Cohen: Not Considering Firing David Stearns
The first major domino in the Mets’ horrible season fell last week with the dismissal of manager Carlos Mendoza, who was in the final year of his contract. Andy Green will manage the team on an interim basis for the remainder of the season. He’ll return to the front office at year’s end, while the club will conduct a search for a new skipper at the beginning of the offseason.
President of baseball operations David Stearns will get the chance to lead that hiring process. Owner Steve Cohen reiterated his faith in his baseball operations leader this week, telling Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of The New York Post that he hasn’t considered a change at the top of the front office.
“It’s a five-year contract and we’re going to live that contract out,” Cohen said on Sherman’s and Heyman’s The Show podcast. The owner praised Stearns’ communication skills and aptitude before elaborating on his thought process:
“We’re two and a half years into a contract. Everyone forgets, does he get any credit for ’24? Does that not count? We almost made it to the World Series. That was just two years ago,” Cohen said. “It’s a mixed record. I’m not going to say it’s going great, but it’s too early to really make evaluations. I feel really strongly that if we’re going to burn and churn, that’s a terrible place to be. Every time you burn and churn, the next time nobody wants to come. Is someone going to put their career in your hands if you’re going to be short-term oriented?”
In response to a follow-up question about whether Stearns was unquestionably locked in through the end of his deal in 2028, Cohen replied that “there’s no guarantees in anything” and he’d “evaluate as it goes along.” He implied it was unlikely the team would make any change before the final year of the deal, however. “The change that’s not going to be made is moving David out at this point, I’m just not going to do it. Now if we get to year five and our performance continues to suffer, at that point everything’s fair game.”
The Mets and Stearns signed the aforementioned five-year contract at the end of the 2023 season. It was an open secret for years that Cohen had his sights set on Stearns, who’d led the Brewers to four playoff appearances in seven seasons from 2016-22. He stepped down from the top of baseball operations in Milwaukee at the end of ’22 but was under contract for another season, so he worked in an advisory role for his longtime chief lieutenant Matt Arnold.
Stearns, who grew up a Mets fan in Manhattan, took the job with New York once his contract with the Brewers expired. He moved on from Buck Showalter and hired Mendoza a couple months later. The Mets went 89-73 and earned a Wild Card spot in the first season of the Stearns/Mendoza era. They defeated Milwaukee in the Wild Card Series and bounced Philadelphia in the Division Series before dropping a six-game NLCS to the eventual champion Dodgers.
The Mets looked on track for their second straight playoff appearance last year. They fell apart after the trade deadline and ended up outside the playoff field on a tiebreaker to the Reds at 83-79. Their 36-51 record this season places them above only the Rockies, Royals, Giants and Angels. Over the past calendar year, only Colorado, the Halos and Minnesota have a worse record.
Cohen and Stearns signed off on the record-shattering $765MM Juan Soto contract over the 2024-25 offseason. He has a .274/.399/.536 batting line in his first 1000 plate appearances as a Met, giving him the fifth-highest OPS among qualified hitters since the start of last year.
That signing has worked, but the team’s other moves dating back to last summer have mostly not panned out. They traded for impending free agents Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers, Cedric Mullins and Gregory Soto last summer. Only Rogers played up to expectations, and Helsley and Mullins had terrible finishes.
They responded to the late-season collapse with a dramatic roster overhaul over the winter. Pete Alonso and Edwin Díaz walked in free agency, as did all of last year’s deadline acquisitions. They shipped out Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien in a swap of underwater contracts. Jeff McNeil went to the A’s in a salary dump.
New York signed Bo Bichette to a monster three-year, $126MM deal with opt-outs within hours of missing out on Kyle Tucker. They picked up Devin Williams and Luke Weaver for the bullpen, signed Jorge Polanco to play first base, acquired Luis Robert Jr. to handle center field, and traded for Freddy Peralta as a co-ace with Nolan McLean.
