Back in October, when the Mets were still in search of a new baseball operations leader, SNY’s Andy Martino reported that Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns — known to be of interest to Mets owner Steve Cohen — may have a vesting option for the 2023 season on his contract. Stearns was already known to be signed through 2022 at the least, and the presence of a clause extending that date through the 2023 season only further reduced the likelihood that he’d be a realistic candidate in Queens.
Now, Martino adds some additional context, writing that Stearns is technically signed through the 2023 season, but his contract allows him to become a free agent this offseason if Milwaukee wins the National League pennant in 2022. Essentially, one of his perks based on the team’s on-field success would be the right to explore his market and field interest from other clubs a year earlier than otherwise scheduled.
The Mets, in particular, are known to covet Stearns. Their courtship of Stearns goes back two years now, as Cohen has sought permission to interview Stearns — and been denied by the Brewers — in each of the past two offseasons. Stearns has always been a long-shot target for the Mets, as most clubs generally only allow executives to interview with other teams if the opportunity in question would mark a promotion. Stearns already has baseball operations autonomy in Milwaukee and holds the title (president, baseball operations) that is now most commonly given to front office leaders.
Even if the Brewers don’t make a World Series appearance and trigger Stearns’ early out, it’s quite possible a fresh round of Mets/Stearns rumors will kick up again this winter nonetheless. After all, nothing had changed from Nov. 2020 to Nov. 2021 — Stearns was still under contract for multiple years — but the Mets still placed him atop their front office wishlist, only to again be rebuffed by the Brewers. Cohen hired Billy Eppler under the title of “general manager,” not “president of baseball operations,” so it’s technically possible that he could hire Stearns to head up the Mets’ baseball operations staff even with Eppler on board as GM.
One way to more firmly put an end to any pursuits of Stearns from rival clubs would be for Brewers owner Mark Attanasio to sign Stearns to a new extension. It’s now been more than three years since Stearns was promoted from general manager to president and signed to the extension on which he’s currently operating. Perhaps Stearns, who’ll turn 37 later this week, is intrigued by the possibility of fielding interest from other clubs and wouldn’t want to explore a new contract at this time, but there’s nothing stopping the Brewers from discussing a Stearns extension during the lockout, should they choose.
I SUPPORT STEVE!
Laughing at the idea of random people upvoting this, it really shouldn’t be this funny
groupthink at it’s finest.
I just found out David Stearns is slightly older than me. I now feel marginally better about my lot in life.
If Stearns is eventually hired by the Mets, it will quickly end Eppler’s time with the team. Stearns will understandably bring his own people in, while Eppler is not going to have an interest in going back to a job he held six years earlier. He’ll have a GM title still while under contract, but a GM in an org with a PoBO is essentially an AGM. I’d be very surprised if Eppler didn’t build an out clause in his deal, or at minimum there is an understanding between Cohen and Eppler.
Mostly, though, I don’t see Stearns coming to the Mets as long as Sandy’s there.
Eppler IS Stearns’ guy. They’re supposedly best friends.
I doubt an executive like Eppler would want to be considered Stearns’ guy considering Eppler is almost a decade older than Stearns. They can be friends but they’re also competitive. Baseball is an insular community. Lots of people are friends. Eppler is building his own career.
It was thought by many “in the know” which certainly I’m not that Eppler was signed understanding Stearns could still be brought in later. Eppler was out of work with no other reported GM job opportunities so he’d likely get both a pay raise and reduced responsibilities in the event Stearns signed on. Similarly, if Stearns doesn’t and the Mets win on the field, he’ll likely get both a raise and permanent new title. As long as the team performs up to their now lofty expectations, Eppler gets rewarded
I’m not disagreeing, but I think many fans assume getting more money with less responsibility would be greeted positively. For the average Jane or Joe, I could understand why they’d view it that way. It won’t be for highly competitive professionals in their peak years, and any person craving to be the leader of baseball operations will by nature be highly competitive. Eppler could have gone back in house with other teams, but at a lower position. He sidestepped to a job with William Morris’ Endeavor operation, but that seemed to be a holding job until he could get the job he wanted, which of course was running baseball operations again. He found it with the Mets. That’s why I don’t see him remaining with the Mets if Stearns comes in. You’re right, he knew coming in that Stearns, or some other exec, could be brought in as a PoBO. That had to be discussed and I’m sure there’s some agreement, either written or understood in place. Title is not important here. It’s span of control.
