The length of David Stearns’ last contract extension with the Brewers wasn’t made public when the deal was announced in January 2019, though according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney, Stearns’ pact will be up at the end of the 2022 season. Details of Stearns’ first contract with the team also weren’t known, though given the reported terms of the extension, it would hint that Stearns initially signed a four-year deal covering the 2016-19 seasons, thus making his extension a three-year pact.
After first being hired as general manager, Stearns received a promotion to president of baseball operations in his last deal. Regardless of the title, Stearns’ stewardship of the Milwaukee front office has led to plenty of success. The Brew Crew have reached the postseason in each of the last three years, and that streak will almost certainly stretch to a fourth year considering the club’s healthy lead in the NL Central. Milwaukee’s .607 (82-53) win percentage is the fourth-highest of any team in baseball, and the Brewers look like a strong contender to reach the World Series for the second time in franchise history.
Amidst this track record, it is still rather remarkable that Stearns doesn’t even turn 37 years old until February. If he did enter the open market, it is easy to imagine any number of teams pouncing at the opportunity to hire Stearns to take over their baseball ops department. Within the last three years, the Giants and Mets each reached out to the Brewers to ask if Stearns could be interviewed for their own front office vacancies, only for Brewers owner Mark Attanasio to deny both requests.
The Mets’ request came just last winter, and they loom as an obvious suitor given the ongoing upheaval in their baseball operations department. Olney observes that hiring Stearns would be a natural way for Mets owner Steve Cohen to clean house after the tumultuous season, especially given Stearns’ ties to the organization — Stearns is from New York, grew up a Mets fan, and worked as a baseball operations intern for the team in 2008.
What isn’t known, of course, is whether Stearns has any interest in leaving the Brewers. The two sides still have more than a year to negotiate another extension. In fact, given the lack of public knowledge about Stearns’ other contracts, it isn’t out of the question that he might already have another extension worked out, and the new deal simply hasn’t yet been announced.
Moving to New York or another larger-market team would offer more payroll flexibility but also much more pressure and media scrutiny. Stearns would also be taking on the x-factor of working with a new owner like Cohen, as opposed to his familiar relationship with Attanasio. It is also worth mentioning that while the Brewers have had modest payrolls overall, it isn’t as if Attanasio hasn’t been willing to spend big in certain situations (such as Christian Yelich’s nine-year/$215MM extension, or Lorenzo Cain’s five-year/$80MM free agent deal). Going forward, the Brew Crew will face some interesting decisions this winter thanks to a pricey arbitration class, yet their proverbial window of contention certainly looks to remain open for the next few seasons.
Should the Brewers win it all this October, however, it is possible that Stearns might view his Milwaukee tenure as a completed challenge, and he’ll then look at his next step. With only a year left on his contract, Stearns has some leverage to possibly prevent Attanasio from blocking meetings with other teams, so Stearns could at least hear what some other suitors have to say. As one rival executive suggested to Olney, the Brewers could potentially even work out a trade to receive compensation from another team that wants to hire Stearns before his contract is up, similar to how the Cubs worked out a deal with the Red Sox when Theo Epstein was hired away with a year remaining on his Boston deal.
Crew in 6!
Thanks for this, I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.
That picture of Stearns looks like Ryan Braun.
And A-A Ron Rodgers is Ryan Brauns doppelganger. Just for the hell of I’ll sometimes change their names around Ryan Rodgers and AARom Braun
The NLDS is only 5 games. Who ever they face will win in 5.
Bucks in 6 was their motto in the playoffs. It’s an old Milwaukee reference from Brandon Jennings. Crew in 6.
Pay the man to stay in the Brew City!
First off the team finished below .500 one of the years quoted as “playoff bound”. Stearns has done a great job especially this season always looking to improve the team. The starting rotation will carry them in the playoffs. Depending how good that is determined how far they get. They still have some weak bats in the everyday lineup.
David Stearns has been challenged especially with smaller payrolls. He will continue to be challenged with the weak minor leagues they have. But I could see him leave Milwaukee no matter what Mark Antanasio offers him..
There is a huge different between Theo Epstein and Stearns. Theo runs away when ownership cuts payroll. He ran in Boston after winning the WS. He ran away in Chicago when Ricketts cut payroll and started liquidating the team. Antanasio cut payroll and Stearns figured something out. Theo turns and runs away.
love how brewer fans always have to bring up the Cubs. the Cubs live rent free in your head.
Says the Cubs fan who always trolls the Brewers board.
Hahaha…exactly!
2id- meanwhile, dray is paying the Brewers to live in his.
That is 100% accurate
Obviously reading comprehension was a class you failed. The article mentioned Theo Epstein first.
