For the past few years, speculation has abounded about the future of Brewers’ executive David Stearns. The Mets have made no secret of their affinity for Milwaukee’s longtime baseball operations leader.
New York’s interest hadn’t amounted to much to this point. Stearns has been under contract with Milwaukee, allowing Brewers’ owner Mark Attanasio to block the Mets from interviewing him over the 2021-22 offseason. Attanasio retained that freedom last winter, even as Stearns stepped down from running baseball operations and moved into an advisory role for longtime lieutenant Matt Arnold.
That’s no longer the case. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of the Athletic report that Stearns’ contract allowed him to begin speaking with other teams about a possible front office job following the August 1 trade deadline. Rosenthal and Sammon report that Stearns has already been in contact with both the Mets and Astros (potentially among other teams).
There has been plenty of speculation around the industry about the Mets turning baseball operations over to Stearns once his contract with Milwaukee was finished. Not only is he clearly well-regarded by Mets’ owner Steve Cohen, the 38-year-old executive is a Manhattan native who worked in the Mets’ front office early in his career. While New York signed Billy Eppler to a four-year contract to take over as general manager in the 2021-22 offseason, Cohen has gone on record about a desire to add a baseball operations president to take over above Eppler (who would remain as GM).
It’s unclear how far along talks between Stearns and the New York organization have gotten. Andy Martino of SNY suggests (Twitter link) that discussions have already advanced further than the Mets’ talks with Theo Epstein had two offseasons ago, though he cautions that a deal coming together is not certain.
Perhaps that’s related to the possibility of Houston staying involved. Stearns worked as an assistant general manager for the Astros from 2013-15, the immediate precursor to taking over baseball operations in Milwaukee. He’s clearly familiar with Houston owner Jim Crane, who reportedly showed interest in bringing Stearns back last offseason (but denied in January that he’d requested formal permission from the Brewers for an interview).
The path to running baseball operations is clearer in Queens than in Houston, however. The Astros surprisingly moved on from James Click last offseason despite winning the World Series. They operated without a baseball operations leader until tabbing Braves’ vice president of scouting Dana Brown in late January. While Crane took an unconventional path with Click — with whom he’d reportedly had a frosty relationship despite the team’s success — there’s no indication the now first-place club is considering diminishing Brown’s responsibility after eight months on the job.
That all seems to point to the Mets as the most logical landing spot. Rosenthal and Sammon hear from individuals close to Stearns that he was “re-energized” by a season with less responsibility and is prepared to reassume a key role in baseball operations. (Stearns declined comment to The Athletic.) That’d be a change from last winter, when he said he was “looking forward to taking a deep breath, spending time with my family and exploring some other interests” when stepping down from the president role with Milwaukee.
The NL and AL central are a plucking ground for the west and east… excluding the Rays, Marlins and A’s… they also get plucked like your Thanksgiving turkey
Shut the pluck up.
Ripper – Someone please tell Stearns how wicked nice Boston is this time of year.
… But it’s not nice any time of the year
He’ll go to the Astros who are still a juggernaut and have more control than he would with the Mets
His wife’s from Houston, so there’s that.
Add that unlike Mr. Cohen, the Astros owner will stay out of Baseball Ops if he has a quality person there.
Then there’s the fact that the Mets don’t remotely have an organization in place – particularly in scouting, analytics, and player development – and while it may be nice to build his own, it’ll take at least 3 years for quality people to become available to be hired as well as for them to learn to work with one another. The Astros have much of that covered.
Didn’t Crane want to trade for Contreras at last years deadline? GM stepped up, said no, gone at the end of the year even though they won? Owners get involved – their egos today are about the spotlight and not the investment, though they make tons of money.
In this particular situation, it’s the Mets. From NY, grew up a Mets fan, and get to run the team at the highest level other than owner with a blank checkbook…
I believe Click had a trade in place to trade Urquidy for Contreras, but Crane was the one who vetoed it.
Hard to argue with the results. Yainer Diaz has really stepped up.
Crane used to allow the GM to make smart decisions. I think he has a lack of trust since Luhnow/Hinch. But he needs to take a step back. Firing Click was a mistake.
Thanks JD. Wasn’t sure if I had it backwards or not. The point of the owner stepping in was what I was driving for.
