Mets' David Stearns says 'difficult decisions are a good thing' with Francisco Alvarez, Jeff McNeil nearing return

The Mets, coming off a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals, now welcome the rival Philadelphia Phillies to Citi Field for an NL East showdown in Queens.

Speaking during his typical once-a-homestand media availability, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns discussed a number of topics, including what happens to the roster when Jeff McNeiland Francisco Alvarez come back, the current frenzied atmosphere at the ballpark, and Pete Alonso's red-hot start.

Here are the key takeaways...

"Difficult decisions are a good thing"

McNeil and Alvarez will continue their rehab assignments over the next few days, but there's a chance both players could be back on the major league roster by the end of the week.

So will Alvarez instantly take over as the starting catcher?

"I think we have two catchers who we feel really good about," Stearns said. "Mendy’s going to decide who plays every day and who gives us the best chance to win, and we certainly think Alvy’s going to be a huge part of that."

Meanwhile, Stearns noted that both Luisangel Acuña and Brett Baty have “done a nice job,” noting it’s not easy to bounce back and forth between second and third base, which Baty has done, and saying Acuña has been doing what they expected of him.

"I think difficult decisions are a good thing," Stearns said. "When we have players that we want to keep here as we get healthier, these types of decisions are going to become more and more a part of our thought process. We’re going to continue to talk about it, and when Jeff is ready we’ll certainly make a decision to get him back on the roster, and I imagine Jeff’s going to do what he always does: he’s going to bounce around, he’s going to play some second, he’ll fill in for the corner outfielders when needed. We’ll see how the center field thing goes. I think he’s excited about that, so there are plenty of at-bats to go around here, and Jeff will certainly get his share."

Hey Siri, who plays center?

"I don’t think we know," Stearns said candidly on what the center field mix will look like until Jose Siri returns. "I think Tyrone [Taylor] is going to get a lot of it, clearly. He’s a very gifted centerfielder, he can impact the game in a number of different ways, and I think he’s starting to take better at-bats as well. Beyond that, we’ll see. Jeff could be a part of it. Brandon [Nimmo] could be a part of it. Luis could be a part of it. I think it’s who’s playing well, what pitchers we're facing, how we want to structure the lineup on any particular day, but we feel confident we have enough people to play there, to cover that position and cover it well."

Controlled Chaos in Queens

"I think the fans in general have been outstanding this year," said Stearns. "It’s been fun coming to the ballpark. I get a sneak peek at some of the attendance numbers ahead of a homestand, and some of them I did double takes where it’s like ‘Wow, that’s really good for April.’ Not only have the numbers been good on paper, but it has felt like that in the ballpark, and so it’s exciting. Our players have talked about it, I think we all feel it when we’re here… I think we had a fun run last year, our fans believe in this team, and we’ve played pretty well out of the shoot here, which probably helps."

"I think we have [a homefield advantage]," Stearns added. "It feels like we have it right now. Good players help as well, but certainly I think we have the ability and our fan base, historically, has shown the ability, to make this an uncomfortable place for opposing players. When I was on the fan side of this, it’s fun to come to a ballpark that’s an uncomfortable place for opposing players, and it’s a whole heck of a lot of fun for our players to see that when it happens. So I think we are getting to that point where our players really enjoy this atmosphere and can take their level of intensity to another notch. And on the flipside, it can get pretty loud and hostile fore the opposition, and that’s not a bad thing."   

What's a Polar Bear doing being so hot?

"What Pete’s doing is as good a start as you can imagine for I think any human," Stearns said on Alonso's torrid start at the dish. "This is pretty impressive. He’s locked in. His zone control  is incredible right now. He’s hitting everything hard. I’ve been enormously impressed."