Most teams don’t allow other teams to poach their employees unless the job with another team would be a promotion from their current position. If Cohen were to offer Stearns the President of Baseball Operations and add in 1% ownership stake in the Mets franchise, would that be considered a promotion over his current role with Milwaukee?
They probably have to make him senior or executive president or give him control of more than baseball operations.
Cohen will not give him 1% ownership nor he should.
MF22 I heard you were the new Mets GM now, congrats!
Great pic of Sterns there…. he even looks like a Met fan that got bullied by obnoxious Yankee fans growing up
No smart baseball executive will want to work for Fanboy Cohen.
Not a Brewers fan, but I hope he stays put. I hate how the biggest markets poach talent away from the markets that need them the most. MIlwaukee has a great thing going right now with the Bucks and Brewers. Would be cool to see a small market Midwest city have success in multiple sports. Good for the game, as they say
That’s beautiful, SFG. Tearing up at your straight up poetry. Like
The Cain deal hasn’t been good and now Yelich is a shell of his former self.
Their won/loss record is 82-53. Is that good?
Another team that would be you chokers in the playoffs
Yes it’s an outstanding record… but last time I checked you don’t get to play the NL central in the playoffs
Just took 3 out of 4 from the Giants. Who recently had best record in baseball.. Well until the Brewers came to town.
Yes but they will probably play the NL West where their record stands at 23-9. Last time I checked.
Yes my fellow old guy!!
Over the lsat 3 weeks, Yelich has been great and the numbers he has put up in that time are just about what he did as an MVP candidate.
He didn’t play the full 60 games last year and is only on pace right now for 400 ABs this season.
It’s really just a prolonged slump. A slump that was wholly mental–he was WAY past the recovery date for a very minor injury–and shouldn’t have happened, but he seems to be over it.
He started to hit better around July 10th, but since August 11, he has 26 hits in 21 games (.321 average, .382 OBP) and 25% of his HRs, along with 12 of his 41 RBIs. His OPS+ now stands above league average at 108, and while his regular OPS has been marginal all year and fluctuated a lot, he has been below league average in OPS+ for most of the year.
He’s starting to get back to his usual self.
Arguably the best in MLB right now
Lmao no. Horrible Cain/Bradley/Yelich deals, horrific Grisham trade, signs Wong when they already have 45 2B, somehow manages to get the 3 fattest players in the league all on the same National League team…
Guy is average at best
Man it must be so nice to be able to go through the world so blissfully ignorant and delusional. Where you can tell yourself anything you want and believe anything you want.
Which of those 45 other 2B are..or were..anywhere near as good as Wong has been for us?
Also, Urias and Lauer are both doing quite well this year.
Since when does weight matter in baseball?
By the way, the team is cruising to the playoffs. Yeah, Stearns is just awful at building a roster.
Ridiculous.
He is probably the best GM in the history of the league because he has been doing it in a small market with a limited budget. NO ONE has ever developed a top 3 like this rotation has (it’s better than the Orioles in the 70s, who did not draft and develop them all, as Stearns did with our top 3).
Grisham has been very good, but he did not deserve the Gold Glove he won, and he really isn’t that much better than Urias (who has been excellent). Davies is complete trash now, and Lauer has also been excellent.
Fans called that a horrible loss of a trade, when it now looks like the Brewers won it big time (Urias IS the better hitter and their OPS are almost the same, so it’s mystifying to see a 13 point difference in OPS+, but that’s surely because Grish has less competition among OFs than Urias does against 3Bs for being above league average; and Urias IS playing out of position at 3B, and his OPS+ at SS or 2B would be equal to Grisham’s).
The Crew had NO 2Bs You are insane. Hiura is simply not a ball player.
Those 3 fat guys have all been awesome (though I only count 2, Rowdy and Vogie). Maybe you forgot they cut the 1B from last year who was so bad.
Best GM currently by far, and probably the best ever.
Best… ever? Hahahaha. He’s somewhere in between Farhan and AA just in terms of National League playoff teams, and both of those guys were trained to copy Friedman’s book of building a team. Friedman has AVERAGED 100 wins over the last 3 years.. and has already won on a small market budget too
Stearns has won nothing but a mediocre NLC. Best ever? Pass the glue
Point taken about Friedman and his history with the Rays. Good solid GM with a small market team but the Brewers are following in that path and you can’t deny that even if you are a Dodgers homer. Wouldn’t say Stearns is the best ever unless he wins a coupe of WS, which by the way, Friedman has never done except for last year and that was a shortened season. If it was so easy to copy Friedman why aren’t other small market teams like the Twins or Royals following it?