Wasn’t crane veto-ing a trade the reason that the astros Split from Click?
Then there’s the fact that the Mets don’t remotely have an organization in place
=====================
I also wonder if he would be a good fit, but that depends on Cohen’s vision. If the idea is to sign the biggest names, there really isn’t much of a need for anyone more than Eppler (or me for that matter).
It almost feels like he needs both. Hire Stearns to build an organization, and have Eppler run it Hope for the best with Eppler over the next three years, and hope you have an LAD type of build which combines organizational efficiency with a ton of money.
They don’t plan on signing the biggest names to this extent forever. They will probably still spend in free agency where needed but they’ve only done that until they have a system in place that can consistently develop. That’s why you hire David stearns
Crane is notoriously tough to work with and gets involved in baseball ops. Read Drellich’s book. Stearns grew up a Mets fan and would have unlimited money to work with under Cohen. There’s a reason people haven’t shut up linking the two
Crane is notoriously hard to work with and gets involved with baseball ops. Stearns grew up a Mets fan and would have unlimited money to work with under Cohen. There’s a reason they’ve been linked so much
Stearns would be a perfect fit to straighten out the mess that is the White Sox. Oh, wait. Reinsdorf doesn’t do interviews.
I heard rumors at the Trade deadline that HARRIS could use some help in Detroit. (Actually, what I heard was laughing at the trade deadline)
Avenger: The guy you mentioned who “doesn’t do interviews” is an extremely shady character. A spook.
Yeah, a poor Brooklyn sewing machine salesman has a kid who goes to college in DC, works for the IRS, then is able, as a 21-year old, to “leverage” a full scholarship to law school, then uses tax loopholes to become a multi-millionaire, then eventually a billionaire.
B.S.!
He was a chosen one, inserted into every situation that he ended up in. Nepotism. Corruption. Promotion. Part of a huge plan for one massive organization to secretly control all sports and make trillions of dollars from them. Him and many others, serving their masters, for fleecing. For great wealth.
From YOU, that is. All fans.
I would be shocked, actually, if individual MLB teams actually do have owners.
More likely, MLB is one gigantic corporation, owned by one family or organization, and in order to make people believe that there is actual competition, and therefore induce them to watch and attend games, this corporation pretends to divvy-up the teams to fake-billionaire fake-owners.
Sounds crazy, I realize, if you’ve never actually thought about how the entire world actually works.
But the more you know and understand about Truth and the reality of everything, especially Big Business, the more it makes perfect sense.
Yeah, it’s all part of the Cabal: Jewish space lasers, adrenochrome harvested from children, and chemtrails (insert eyeroll)
As the spouse of an accounting firm partner and C suite officer…I can’t even begin to explain just how hard this conspiracy ownership scenario would be to pull off. And that’d just given the red tape, tax implications, etc. No firm under the sun would cover for that..not after Enron and I’m not even to the human element. There’s no chance people would talk. That some kind of lawsuit over time wouldn’t occur…or that a whistle-blower wouldn’t appear. There’s not enough money to cover this trail
angry: You said it all, not me.
And, yeah, the family connections between almost single famous person? Just a coincidence.
And, yeah, those planes that I see almost every single day flying parallel with miles-long emissions behind them, that then all come back around an hour later at a perpendicular, followed by haze and smog and creepy inorganic clouds and bad weather the next day? Just a coincidence.
Dock: First, we’re talking about clandestine, not illegal, activity.
Second, and with respect: you’re gullible and delusional. You clearly have no ability to fathom what goes on out there.
angry: You said it all, not me.
And, yeah, the family connections between almost every single famous person? Just a coincidence.
And, yeah, those planes that I see almost every single day flying parallel with miles-long emissions behind them, that then all come back around an hour later at a perpendicular, followed by haze and smog and creepy inorganic clouds and bad weather the next day? Just a coincidence.
JazzJazz. I’m neither gullible or delusional. I’m actually married to one of the top CPAs in America and I know how rhat would go down?
Clandestine? You mean ILLEGAL for anyone carrying a financial license.
Dock: Nothing’s illegal if you have the judges and feds on your payroll.
The mega-gullibility of the way that you think the world, especially Big Corporate, works is indeed delusional. Sorry to have to ruin your day by enlightening you like this.