The tricky part for the Mets will be what will they do if they have a great year and Stearns becomes available? Their obsession likely means they will still try to bring him in.
All we have is conjecture, but I’ll stick by my belief the presence and power of Sandy will drive Stearns elsewhere if he decides to leave Milwaukee. As Chernoff in Cleveland and David Forst in Oakland did by rejecting the Mets, Stearns may decide he already has a great gig and stay put, or go to another team. And if the Mets land Stearns, then what Eppler does or doesn’t do really won’t matter. They’ll be a new person in charge and Eppler likely will have greatly improved his marketability.
It’s all conjecture, but one scenario would be to hire Stearns as PoBO in 2023 and promote him to president and Eppler to PoBO when Sandy retires in a couple of years. In the meanwhile, Stearns and Eppler would be like Epstein and Hoyer with the Cubs a few years ago, absent the track record of world championships (absent the Mets or Brewers winning it all in 2022). A lot depends upon what Stearns values and wants to do
I REALLY hope Stearns is the Brewers GM like Beane’s been the A’s, but the guy grew up in Queens…IIRC, he was a Mets fan, got his start with the Mets…and the Mets have an owner who will be able to spend with any team in baseball.
As biased as I may be, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say the Brewers very likely get to a WS if they have another 100-120M to work with the last several years. So imagine what he could build in NY…so long as they don’t get that payroll up to the 220 before he gets a chance to make any of his own decisions!
But, hopefully he does decide he likes it where he is and stays put. I assumed the Brewers would talk about compensation this past year for Stearns since…at some point, they’d likely lose him(if he does want to go) and you might as well get something for him rather than keep him one more year. But now that it’s 2 years and Attanasio has talked about how he dislikes developing young executives who are unproven…coupled with the fact that he’s known to pay big market prices for executives and I guess there’s reason to hope we keep David Stearns in Milwaukee!
Given what he’s done with a small market budget…his value is enormous.
Brewers need to get him locked up. Cmon Attanasio.
You really think Attanasio is thinking, “yeah, gotta wait and see how he does. Not paying him just yet?”
Or do you think he’s already tried to sign the 37 year old Executive that he’s refused to even allow to interview with other teams?
C’mon afsooner02….THINK! LOL…I’d bet a years salary he’s already tried to extend Stearns.
tbh i don’t see why stearns would want to leave mil for the mets, yes they have an owner that wants to spend money but to me cohen seems to be a jerry jones type of owner. i believe one of the reasons stearns has been doing well in mil is because ownership stays out of the way and let’s him work. imo until cohen gets out of his own way and stays off social media and let the bb guys deal with the bb side of things the mets are going to be a train wreak.
Because Milwaukee is unlikely to be able to continue to sustain the level of success/competitiveness much longer. The payroll is limited (for whatever excuse you want to believe or accept), the farm system is lacking in abundance of high rated prospects, and current big league talent is either aging, failing or about to get expensive.
And Milwaukee isn’t an ideal destination for free agents.
mets have the same problems and a bloated payroll, yes cohen has money but that only goes so far. right now the mets are a bit above avg team with no depth a few players that can’t stay healthy the mess with cano, and a payroll north of 200mil. tbh why would any pbo/gm of stearns standing in the bb world want to take the mets job when most teams in the league would want you. especially with an overbearing owner that likes to spout off in social media
“(for whatever excuse you want to believe or accept)”
Not excuse…REASON. The Brewers get about 330M LESS per year in just TV money than the Dodgers, Yankees and the larger market teams.
Attanasio is worth about 1/20th what Cohen is(roughly).
There’s plenty of nonsense to the rest of what you’ve just said as well.
The farm system was “lacking in abundance,” when Burnes, Woodruff, Peralta, Houser, Lauer and company were coming up.
