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David Stearns

Brewers Deny Mets Permission To Interview David Stearns

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The Mets will not be permitted to interview Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns for their comparable position, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Sherman relays that Brewers’ owner Mark Attanasio officially denied the request over the weekend, thus eliminating Stearns from the running for the job in New York.

Stearns has been with the Brewers over six years now, originally being hired as the general manager in September of 2015. He was signed to an extension and promoted to his current presidential position in January of 2019. It had been speculated by some that he might be a good fit for the Mets job on account of his Manhattan roots and because 2022 is the last year remaining on that extension. However, teams generally have to grant permission for other clubs to interview their front office employees, unless there’s a promotion involved. Since Stearns already possesses the president title being offered by the Mets, that’s not the case here. There was also a recent report that there is a vesting option in the contract for 2023, though that is unconfirmed and the conditions that would cause the option to vest are not known.

The Mets’ search will now continue with one more name off the list. The three most-cited names rumored to be in the running for the job over the past few months have been Stearns, Theo Epstein and Billy Beane, with the former two now both out of the running. The Mets could turn their attention to Beane, although it’s unclear if the Athletics’ executive vice-president is interested in the position, or if the club would allow him to be interviewed for it.

David Stearns May Have Vesting Option For 2023

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As the Mets continue their search for a new president of baseball operations, they may have to change tack, according to Andy Martino of SNY. It has long been reported that the top tier of their preferred candidates included Theo Epstein, Billy Beane and David Stearns. Martino reports that the Mets’ confidence of landing any of the three is apparently low, leading to them consider a change of strategy and targeting younger executives.

Stearns, the youngest of the group at 36, has had his name connected to the Mets in rumors for a while now, as it was widely believed the Manhattan native was entering the last year of his contract with the Brewers. However, Martino says it is “now believed” that the club has a vesting option for his services for 2023. It’s unclear what conditions need to be met for the option to vest, but that is a noteworthy development, if true. As Martino himself notes, this changes the calculation of how much leverage the Mets would have to compel Milwaukee to allow negotiations to take place. Many have speculated that the Brewers could allow Stearns to consider outside opportunities because he is nearing the end of his contract. But if that is not actually the case, it makes it less likely that they would be open to such a scenario.

Dodgers’ assistant general manager Brandon Gomes, 37 years old, has already been reported to be one of those under consideration, though Martino reports that the Dodgers could promote him to general manager in order to keep him from taking a GM job with the Mets. Martino also floats Brewers general manager Matt Arnold and Giants general manager Scott Harris as those that “could be in the mix.”

Brewers Notes: Hiura, Yelich, Stearns

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The Brewers were bumped from the postseason earlier this week, losing their Division Series against the Braves. Milwaukee president of baseball operations David Stearns met with the media (including Will Sammon of the Athletic and Adam McCalvy of MLB.com) this afternoon to review the 2021 campaign and discuss the club’s upcoming offseason.

Keston Hiura will undergo a minor surgery on his right elbow, Stearns said, although there’s no indication the issue could affect his readiness for Spring Training. Milwaukee’s Opening Day first baseman, Hiura struggled all season. He got off to a horrible start, striking out in 32 of his first 89 plate appearances en route to a .152/.247/.266 line through early May. The Brewers optioned Hiura to Triple-A Nashville at that point. Hiura hit well in the minors, but he still couldn’t find much success against big league pitching. In 108 MLB plate appearances from the time of his first demotion on, he continued to slump to a .181/.264/.330 mark.

At this point, the Brew Crew can’t enter 2022 counting on Hiura to assume an everyday role. Still, he’s a former top ten pick who’s not all that far removed from a huge .303/.368/.570 showing as a rookie in 2019. Milwaukee surely doesn’t want to give up on Hiura entirely, and Stearns floated the idea of getting him some work in the outfield next season. Hiura has only played first and second base as a pro (aside from one 3 1/3 inning stint in left field this year), but it’d be a bit easier for manager Craig Counsell to work him into the lineup if the 25-year-old proves capable of covering the grass on a regular basis.

Christian Yelich won’t have any issue getting everyday reps, but he’ll also be looking to recapture his 2019 level of performance. The former MVP’s numbers have hovered right around league average (.234/.360/.392) over the past couple seasons. It’s an alarming drop-off, surely not what Stearns and the front office had in mind when they inked Yelich to an extension over the 2019-20 offseason that paid him $188.5MM in new money.