JazzJazz. A troll of your epic mediocrity never ruins my day. I’d like to thank technology and specifically this site’s notification system for actually NOT alerting me to your further response. I did check my alarm bell visible notifications. I guess I can blame that for being awash in your absurdity. I’ll leave you with this. If there’s this cabal..I’m one of them. Lace that into your tinfoil.
Dick Elvis: Yeah, everyone who understands everything that you cannot fathom, because you’re too obtuse and gullible, is a troll, and wears tinfoil.
You’re just a fascist whose game is attempting to silence dissent.
JazzJazz wow. OK. I can’t even make sense of that. I applaud your ability to use the internet, though it makes me question the internets actual value considering your input.
I wish you were actually interesting to converse with. But you’re a Z level troll. Bet I can waste your time…bet you’ll respond. Go for it. I might see it. Might not. But let’s keep you focused where you’re not hurting yourself or others
Read the article.
I think Cohen would give him way way way more control. Cohen will open his wallet and trust him to spend it. Crane is one of the most controlling owners in the sport.
Buzz I’m not sure Cohen would be any better in that regard. Remember he tried to sign Carlos Correa until the medical staff pumped the brakes on it.
Don’t forget about Jeff Bagwell, Crane’s “Shadow POBO.”
I understand that Baggy advocated heavily for the Abreu signing. Haven’t heard anything from him since he was on TV guaranteeing that Abreu would be back to form soon.
Abreu has been dealing lately. Pena is back on track and if Brantley can continue to return to form this lineup will be incredibly formidable aside from Maldy, but he’s there for other reasons.
But we are grilling outside and enjoying our backyard patios from Oct-May while everyone north of 35” Latitude North is scraping their windshields and huddled indoors.
Wrong placement, but responding to the Houston haters. All places have their pros and cons but there is a reason why an outsized number of professional athletes who have enough financial capital to to live anywhere often chose Houston or Texas in general.
Abreu – 81 OPS+ That is not “dealing”
Did you miss “lately?!” I’m in agreement that the signing has been an overall bust thus far but he appears to be finding his swing lately and hopefully can provide some significant additional firepower to this already potent lineup. Stop strictly reading stat lines and watch some games.
One can only hope Cohen’s past instances of maybe-meddling were more a result of lacking true front office leadership he trusted in than him not being able to help himself. Certainly plausible.
It’s hotter than a hoochies choochy down in Houston. Why would anyone choose to live there for the summer ??
Big whiffa: I’m assuming the Houston area has discovered something called air conditioning.
You still have to go outside.
Houston in August where you walk from your house to your car in the driveway and need another shower.
So if you were offered a contract worth millions. You wouldn’t turn the ac on?
As much as I admire Sterns, I don’t see the fit right now. Dana Brown seems fine. No need to rock the boat.
Personally, I’m still a Lunhow guy, but since he’ll never get another job in baseball, I’m happy with what I’ve got.
It shouldnt take three years to strengthen their organization when it comes to analytics and player development. If you hire experienced people, theyll have the typical integration period of a few months learning more about each other and the org, but then they should be able to start seeing changes happen quickly. The mets farm is much stronger than the astros, so thats a plus as well. If he went to the mets, im sure he could get turn them into consistent winners fairly quickly. Theres a good foundation of young talent and lots of money that can be put toward gap areas and to strengthen the system.
You know Stearns grew up a diehard Mets fan right…?
The bigger lure might actually be money, since Cohen has plenty of it and probably won’t be shy about throwing boatloads at him.
An alternate way to interpret the chain of events in HOU is that Crane had a plan with which Click wasn’t compatible beyond the 1-year extension offered. My guess is that Dana Brown is in partly because he was hired knowing a PoBO was also coming in later. I say that as no discredit to Brown’s own obvious merits in player evaluation.
Brown is a first time GM. If your guess came true, it would hardly be surprising.
He saved the NBA, could the Mets be next?
Wrong person. This is his son. David sterns Jr
Came to comments expecting to see one from retired/advisory role
Cashman will get fired and Stearns will be paid hugely to GM the Yanks. Boone will get one more year and then get replaced by Brad Ausmus. You heard it here first.