Old roster? Where? Cain I guess…also where they have the most minor league talent.
I mean…I’ve sen you on here the last couple years with this line of comments, but hopefully they’ll move on to Atlanta now. There you can complain about another team…one that actually does put fewer resources back into their team than the Brewers.
Ok, REASON then.
Um, seems like Lauer didn’t come up in our system, but ok.
In addition to aging, I also said failing, which was what jbj did last year, and Yelich has done for 2 years, although to try and talk you off the ledge I’ll edit that to UNDERPERFORMED BASED ON HIS CONTRACT if it lowers your blood pressure. Also said ‘about to get expensive’ and I don’t even know how you can debate that in regards to Woodruff and Burnes.
‘Just said’? Dude, it was a month ago. You just come out of a coma?
I guess I will get your BP up again by informing you I was, am, and will continue to be a Brewer fan. Manny just happens to have a cool nickname. And I don’t like the Braves at all.
And I’m not sure if I should be flattered or creeped out that you’ve been following me so closely. I’ll go with confused though, since I dont recall having this user name for even 1 full year. Perhaps in your anger you confused me with someone else (real or imaginary).
Oh…no, you shouldn’t be flattered or creeped out, your name just stands out for your consistently obnoxious posts.
Lauer didn’t come up in our system. That was your response to the entire response about how the core of our pitching staff, generally regarded as the best and deepest in the game was almost entirely develop in our own system? Hader(yes, I now, he spent time in Houston, but came up in ours, was not rated in the top 100 until he came to ours), Burnes, Williams, Woodruf, Peralta, Houser…
Failing…yes, JBJ having a bad year last year is evidence that our lineup moving forward is “failing.” LOL…c’mon.
And no, I don’t think you are a Brewers fan. We’re bringing back a 95 win team that…very likely would or could have won 100+ games if not for the ~15 game lead late in the year and little reason to push our young arms past their innings limit.
But to be clear, our farm system ISN’T perpetually underrated because Lauer wasn’t develop in the Brewers system…and we’ll just ignore the fact that he was yet another pitcher who exceled with the benefit of the Brewers front office, pitching school and analytics department that urged him to make better use of his slider.
But anyone, one player wasn’t developed in our system, thereby proving your point.
Cool.
Yelich has struggled to make hard contact since the back injury…therefore we have a “failing” roster as well.
And per usual, nothing from you on how Attanasio NOT spending 250M a year on the team has NOTHING to do with the fact that he gets about 300M+ less in TV money from the large market teams you somehow in your magically world believe we should be spending like…calling it an “excuse,” rather than a simple, basic, rationale statement of fact.
So yeah, I doubt very much you’re a Brewers fan…far more likely you’re a troll and little less.
I’m guessing the Mets would be willing to offer Stearns a much higher salary than what Milwaukee is willing to pay him via extension, plus the extra budget for paying players in NY has to be attractive for any executive. The only negative is that Stearns would be hitching his wagon to the Mets, but hopefully with Cohen in place, the Mets organization will no longer be considered a dysfunctional organization.
I’m guessing you’re wrong on the salary to Stearns. Attanasio pays his executives a lot.
I’d assume you’re right about the payroll. That just seems obvious. Plus it’s where he grew up, team he rooted for, got his start. But MAYBE he likes the challenges of a smaller market team?
I don’t know…but I thought he’d be gone before his last extension….so guessing at this point seems foolish. If he leaves after this year, it’ll be because the Brewers won the NL or because the Brewers received some compensation for him and he wanted to leave.
In any event, he’s built the Brewers up…and we have a very nice 3 year window as of now to content.
I’m sure David Sterns doesn’t want to be very highly paid by the team he grew up with, plus have a 300 million dollar payroll.
Maybe he holds Met fans in total disregard.
Maybe he won’t want to come into a team with a $300mm payroll with $290mm in current obligations before he ever arrives. Kinda a no win situation if you have needs but have to dump contracts to afford anything. Ask SDP how fun it is to try and move an albatross contract. Hard to build a team when someone else spent all the money.