Only Weaver has been unequivocally good from that group. Bichette and Williams have begun to turn things around after poor starts. Robert and Polanco have been hurt for almost the entire seasons, which isn’t a huge surprise given their respective injury histories. Peralta has an earned run average pushing 5.00 and a career-low strikeout rate. Semien has had a poor season on both sides of the ball while playing through a hip flexor tear that’ll likely cost him a couple months.
Much of the stated offseason focus was on improving the infield defense. Through the season’s first half, their infield is 25th in Outs Above Average after finishing middle of the pack in 2025. Some of that is due to losing Francisco Lindor to injury, but Semien’s struggles and regression from Brett Baty and Mark Vientos are big factors.
The Mets are clearly trending toward a deadline sale. Peralta seems a near-lock to move. The currently injured Clay Holmes could go given the likelihood that he’ll decline his $12MM player option and become a free agent. There are some solid potential trade chips in the bullpen (e.g. Weaver, Huascar Brazobán, A.J. Minter, Brooks Raley). As discussed on the MLBTR podcast this week, it’s possible they look into some kind of conditional cash considerations to entertain trade scenarios involving Bichette. Cohen strongly downplayed the possibility that either Soto or Lindor would be moved.
Fans are encouraged to listen to the full podcast episode for more from Cohen on his approach to owning the team, the decision to move on from Mendoza, the state of the farm system, and CBA negotiations.
Billy Eppler Steps Down As Mets’ General Manager
6:10PM: Eppler resigned to avoid being a distraction to the club during an ongoing MLB investigation into Eppler and the Mets allegedly making improper use of the injured list, as per a report from the New York Post. (Link to our full post on this story.)
3:23PM: Mets general manager Billy Eppler has resigned from his position, according to a press release from the team. Mets owner Steve Cohen said that Eppler “led this team through a 101-win season and postseason berth last year and he will be missed. We accepted Billy’s resignation today as he decided it is in everyone’s best interest to fully hand over the leadership of Baseball Operations to David Stearns. On behalf of the Mets organization, we wish him all the best.”
Eppler himself issued a comment in the release, saying “I wanted David to have a clean slate and that meant me stepping down. I hope for nothing but the best for the entire Mets organization.”
Given how Stearns’ first few weeks have seen the Mets cut ties with manager Buck Showalter and make some other personnel changes within the front office, it doesn’t seem shocking on paper that Eppler is also on the way out. That said, Eppler had been expected to continue as GM and serve as Stearns’ top lieutenant, making today’s news “a major surprise” in the view of SNY’s Andy Martino. Two full years remained on the original four-year contract Eppler signed with the Mets in November 2021.
The Amazins brought Eppler into the fold with the hopes of stabilizing a front office that had become a revolving door. Sandy Alderson stepped away from the GM position in July 2018 due to a battle with cancer, with John Ricco, J.P. Ricciardi, Omar Minaya handling matters on an interim basis until Brodie Van Wagenen was hired a few months later as the new general manager. Van Wagenen’s tenure lasted for a little more than two years (until Cohen bought the team), and incoming GM Jared Porter lasted only six weeks before being being fired due to reports of a past incident of sexual harassment. Zack Scott then became interim GM but lasted less than a year, as a DWI charge led the Mets to ultimately part ways.
Even with the lockout interrupting much of the 2021-22 offseason, the Mets still spent big both before and after the transactions freeze, with some of Eppler’s biggest strikes happening in the few weeks between his hiring and the early-December shutdown. That winter saw the Mets bring Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar, Mark Canha, and Chris Bassitt into the fold, while also hiring Showalter as the new manager. The result was a 101-61 record, the second-highest win total in the Mets’ franchise history. However, New York still had to settle for a wild card slot after losing the NL East crown to the Braves on a tiebreaker, and the Mets’ playoff run quickly ended with a three-game loss to the Padres in the NL Wild Card Series.
With Cohen sparing no expense on player payroll, Eppler kept the big moves coming last winter, bringing both new faces (Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, and more) to Queens on pricey free agent deals, re-signing Mets staples Edwin Diaz and Brandon Nimmo, and even extending other regulars like Jeff McNeil. The result was an Opening Day payroll of over $330MM — far and away the biggest in baseball history, with a record luxury tax hit to match.