Last point: Dodgers payroll-282M Brewers-104M. Must be nice to swallow Bauer’s salary.
He practically invented digging deeper into new analytics and changed the world of baseball completely with the creation of his pitching labs. He’s a Harvard grad and genius who took things to another level and changed the approach of EVERY GM in the league.
He may or may not win a WS with the Crew but that’s beside the point.
He’s the best GM in the history of all sports, because he was doing this analytics thing long before the NBA realized that 3 pointers are worth 50% more and that they should be jacking them up like crazy because 33% equals 50% from that range and anything above that is gravy.
Why? Because most GMs in history couldn’t pass a 5th grade math test and Stearns is a legit genius who went to Harvard.
Stearns may have begun his career a few years later than Friedman, but he’s the innovator and Friedman a follower (Friedman’s success with the Rays was NOT predicated on analytics, but just getting lucky with draft picks and acquisitions). With the Dodgers it was just about having money to buy talent.
He’s not that smart and not an innovator.
NO ONE in the entire history of sports can rival the genius and innovation that Stearns has brought to the game. Friedman is a distant 2nd at best.
It’s not about wins and titles, though the Crew can boast the best winning percentage among small market teams over the last 6 years and the club could easily eclipse the team record for wins this year AND win a WS.
Then you have to eat your words.
You can be the best at something without winning it all every year.
Just ask Aaron Rodgers, who has no peers, yet only one Super Bowl appearance. While a right wing psycho with average talent like Brady has won a bunch (because of the coach and GM and system).
Aaron Rodgers is the best ever with only ONE Super Bowl appearance (while the average at best talent of Brady has won numerous because of coaching, system, and GM).
It doesn’t always result in titles and we should not judge a GM that way.
Friedman was NEVER copied. He was still a very old school draft and develop guy who was NOT into advanced analytics (because he is 8 years older than Stearns and NO ONE was in to analytics in the early 00s).
Even when he moved to the Dodgers, he then had the luxury of money and was simply able to buy the best players.
Stearns changed the analytics game even before the NBA finally realized that jacking 3s constantly is the best strategy. Pitching labs
EVERYONE is now following Stearns, but if anyone followed Friedman’s style it was because he was still doing it largely the old school way.
And indeed, I don’t count his WS last year. It’s so tainted.
Stearns has completely changed how the game is constructed (to the point each year that ALL MLB rules changes for the last 6 years have seemed geared toward stopping him from finding loopholes and truly using the 40 man and IL to its fullest). Every year.
And he clearly has the best winning percentage over the last 6 years among small market clubs by a long shot.
That’s not easy to do and it would be sad not to win the WS this year and then see him go to the Mets and have cash and win several.
I should have noted in my comment that I’m a Padres fan.
When you see what the Brewers are doing through those eyes your comment is probably the worst of all time.
Yu Darvish’s 2021 salary is more than the entire Brewers pitching staff
Lorenzo Cain’s deal is $64m LESS than Eric Hosmer’s
The Padres payroll is DOUBLE that of the Brewers
The Brewers have won 9 more games this year
The Brewers are headed to their 4th straight post season
The comedy of this is that the Padres already reupped their guy and Sterns is still waiting.
If you think David Stearns is “average at best” you’re an idiot.
They are playing the 4th weakest schedule in baseball right now. Of course the Brewers are winning. I’m the playoffs they are too right handed as a pitching staff and the other playoff teams have much more talent.
Winning record against the NL West. Just took 3 of 4 from first place team in the west before they got to town.
Actually, they have a top 5 toughest schedule over their last 60 games of the season.
May have been easier before then, but strength of schedule is pretty idiotic as a measure of anything in baseball.
All the games are tough.
Have also dominated the supposed best division in baseball.
Not the Crew’s fault that they only play 9 games a season against out of division foes and 20 games against their division foes.
The best two of which have stunk all season despite being perennial powers (Cubs and Cards).
You have no clue.
blockheag36- Are you not watching the games? If you have Woodruff or Burnes pitching and Hader coming out of the pen the opponent doesn’t matter.
Get a grip man.
Ok here is a question if the Brewers win the WS then who has had the better rebuild tenure between the Brew Crew and Cubs? The Brewers have really always stayed very competitive and the Cubs hit rock bottom before they started it then to me it seems short lived after there win plus they really dropped off real quick to the bottom. Now I’m not trolling I’m just curious what people think it just seems like they stay competitive and I felt it was more like a retooling.
They should back the brings truck up for this guy. Stud GM
Good GM/PBO.
Luckily Cain and Jackie Bradley only have one more year. But Cain was good for them but his age has seemed to slow him down.