Between Yelich’s prior accolades and the organization’s enormous financial commitment to him, it’s no surprise that Stearns says getting the 29-year-old back on track is a key focus this winter. Yelich’s strikeout, walk and hard contact rates are still all solid or better, but his power output has disappeared as his ground-ball percentage has spiked from 43.2% in 2019 to 54.8% this past season. Stearns candidly admitted the organization hasn’t yet diagnosed a root cause of Yelich’s downturn in performance, but he expressed optimism in the potential for a turnaround and noted that Yelich wasn’t being hampered by any health problems.

Stearns’ own status with the franchise has been something of a talking point in recent weeks. The Mets are reportedly interested in speaking with the Manhattan native as part of their search for a new president of baseball operations. Stearns landing in Flushing has never seemed especially likely, though, primarily because he’s under contract with the Brewers through the end of next season. Thus, Milwaukee owner Mark Attanasio would need to grant the Mets permission to interview Stearns. Attanasio hasn’t definitely said whether he’d do so, although he rather coyly responded to the rumors last month (via Sports Illustrated) when he opined that Stearns is “a great executive. … He’s also under contract with us.”

For his part, Stearns mostly deflected attention away from his future, although he didn’t sound like someone anxious to leave Milwaukee. “I think I’ll shy away from any media or external speculation other than to say I’m happy here; my family is happy here. And we’ve got work to do here,” Stearns told reporters today when asked about the chances he makes the jump to the Big Apple.

Mets To Contact Theo Epstein; Plan To Ask Permission About Billy Beane, David Stearns

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The Mets’ search for a new president of baseball operations will lead to a chat with Theo Epstein, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link) that the Mets are planning to get in touch with Epstein “soon.”  Athletics executive VP Billy Beane and Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns are also on the Mets’ wishlist, as Heyman notes that New York intends to ask the A’s and Brewers for permission to speak with the two executives once Oakland’s season is over, and once Milwaukee’s postseason run is complete.

This isn’t the first time that these three names have been linked to the Mets’ search, and it remains to be seen how serious any of the trio are as candidates — Heyman tweeted just yesterday that Epstein and Stearns were “seen as unlikely gets.”  The pursuits of Beane and Stearns could be ended quickly, of course, if their current teams simply denied the Mets permission for a meeting.  While teams generally allow employees to interview for higher positions with other teams, Beane and Stearns are already atop their respective clubs’ decision-making pyramid.

As of Wednesday, New York hadn’t yet spoken to any candidates, team president Sandy Alderson told The Athletic’s Tim Britton (Twitter thread) and other reporters.  This could make Epstein the first name on the Mets’ list overall, and it would make sense that the team would check in with an unaffiliated potential candidate before tackling the thornier issue of permission from other clubs.

Alderson also noted the interesting detail that the Mets will make a decision on the fate of manager Luis Rojas and the current coaching staff soon after the season is over, even prior to the hiring of a new PoBO.  “I would hope those decisions are made with a new leadership potentially in mind, to make sure they have as much flexibility as possible,” Alderson said, which wouldn’t seem to bode well for Rojas’ chances of being retained.  The wait should be longer in deciding on the future of acting GM Zack Scott, whose next court date related to a DWI charge isn’t until October 7.  Alderson said the Mets will decide on Scott after there has been some resolution in his legal situation.

Latest On David Stearns’ Contract Status

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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.

Brewers Promote Matt Arnold To General Manager

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The Brewers announced Thursday that they’ve promoted assistant general manager Matt Arnold, giving him the title of senior vice president and general manager. David Stearns, the team’s president of baseball operations and general manager, still sits atop Milwaukee’s baseball operations hierarchy but has had the “GM” portion dropped from his title in light of Arnold’s promotion.

The timing of the move likely isn’t a coincidence, as multiple clubs around the game have had GM vacancies open up — with a few still to be filled. Arnold is a well-respected executive who’d surely have generated interest for clubs looking to lure him away with a promotion to a GM post in their own organization. Arnold’s promotion won’t give him the autonomy over baseball operations decisions he might’ve been granted with another club, but it’s a notable bump in stature (and presumably in salary) that will make it more difficult for other teams to hire him away.

“For the past five years, Matt has served an invaluable role in helping to guide our baseball operations group,” Stearns said in a press release announcing the move. “He has contributed to every significant decision we have made and has offered indispensable advice and support throughout that time with the Brewers. Today’s announcement formalizes how we have operated over the last few years. This move provides Matt with the deserved recognition of his tireless work and ensures that our baseball operations leadership group remains intact.”

The 41-year-old Arnold originally came to the Brewers from the Rays organization, where he spent nine seasons in a variety of roles, including director of player personnel. He’s also worked for the Dodgers, Rangers and Reds over the course of a 20-year baseball operations career, occupying roles in scouting, player development and player analysis along the way.

