“This was a team that was built not only to get into October, but to play deep into October. We’re pissed, sad, frustrated.” -Carlos Mendoza [New York Post]
“We came into this year with high expectations, and we didn’t come close to meeting them. I’m the architect of the team. I’m responsible for it.” -David Stearns [New York Times]
“You add that all up and you get a team that underachieved greatly.” -David Stearns [New York Times]
“We’re going to have to be open-minded on our position player grouping
so that we can improve our run prevention. Does that mean there are robust changes? I don’t know. Does it mean people will be playing different positions? Maybe. Does it mean we ask people to play different roles? Maybe.” -David Stearns [New York Times]
“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. 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.” -David Stearns [SNY]
“I think holistically as I look at our pitching staff, we needed to do more over the course of the season. That is very clear. What we were faced at at the deadline? I think our fanbase would be perhaps even more upset if we had made some of those moves. But the entirety of our run-prevention unit was not good enough this year.” -David Stearns [SNY]
“We are making the best decisions we possibly can with the information we have at the moment. I made the best judgments I did — clearly some of them didn’t work out. Now we try to learn and move forward.” -David Stearns [SNY]
“We need more innings out of our starting staff. There’s no question about that. We were on the edge for the first two and a half months this year, where we were getting five-plus innings per start pretty consistently. That worked because it was happening every night. The minute you then get your 2 1/3 inning start, you get into trouble. That got us into trouble this year — when we stopped getting the consistent five-plus inning starts, and occasionally there was the really short start. And then the next start was 5 1/3 innings. That gets you into trouble.” -David Stearns [SNY]
“Yeah, we were hit by injuries. But every team is hit by injuries, and we have to be able to have sufficient pitching depth to overcome that. And clearly when we got hit by injuries in the middle of the season, we did not have the depth to overcome that.” -David Stearns [SNY]
“There was magic last year; you walked in the building on a day like today and you were expecting to win the game. This year? I don’t know.” -Met Team Member [New York Times]
“We were a better team, talent-wise, this year than we were last year. Everyone will always compare this year versus last year. On paper, we are a much better team this year than we were last year, and I don’t think it’s necessarily close. It just didn’t work.” -Veteran Mets Player [New York Times]
“Playing with these guys every single day, there was no question of heart or passion or want or desire or work ethic. You can have all those things and that doesn’t guarantee success. We had plenty of effort, we had belief.” -Pete Alonso [New York Times]
“If somebody is being lazy or not working, then a hard conversation needs to be had, but that’s not what I am seeing here.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Times]
“There’s no ill will, animosity or finger-pointing. Everyone is committed to the same goal.” -Mets Player [New York Times]
“I don’t think that the atmosphere or any character flaws or anything like that, I don’t think any of that was a problem. It came down to executing, and we didn’t execute enough.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Times]
“Team chemistry is you go out and win games.” -Carlos Mendoza [New York Times]
“I take responsibility. It starts with me. I’ve got to take a long look at how I need to get better.” -Carlos Mendoza [New York Times]
“[Regarding his own season] It’s a complete failure.” -Sean Manaea [New York Times]
“If I performed half as good as I did last year, we’d be in a good spot.” -Sean Manaea [New York Times]
“I wasn’t able to control my body the way I wanted to after the injury. That showed up in the results.” -Kodai Senga [New York Times]
“In my heart of hearts, this is the most talented team I’ve ever played on. After the trade-deadline acquisitions, I truly believed this was a team that could win the World Series.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Times]
“It’s just sadness — it doesn’t feel good. I don’t know that it’s a surprise because you knew it was a possibility, the outcome today. I’m sure everyone in this room has probably had a goal that they have set, that they haven’t reached, it never feels good, but it can fuel you to be better.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Post]