People criticize the Yelich contract but you do that 10/10 IMO. They made the trade for him and he absolutely MASHED and won a MVP as a result. Last years short-weird year and this year hasn’t been the best, but let’s hope he rebounds bc he is a really good player.
The assumption that Stearns would want to leave the Brewers every time the Mets job opens up (so every couple of months) is laughable and full of big-market hubris. Guess what…he has a great situation, a great owner, great fans, and a great system…which he is constantly adjusting.
Besides, over the next decade we’ll be seeing folks fleeing the two coasts and the gulf for the safety of the midwest. Who would want to live in the midst of constant natural disasters? Then, after the midwest starts to get more and more weather (and more and more people) we’ll all be moving to Canada.
He was apparently a rabid Mets fan growing up.
I agree with you, but don’t think we’ll have to move to Canada.
We’re already on the Canadian Shield, the most earthquake (it won’t all be rain and floods and hurricanes, but quakes too will increase) proof place on the planet.
And no one will have time to flee. 80% will be dead on the coasts, and the bunker fantasies of the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia are just that: fantasies, because those islands will be under water.
Spike Hyzer & eddiemathews are both right. Stearns is the best POBO/GM in the game and very likely likes it where he’s at. He’s built a young and controlled pitching staff without equal, a nice positional core that’s underrated, along with a farm system that’s ready to explode. After winning a WS title with MKE, he’ll likely want to win another and be the first POBO to create baseball’s first small-market dynasty.
This is a made-up story, trying to find drama where there is none. Must be a slow day at MLB Trade Rumors.
There’s been speculation about Stearns being pursued by the Mets. This article provides context and content about his current status. I’m glad they posted it.
The only guy who would say that is the guy who wrote it. So thanks for your comment, Mark.
Over the lsat 3 weeks, Yelich has been great and the numbers he has put up in that time are just about what he did as an MVP candidate.
He didn’t play the full 60 games last year and is only on pace right now for 400 ABs this season.
It’s really just a prolonged slump. A slump that was wholly mental–he was WAY past the recovery date for a very minor injury–and shouldn’t have happened, but he seems to be over it.
He started to hit better around July 10th, but since August 11, he has 26 hits in 21 games (.321 average, .382 OBP) and 25% of his HRs, along with 12 of his 41 RBIs. His OPS+ now stands above league average at 108, and while his regular OPS has been marginal all year and fluctuated a lot, he has been below league average in OPS+ for most of the year.
He’s starting to get back to his usual self.
It will be sad to lose the best GM in the history of the game, but I fear that his being a lifelong Mets fan dooms us to that fate.
Brewers fans sure are sensitive. Is it because they’ve never won anything ever? Seems plausible.
Remember when they thought Jhoulys Chacin was an ace coming into ‘19 and then he gets DFA’d like 2 months later? Ahahahaha
And Grisham’s OPS+ is 13 points higher because he doesn’t play in a little league park, chief. Pretty basic stuff there
lol…if you want a little league park go to the Bronx. If you want Yellowstone, go to Citi Field.
You mean the same Jhoulys Chacin that led them to a game 163 win over the Cubs? The same Chacin who led them to a game 7?
And no, not sensitive. We just don’t like ignorance and morons, such as yourself, not knowing anything about the team.
I’d seen Chacin pitch and thought he had horrible stuff.
Then my roomie found some advanced stat site that said he was the 19th best pitcher (reliever or starter) for the 9 year period before he was acquired by the Crew.
So I was good with it then. For a while, he pitched like a crafty old guy like Wainright was last night.
Then he just got old.
When Chacin was brought in, he was rated the 19th best pitcher in the league over the previous 9 seasons by advanced metrics (ERA+ and several others had him in the top 20).
He got old with us and never had dominant stuff, but he knew how to use it like Wainright now does as an old guy with no stuff left.
No, moron, he’s 13% higher because CFs produce FAR less offensively than 3Bs and Urias has that to contend with.
If Urias played CF and had those stats (4 more homers in fewer ABs), his OPS+ would be 10 points higher than Grish’s.
Facts. From a math guy.
The field ain’t that big of a deal and Grish quite simply doesn’t put bat on ball as much as Urias or hit it as hard.
Their difference in WAR (3.3 to 2.2) is almost wholly because Urias is playing out of position and is really bad on D (while Grish is indeed WAY above average, though not worthy of that Gold Glove).
Urias is also a righty and Miller is ONLY a benefit to LH hitters.
You are pretty dumb.
Are homers for big market teams oversensitive snowflakes because their teams are going to struggle to beat David, as Goliath did?
You bet yer bippy!
He’s extended thru 2024.