NL East: Ship of fools

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Ship of Theseus paradox: How many parts can be replaced before it ceases to be that selfsame ship? Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns desperately hoped the answer to that millennia-old question was “four core players and your entire coaching staff, minus the manager.” Early returns, as measured by an MLB-worst 9-19 record and the number of conniptions recorded on social media, would suggest those substitutions were insufficient.

The Ship of Theseus problem is first rooted in an ontological concern (how much of a thing makes a thing that thing?), but it speaks ultimately to a metaphysical question: what is the essence of that thing? In the case of the 2026 Mets, the glut of changes was...

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