On the other side, you have why Stearns was hired by Steve Cohen. His job was not to help the Mets make one playoff or win a division or even a singular title. The idea was to be Dodgers East and make the playoffs, say, eight out of every 10 years or even more and have a shot in all of those seasons to get a parade.

As the dust settled in the wake of the trade deadline on Thursday evening, David Stearns still had one more move to make: hopping on a virtual press conference to answer questions from the media.