Cashman and Boone aren’t going anywhere. It’s more likely Cashman gets a promotion to PoBO and Hal will just hire a new GM. The Yankees also still have former GMs Brian Sabean and Omar Minaya in senior advisory roles.
YBC
I thought Minaya was still an advisor for the Mets or was a MLB Front office guy. I didnt think he went back to the Yankees.. I could be wrong though and please correct me if i am.
youtu.be/5ad2pun9hjM?si=D3Lfk7LIP6HfdrPq
ty for the info .. didnt realize he left the mlb front office.
Cashman won’t be fired, though Aaron F#&kin’ Boone and the entire analytics department should.
Wait the nny have analytics department.
@Chucky Hal has mentioned last week bringing guys from outside the org to overhaul their analytics dept.
Sterns is not going to be any teams GM. He is going to be POBO or retired.
Unless it is a team who doesn’t have a POBO. POBO really is just a fake title promotion that was invented to hire away personnel from other clubs because the rule is you can poach personnel under contract when you promote them.
That means GM basically is an assistant GM, POBO = GM and assistant GM = brings coffee to GM:).
I guess Stearns doesn’t care about the title, he just wants to be the highest ranked person that can make all decision independently (and of course gets paid).
The GM scenario could happen but Brad Ausmus won’t manage the Yankees ever.
I want the Angels hire him to be the POBO to finally right the ship. Better yet, sell the team, Arte!
Selling the team is thw only smart move Arte can make at this point.
Be careful what you wish for.
Money talks. Stearns is about to get a bottomless pot of money to do what he was doing with a shallow pan of money in Milwaukee. $&its about to get real in the NL East.
Kiss my Asstros. Go Dodgers!
Red Sox? To replace Bloom…
go to the Mets and give away one of there best players in a playoff race
ST. LOUIS!!!!
St. Louis!!
(Sorry for the double-post!)
He won’t know what to do with a real payroll or real expectations. The Mets and Astros need to look elswhere.
I’m a Brewer fan, and I don’t get why everyone else in baseball is so hot and bothered about David Stearns? In an era of the NL Central where three teams were bad he made the Brewers sort of relevant? And that looks good because for most of their 50+ years of existence they haven’t been. They now have 8 playoff appearances up from 4 in their franchise history because of him and and additional LCS to their tally.
I’m very happy the Brewers have achieved semi relevancy in baseball again, they are more fun to follow, But you are kidding yourself if you think a larger payroll will hide Stearns’ flaws.
Good luck to him where ever he lands.
He looks good from my perspective, but I don’t follow the Brewers very closely.
As a Brewers’ fan, what do you think his flaws are?
The fact he has made the brew relevant on a shoestring budget is pretty good, as cards fans I always felt like if the brews owner would spend a little more on the team they would have owned the nlc for years
You don’t think an extra $150M for payroll could hide the Brewers flaws? They’re already a good team.
He’s made them consistent playoff contenders AND still has a Top 5-10 farm system, all with a middle of the road payroll. The Brewers are basically the Midwest Dodgers with their level of consistency and player development, which is exactly what the Mets/Cohen want.
notagiantsfan: You’re right. There are six divisions now. Out of 30 teams, how many now make the playoffs each year: 35 or 40?! NL central has been very weak for years, with two of the other four non-Brewers teams hardly ever spending a dime.
Stearns should have won 100+ several times and gotten three or four trips to the NLCS. He’s been a disappointment.
Additionally: he treats his roster not like human beings who have careers to worry about, bills to pay, families to take care of, but rather like inanimate objects. Robots to be outrighted, cut, traded, re-signed, moved around from one position to another ad infinitim, etc.
Stearns, imo, seems like a bit of a disgrace as a human being. Just a suit who cares ONLY about making and saving-up shekels for himself and his corporate masters.
Stearns should have won 100+ several times
=========================
So your point is that Stearns is a genius at putting 100-win teams together on shoestring budgets?
Running a team requires making tough decisions. What Stern’s did in Milwaukee is being done in every MLB city by their GMs. If a team wins, tickets get bought, concessions get sold, ratings go up, and all the other people working for the team, vendors, concession workers, and ticket sellers get paid, and get tips and make bonus. The players are not the sole employees.
When the Brewers hired Stearns at the end of the 2015 season, they had been to the playoffs twice in the previous 32 seasons.