Unfortunately for the Mets and their fans, the large payroll meant an equally large disappointment when the team simply failed to get on track. With injuries playing a factor, New York finished only 75-87, resulting in a midseason pivot that saw Scherzer, Verlander, Canha, Escobar, Tommy Pham, Dominic Leone, and David Robertson all dealt, primarily to add some new young talent to the organization since the Mets ate most of the remaining salary involved in these trades.
“One of the goals here is to expedite the longer-term goal. We’re trying to restock and reload the farm system,” Eppler told reporters at the trade deadline. “You have to go through a little pain to get where we want to go, but I feel like the organization is making strides towards a better future…..Going into 2024 we don’t see ourselves having the same odds that we did in 2022 and 2023, but we will field a competitive team.”
It remains to be seen how the Mets could operate under Stearns, and whether their plan to take some level of a step back next season will impact how they spend, or how they acquire talent. Whatever the outcome, Eppler won’t be part of the plan going forward, so hiring a new general manager as Stearns’ number two will now also be on the Mets’ to-do list.
Only 48 years old, Eppler already has a lengthy resume in baseball. Beginning as a scout in the Rockies organization, he moved on to a decade-long run in the Yankees’ front office that saw Eppler promoted first to scouting director and then to assistant GM under Brian Cashman. The Angels hired Eppler as their general manager heading into the 2016 season, but was fired in September 2020 after the team failed to post a winning record in any of Eppler’s five seasons in charge. He then briefly explored a new career path running WME’s baseball representation division, but was only in that job for a few months before stepping down to take the Mets’ GM job.
Eppler’s seven seasons as a general manager saw his teams deliver a 508-523 record, with only the 2021 Mets finishing above the .500 mark. Despite the lack of results, it is still difficult to truly evaluate Eppler as an executive given the circumstances of both his jobs. Angels owner Arte Moreno is known to carry a heavy influence over his front office’s decisions, and the Halos’ string of losing seasons has continued even after Eppler’s departure. Eppler had more autonomy in New York, though Cohen’s desire to instantly make the Mets into a contender with no regard to payroll created its own set of unique pressures. Eppler also had to combat the perception (and perhaps even the reality) that was something of a placeholder GM, only brought in once the previous choices were fired in quick succession, and with Cohen ultimately always intending to hire Stearns or a bigger-name executive like Theo Epstein or Billy Beane.
While Eppler’s resignation appears to have caught the Mets somewhat off-guard, there may no ulterior motive beyond what Eppler expressed in his own statement. Having the former front office boss still in the organization as the second-in-command is an unusual situation, and it could be that Eppler had a change of heart after his first few weeks working under Stearns. Resigning now gives Eppler a jump on the offseason, perhaps for a fresh start with another club or for a job outside of front office work, given his past association with WME.
Mets Officially Introduce David Stearns As President Of Baseball Operations
The Mets formally announced David Stearns as the club’s new president of baseball operations today, making official the long-speculated upon move weeks after a deal was between the sides was first reported. Club owner Steve Cohen released a statement this morning ahead of Stearns’s introductory press conference this afternoon.
“I’m incredibly excited to welcome David back to Queens,” Cohen said in the statement, “I said numerous times I wanted to find the right person for this position, and I believe David is exactly that – an experienced executive with a wide range of skillsets that will push our baseball operations forward.” Stearns, meanwhile, said in the statement that “there is not an opportunity in baseball more meaningful to me than the chance to help lead this franchise” before recounting his childhood as a Mets fan. Later in the day, the club introduced Stearns in a press conference.
During the presser, Stearns thanked recently-fired manager Buck Showalter for his contributions to the organization and, as relayed by Abbey Mastracco of the New York Daily News, emphasized that he was not able to talk with the former manager before today because he was still under contract with the Brewers. As far as the search for a new manager goes, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com relayed that Stearns plans on casting a wide net and has no one in particular in mind. Stearns’s comments come amid widespread speculation that current Brewers manager Craig Counsell, whose contract in Milwaukee expires after the 2023 campaign, could follow his former boss to New York. Of course, Counsell has made no indication on whether he intends to manage at all in 2024, much less whether he intends on leaving the Brewers.
