David Stearns’ initial foray into the starting pitching market after arriving as Mets president of baseball operations bore a solid harvest.

This was three seasons ago, when Stearns pursued two high-upside pitchers in Luis Severino and Sean Manaea and signed them to one-year contracts. The tandem emerged as co-aces for a team that became formidable late in the season and advanced to the NLCS before losing to the Dodgers.

Since then, Stearns’ successes with starting pitching have been fewer and farther between, a significant factor in the team’s absence from the playoffs the past two seasons.

It only underscores the importance of getting it right in free agency and the trade market for such an important component of roster building.