Who gives a s**t?
lol…you care enough to post a comment
Andy Martino is an idiot. He makes things up to fit the New York teams.
So if they don’t play baseball this year does that count as a division winner! Haha
Well the dodgers and Mets play in the NL… so yeah he isn’t going to be working for the Mets next year
Why would Stearns leave a franchise he has basically complete control over other than the facts of under achieving in the postseason and a 2nd rate farm system. He’s done a great job. If he is able to exercise his opt out he’s a fool not to at least consider it. Going to the Mets isn’t an upgrade in the least and he should avoid it at all costs. Competition is much better in the division and the farm systems relatively the same, but most of the kids will be tradable assets during the stretch run anyways. Met’s should go all in on Theo and just pay his asking price when he’s ready to come back to the game again and just work with what they’ve fandangled together in the meantime.
Have they really “underachieved” in the post season? When did they lose under Sterns, when they should have won? Just making it there is normally a long shot and the brewers are rarely picked to ever go. I can’t recall too many times they were the favorite in a series that they ended up losing.
They were the favorite to beat the Braves just last year?
Oh darn….upset by the eventual world champs….how underperforming the brewers are! Maybe the braves were a little undervalued in the playoffs?
Milwaukee will be fine going forward if they keep sterns. Every year the keyboard warriors think we’re headed for last place to battle the pirates and every year they’re wrong. They will break through soon enough….as long as Sterns stays.
They’re regarded as the favorites to win their division again, and as noted elsewhere, they were picked to beat the Braves. They are past the point of being the nice surprise story. They’re at a point they need to win. Can’t be the underdog forever. They are expected to win now and build forward.
LordD99…I agree and although a healthy and back to form Yelich would really help them they still need another bat…they have three aces and the best bullpen arm in the majors and they still want to go at this half-a$$ approach and think they are going to win…they have a real shot here and they just won’t increase payroll to do it…and plus they can be the favorites all they want but the Cardinals are no joke…they have a good team and will challenge the Brewers for the division
Stearns would leave for a challenge of turning the Mets around. But then again he can’t assemble an offense worth anything to win. So no fear of the Brewers winning the NL pennant. His drafting has been sub par especially first rounders.
The signing of Lorenzo Cain to an extra year was a mistake. Signing JBJ to anything was a bigger mistake. He was lucky the Red Sox wanted to try again.
“Whatever Stevie wants, Stevie gets….” (yes, I’m ancient.).
Of course it all has to do with the Benjamin’s, but it might be worth for Sterns to stay where he is. If he succeeds in NY, it’s “wadda want, with that payroll?”. Right now, he’s considered one of the really bright bulbs out there; I certainly perceive him that way. With just a little more sucess (very possible; weak division) he can get some big money from a less intrusive owner than Cohen.
He’d be a great add to either of the NY teams next offseason.
Talk about target fixation.
Only in Metsdom do they hire a new GM and there are already stories about his replacement.
Brewers have a two-three year window with the pitchers before it gets expensive.
One-two year window after this year gets scrapped.
Did you really think this entire season was going to be lost?
And with a smart GM, they will continue to compete by knowing when to trade players, when to re-sign them and when to play it out.
Cleveland hasn’t won a WS, but they’ve managed to be competitive year after year. Same with teams like Tampa. Well run organizations are able to re-load.
The Brewers prospects are also notoriously underrated. 2-3 years from now…who knows where Hedbert, Ashby, Black, Frelick, Mitchell, Kelly and company will be. Maybe Perez is like a young Tatis, maybe he’s a bust. But they have plenty of upside up and down the farm system.
If he leaves they have Klentak no big deal NOT
Whaa???
Is this like the 90s where you say something that you don’t mean…and then it’s clever because you follow it up with “NOT,” as in…what you just said isn’t true?
Because…sure, having a former GM as a special assistant is certainly helpful. Also having an ACTUAL GM who’s been successful in Arnold is ALSO helpful and he’d likely become the POBO for the Brewers IF Stearns left.
Word of advice though. Add punctuation and eliminate the word “NOT” from after a foolish sentence.