David Stearns has to make up for the Mets losing three of their more popular players. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

It happened. No going back now. Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso are gone. Mets president David Stearns with his actions has shown he 1) did not want to keep a dubious Mets core together, 2) was worried particularly about that core aging together on long contracts (along with Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto) and 3) wants to be better defensively.

The Nimmo for Marcus Semien trade was a tip off. Stearns traded five years of Nimmo for three years of Semien and offense for defense. The Mets head of baseball operations then held his financial line in the sand on average value on Diaz and total years on Alonso, and two of the most popular/productive Mets were gone t

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