Latest On Mets’ Front Office Search

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4:50pm: “It sounds as if” Athletics general manager David Forst is a target for the Mets, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Forst and Alderson did work together in Oakland for two years, Slusser notes, though it’s unclear whether Forst would be willing to move to a different organization. With executive vice president Billy Beane potentially on his way out, Forst could soon be the head of A’s baseball operations.

12:52pm: The Mets’ front office search has led into the front offices of opposing teams, with mixed results thus far.  The Mets had interest in speaking with Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns, but the Brewers denied the Mets’ request, MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi reports.  In a follow-up tweet from Morosi, he reports that New York also asked the Indians for permission to speak with GM Mike Chernoff about the Mets’ vacant president of baseball operations role, and it isn’t yet known if the Tribe has agreed.

Chernoff is a long-time member of Cleveland’s front office, and he has been working as general manager since October 2015.  He does have some notable ties to the New York area, as Chernoff hails from New Jersey and his father is an executive at New York’s WFAN Radio.  Since Chris Antonetti is still the Tribe’s top decision-maker as the team’s president of baseball operations, the Mets job would represent a promotion for Chernoff (clubs generally don’t block their employees from interviewing for higher jobs up the ladder) and a chance to not only run his own team, but take over one of the more intriguing job opportunities in recent memory.

Since Stearns is already the Brewers’ president of baseball operations, it would be a lateral move to take a similar job in New York, which would explain why the Brewers turned down the Mets’ request.  Stearns signed a contract extension in January 2019 that carried the promotion from GM to president of baseball ops, quite possibly as a way for the Brewers to head off potential headhunting inquiries from other teams.  Stearns is from New York and began his career working in the Mets’ front office, plus his stock as an executive has only risen given the Brewers’ success under his watch.  Milwaukee has reached the postseason in each of the last three years, and finished a game away from the NL pennant in 2018.

While the Mets are known to be looking for both a president of baseball operations and a general manager, Ken Rosenthal and Jayson Stark of The Athletic note the possibility that New York might just hire a GM for now.  “The pool of available executives might not be deep enough for them to hire two top decision-makers to work under” team president Sandy Alderson, Rosenthal/Stark write, listing several names (including Antonetti, Rays GM Erik Neander, and Blue Jays president/CEO Mark Shapiro) seem comfortable in their current positions.

With Alderson approaching his 73rd birthday, the Mets could explore hiring a GM who could then move into a president of baseball ops role and full control of the front office once Alderson stepped down from his current role, having overseen the transition into Steve Cohen’s era of ownership.  Or, that general manager could remain in the position and the Mets could hire an entirely new president of baseball ops should another name (Theo Epstein, perhaps?) enter the picture in a year or so.

GM Trade History: Brewers’ David Stearns

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It’s not always fair to judge baseball operations leaders for free agent signings. In many cases, the biggest contracts are negotiated to varying extents by ownership. The same can hold true of major extensions. It’s just tough to know from the outside.

There’s obviously involvement from above in trade scenarios as well. But when it comes to exchanging rights to some players for others, it stands to reason, the role of the general manager is all the more clear.

In any event, for what it’s worth, it seemed an opportune moment to take a look back at the trade track records of some of the general managers around the game. After covering the Diamondbacks’ Mike Hazen and former Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, today we’ll move to David Stearns of the Brewers. (In chronological order and excluding minor deals. Full details at transaction link.)

2019-20 Offseason

2019 Season

2018-19 Offseason

2018 Season

2017-18

2017 Season

2016-17 Offseason

2016 Season

2015-16 Offseason

—

How would you grade Stearns for his overall work on the trade front? (Poll link for app users.)

Quick Hits: Peralta, Brewers, Mariners, Wallace

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Happy birthday to Diamondbacks right-hander Stefan Crichton, who turns seven years…er, make that 28 years old on this Leap Day.  As you might expect, there haven’t been too many big leaguers born on February 29, though the date has produced a pair of very notable figures from baseball history.  Pepper Martin (born in 1904) was a four-time All-Star who won two World Series titles as a member of the Cardinals’ legendary Gashouse Gang teams of the 1930’s.  While the World Series MVP Award wasn’t instituted until 1955, it’s safe to consider Martin a retroactive winner for his performance in the 1931 Fall Classic, as he posted a 1.330 OPS over 26 plate appearances to lead St. Louis to victory.

Al Rosen (born in 1924) was also a four-time All-Star, as well as the American League’s MVP in 1953.  Rosen hit .285/.384/.495 over ten outstanding seasons with the Indians in a career cut short by injuries, though he got to the Show in time to earn a ring with the 1948 Tribe, the last Cleveland team to win a World Series.  After his playing career was over, Rosen served as the president/CEO of the Yankees (winning another Series in 1978), then president/general manager of the Astros (1980-85) and Giants (1985-92).

