseman in the sport right now.
Read more: Marcus Semien sends message to Mets fans after trade
Mets Linked to Tatsuya Imai to Improve Run Prevention
Of course, a better defense isn’t the only way that a team can reduce the number of runs it allows. Perhaps a more important way is to improve their pitching staff, which is something else New York could certainly use.
And in a November 26 article, The Athletic’s Andy McCullough asserted that the Mets’ best free agent deal right now would be acquiring 27-year-old Japanese hurler Tatsuya Imai. And his reasoning for doing so was that the Mets’ investing in pitching would make Stearns’ run-prevention aim even easier to achieve.
Just daydreaming about Tatsuya Imai pic.twitter.com/BYg7yywlOQ
— Bay Area Sports Emo (@BayAreaEmo) November 25, 2025
Multiple insiders have already reported that New York will be one of Imai’s suitors this offseason, as he was posted by the Saitama Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league on November 10 and is therefore set to become an unrestricted free agent.
Imai is coming off a stellar 2025 season where he amassed a 1.92 ERA with 178 strikeouts over 163.2 innings. What’s more, he has great command and rarely walks hitters, which should ease potential strain on New York’s position players.
Imai makes all the sense in the world for David Stearns to pursue, especially given his emphasis on preventing runs.
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