From 2016 until he stepped down at age 37 after the 2022 season they had been to the playoffs 4 times in the previous 7 seasons. They had missed by one game in 2022 because Attanasio asked them to cut payroll mid-season which led to the trade of their closer.
Not hard to see why people think Stearns is a great baseball executive. The bigger question is how you don’t?
Pads: In how many of those previous 32 seasons was there little to no competition in their division? And in how many of those previous 32 seasons was it, thanks to six divisions and a bunch of asinine candy-ass wild card teams, essentially a mere 50:50 coin toss for any team to make the playoffs?!
You tell us since you think you know baseball.
Along the way, tell us how many teams from 2016-2022 made the playoffs 4 consecutive times. How many were in the Central?
Keep in mind that division has the WS winning Cubs who made the playoffs 3 times while he was GM/POBO and the Cardinals who made the playoff 4 times during his tenure and other than this season have been consistent contenders.
BTW, 12 of 30 is not a 50% chance in the real world. That you think it is says volumes.
Maxi-Pads Fans: Any clue what “essentially” means?
For starters……
He will end up with the Mets, This has quietly been in the works for over a year so as to not break his contract with the Brewers making the move really messy, The Mets offer an open checkbook approach for Stearns, something he wished he had in Milwaukee, David is a big city guy and family too. Did he create a good relationship with Counsell to woo him to Mets too?
I think he ends up being the POBO for the Mets. Cohen will have to stay out of his way though, that’ll probably be part of the deal for him to sign on.
I have to think Sterns is going to the Mets and their recent front office/player development firings were with him in mind to take over an almost blank slate and bring his own people in.
Fire Eppler!
I thought he would get the White Sox job. Must not have as much baseball knowledge as Getz.y.
Expect the Brewers to file a tampering charge against the Mets, should Cohen sign the former GM to a deal.
The Mets have been — under both Cohen and Wilpon — too overt about their interest in a Stearns.. it’d be a shame if they’re docked a few high draft picks as potential compensation.
Stearns stepped down as POBO for the Brewers before the 2022 season began because he was stressed out with having to deal with the “”small market” Milwaukee brewers lol. I cant even begin to imagine how “stressed” he’ll be in the same job with huge market NY Mets. SMH
He’s from Manhattan and lives in Manhattan year round. He didn’t step down because he was stressed out. He stepped down because he wanted out. Too many years of having to trade top guys away to save a few bucks.
Nope that’s where your wrong. He stepped down with the brewers because he either didn’t like working for the owner and he told the press at the time he stepped down because he was burnt out with the riggers of the job. He was working for a small market team for heavens sake. He’ll get destroyed with the Mets with the everyday stress with working in the big apple
Stepping down because he wanted out means he didn’t like the ownership just as BIL said. That happens when the owner asks you to cut payroll when you have a 3 game lead in the Central. That didn’t sit well with Stearns and neither did Attanasio refusing to allow him to interview with his childhood favorite team in NYC.
Stearns never bought a home in Milwaukee and Whitney and their kids Nora and Austin live in NYC. His daughter Nora is in 2nd grade at the same school in Manhattan as my granddaughter.
He will excel wherever he works because he is brilliant and a great leader.
Your wrong. No owner worth his salt is gonna ask his POBO to slash payroll with 2 months left in the season when they’re up 3 games at the deadline. And when the player he traded is the best closer in the game. Stearns was burnt out plain n simple
Ataanasio publicly SAID that the team needed to cut payroll. So you are saying he is not worth his salt. I would be willing to bet that after that move that most Brewers fans would agree with you.
At the time of the trade Hader had a serious case of the yips, a 4.24 ERA for the season and a 12.54 ERA in July. He was not the best closer in the game at that point. There were questions about whether his career was over including by McCalvy. He was also about to get expensive by Brewers standards.
But carry on with your stupid comments. It makes the rest of look so much better.
Yes cut payroll at the end of the season NOT at the end of July at the trade deadline when the brewers were in first place by 3 games!!! Attanasio DIDNT tell Stearns to shed payroll by trading the best relief pitcher
Boston media is reporting that Sox ownership has reached out to Stearns also. I expect him to go to the Mets, but either, seems Bloom is dead man walking.
Jays should jump in and replace Atkins