More from around baseball as we hit the last February 29 until 2024…

  • Freddy Peralta’s representatives “weren’t too happy” with the right-hander’s decision to sign a five-year extension with the Brewers, Peralta told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters.  Peralta is guaranteed $15.5MM over the next five seasons, plus as much as $14.5MM more if club options for 2025 and 2026 are both exercised.  The contract gives the Brewers a lot of control over a pitcher who only has slightly more than one year of service time to his name, and Peralta said his agents at Rep 1 Baseball “didn’t really want to take it.  At the end of the day, I know they wanted to wait a little longer.”  Still, Peralta was focused on locking in a life-changing amount of money, calling the contract “something I’ve been working for my whole life….It was a chance to help my family, to help myself, and be in a position where I can play relaxed.  My family can be a little more happy and relaxed.  It definitely changes my mind going into every season, knowing that I have a little bit of security.”
  • While Peralta could be leaving a lot of potential money on the table if he blossoms into a reliable pitcher, taking the extension could ultimately prove to be a wise choice considering that Peralta isn’t yet proven at the big league level.  These types of early-career extensions involve “a risk tolerance for both sides,” Brewers GM David Stearns told Haudricourt and company, and “in this case, there was a clear desire from the player and a clear desire from the club” to get a deal done.  Rather than specify a a specific starting or relieving job for Peralta, Stearns indicated “we think he could potentially have success in both roles, and as the game continues to evolve, as the use of pitching continues to evolve, there are probably going to be a whole bunch of pitchers who are asked to do both.  And it wouldn’t shock me if Freddy is one of those guys.“
  • The Mariners won’t use a set closer this season “unless somebody jumps up and grabs the position,” manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times).  Barring a breakout performance from one of the many save candidates, the M’s will instead rotate between the likes of Yoshihisa Hirano, Carl Edwards Jr., Matt Magill, Dan Altavilla, Sam Tuivailala, and perhaps others in ninth-inning situations.
  • Special assistant Dave Wallace and the Braves have “mutually agreed to part ways” after three seasons, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets.  This was Wallace’s second stint in Atlanta’s organization, after working as a minor league pitching coordinator from 2010-13.  The 72-year-old Wallace is known for his many years as a pitching coach with five different teams, most recently working with Orioles pitchers from 2014-16.

The Brewers’ Infield Picture

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Those following the Brewers at a distance may not have paid much attention to their tempered approach to the offseason. It’s easy to look at their winter and see a modest collection of stopgaps to stanch the roster bleed of departing vets like Yasmani Grandal and Mike Moustakas. Look a littler closer, however, and you’ll find President of Baseball Ops and GM David Stearns created a two-year window of flexible and affordable contracts to keep Craig Counsell’s squad in contention, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

With Christian Yelich and Josh Hader, the Brew Crew have some of the best high-end talent in the game, but they’ve done a nice job filling out the infield with one-and-one contracts for Brock Holt, Eric Sogard, Justin Smoak, and Jedd Gyorko. Along with trade acquisition Luis Urias, the Brewers found a grab bag of roster pieces to power their infield engine in a wide-open NL Central. Holdovers Keston Hiura and Orlando Arcia join the extensive group of infielders vying for playing time.

Though Arcia is still just 25-years-old and has notched some big performances for the Brewers in recent seasons, his grip on everyday at-bats is loosening. Urias’ injury has provided Arcia with a last-ditch opportunity to prove his mettle. He certainly brings attitude and flair to the diamond, but two seasons of a .228/.277/.333 line dims the outlook on Arcia’s offensive potential for sure. Still, of the newcomers in the clubhouse, only Urias really threatens Arcia’s everyday status at short.

Of all rostered Brewers not named Yelich, Hiura has the highest ceiling. Thus, the onus lies largely (if unfairly) on his shoulders to make up the offensive production left behind by Grandal and Moustakas (who put up a combined 7 oWAR last season per baseball-reference). He put up a robust .303/.368/.570 line in just 84 games as a 22-year-old after being called up last season (139 wRC+). His power numbers have fluctuated throughout his professional career, but the hit tool has consistently played, and the Brewers are counting on Hiura to do some damage from the middle of their order.

The final piece of the infield puzzle for Counsell is long-time face-of-the-franchise Ryan Braun. Braun could see a majority of his time at first base with Avisail Garcia and Ben Gamel lining up with Yelich and Lorenzo Cain in the outfield. The exact formula for the rest of the lineup has no shortage of variables, but Counsell has proven himself an adept engineer. Importantly for Milwaukee, if any of the newly-acquired pieces fail to meld, they’ve maintained the flexibility, financially and structurally, to pivot.

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