Perhaps the most significant news to come from Stearns’s introductory presser is that the club’s new executive plans to retain first baseman Pete Alonso headed into next season. Stearns told reporters (including Newsday’s Tim Healey) that he expects Alonso to be the club’s Opening Day first baseman in 2024, with DiComo adding praise for Alonso from Stearns. “Pete is a great player,” Stearns said, “He is also good in the clubhouse, and he is also homegrown. All of that matters.”
The assurance from Stearns that Alonso will be part of the 2024 club is surely a relief to Mets fans, given reporting in recent months that the Mets looked into trades involving Alonso ahead of the trade deadline this year, with the Cubs and Brewers among interested parties. Those reports, combined with comments from recently-traded ace Max Scherzer following the trade deadline indicating a potential step back in 2024, led to plenty of speculation about whether or not the club would deal Alonso this offseason, ahead of the slugger’s final year of club control. Alonso slashed .217/.318/.504 with 46 home runs in 658 trips to the plate this season.
NL East Notes: Phillies, Mets, Braves
The Phillies have already clinched the top NL Wild Card spot with a 89-72 record heading into the final day of the regular season, and have turned their attention to preparing for the club’s playoff run.
Fans in Philadelphia suffered a scare regarding the availability of shortstop Trea Turner yesterday when he exited the second game of yesterday’s doubleheader after being hit in the elbow by a pitch. Fortunately, Turner only suffered a bruise from the incident, as noted by Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. As relayed by Coffey, manager Rob Thomson told reporters yesterday that while Turner is unlikely to play in today’s regular season finale, he’s expected to be ready to go for the start of the Wild Card series on Tuesday. After a rough start to his $300MM contract with the Phillies in the first few months of the season, Turner has caught fire at the plate in recent weeks, slashing .339/.391/.677 over his last 47 games. That hot stretch has raised his overall slash line this season to .266/.320/.459, good for an above-average 108 wRC+.
Meanwhile, as the Phillies look for a platoon partner for outfielder Brandon Marsh headed into the playoffs, The Athletic’s Matt Gelb suggests that the club could turn to 29-year-old rookie Weston Wilson. Wilson has appeared in just five games with the Phillies this year, but has hit well in limited playing time, with two hits (including a home run) and six walks in 12 trips to the plate. Wilson, who slashed .325/.416/.609 in 178 trips to the plate against lefties at the Triple-A level this year, could usurp Cristian Pache as the club’s starter in left field against left-handers thanks to Pache’s brutal .091/.231/.152 slash line in 15 games this September.
More from around the NL East…
- Even after reportedly hiring David Stearns to become the club’s new president of baseball operations this offseason, the Mets are still looking to add to their organizational leadership. According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, owner Steve Cohen figures to “ramp up” efforts to hire a new team president to replace Sandy Alderson, who vacated the position back in February. The search for a new team president began last September, when Alderson announced he would be stepping down. At the time, the club was reportedly focused on candidates who would be focus primarily on the club’s business operations. Given the impending hiring of Stearns to helm the club’s baseball operations, it stands to reason this plan remains in place as the Mets renew their search for a team president.
- The Braves announced this afternoon that they have recalled left-hander Dylan Dodd, who figures to start today’s regular season finale against Washington. The Braves have long since clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs, allowing the club to offer right-hander Bryce Elder some additional rest ahead of the club’s postseason run. Elder, who’s 180 2/3 innings of work between the majors and minors this season represents a career high, was one of the club’s most reliable starters early in the season but has struggled badly in recent weeks with a 5.26 ERA in ten starts since the calendar flipped to August. With Charlie Morton expected to remain on the injured list until the NLCS, Elder is perhaps the club’s most likely option to start Game 3 of the NLDS behind Max Fried and Spencer Strider.
MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: Front Office Changes in Boston and New York, and the New Rays’ Stadium Agreement
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Mark Polishuk of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:
- MLBTR continues Previewing The Free Agent Class (1:30)
- The Mets hire David Stearns and the Red Sox fire Chaim Bloom (5:35)
- The Rays announced a new stadium agreement, which could pave the way for league expansion (14:00)
Plus, we answer your questions, including:
- Why would the Nationals prevent Stephen Strasburg from retiring? (21:25)
- Will the prospect promotion incentives affect the trajectory of Jackson Holliday or Jackson Chourio? (25:40)
- Should the Padres trade Juan Soto or hold for one more year? (29:10)
Check out our past episodes!
- Free Agent Class Preview: Catcher and First Base, Germán Márquez Extension and the Dodgers’ Rotation – listen here
- Waiver Claim Fallout, September Call-Ups and the Biggest Strength of Each Playoff Contender – listen here
- MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: Shohei Ohtani’s Torn UCL, Free Agent Power Rankings and Stephen Strasburg to Retire – listen here
Mets Reach Agreement To Hire David Stearns As President Of Baseball Operations
What’s long seemed like an inevitable pairing has come to fruition, as the Mets have reached an agreement with David Stearns to oversee their baseball operations department, SNY’s Andy Martino reports. Stearns, who was the president of baseball operations with the Brewers before stepping down and taking on an advisory role following the 2022 season, will hold that same president of baseball operations title with his hometown Mets. He’ll officially start in his new role at the end of the regular season. He will be signing a five-year contract, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Martino adds that Billy Eppler will stay on in his general manager position.
Stearns, now 38, has long been speculatively connected to the Mets based on his roots. Born and raised in Manhattan, he worked for the Mets earlier in his career, though his baseball journey would take him to many other places before winding back to New York. After graduating from Harvard, he interned with the Pirates, then worked for the Mets before bouncing to Major League Baseball and then Cleveland.
In November of 2012, he was given the title of assistant general manager of the Astros, working under general manager Jeff Luhnow. That club was deeply committed to a rebuild at the time, as that year was their second of three consecutive 100-loss seasons. They would eventually emerge from that period of futility in 2015 by going 86-76, starting a run of excellence that continues to this day, having made the playoffs in every full season from that year to the present.
But for most of that success, Stearns was in Milwaukee, having been hired away by the Brewers in September of 2015. That club made him general manager and hoped to follow a similar trajectory to the Astros. The Brewers had been hovering around .500 for a few years but dipped to 68-94 the year Stearns came aboard. The next three years saw the win total increase to 73 and then 86 and then 96, as the club won the National League Central in 2018, their first of four consecutive trips to the postseason.
As the Brewers flourished under Stearns, rumors about bringing him back to New York naturally followed. As far back of November of 2020, when the Mets were looking to replace general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, Stearns was connected to the job. But the Brewers had already signed him to an extension and promoted him to president of baseball operations. Standard practice in baseball usually sees teams allow their front office employees to pursue promotions but not lateral moves. Since Stearns already had the top job in Milwaukee, the Brewers denied the Mets the opportunity to speak with him.
As Stearns stayed in Milwaukee, the front office search for the Mets didn’t yield a permanent solution. Jared Porter was hired in December of 2020 but fired just a few weeks later when it was revealed that he harassed a female reporter in 2016. Zack Scott was then named acting general manager but was charged with driving while intoxicated in September of 2021. He would eventually be acquitted of those charges but the club had already moved on and hired Eppler as general manager in November of that year.
The results of late have been mixed, to say the least. Owner Steven Cohen has signed off on unprecedented spending levels, with the club signing many marquee free agents in recent years. That resulted in 101 wins last year, the second-best record in franchise history. But the club was quickly eliminated from the playoffs and didn’t carry their success into 2023. Various injuries, particularly to the starting rotation, quickly pushed the club out of contention and they went into the recent trade deadline as sellers instead of buyers. They are currently 65-78, just half a game ahead of the last place Nationals in the East division.
As the Mets have been going through those highs and lows over the past few years, they would continue to be connected to Stearns in rumors but his position in Milwaukee continued to be an obstacle, with his deal running through the 2023 season. Stearns stepped down as president of baseball operations last October, though he stayed with Milwaukee in an advisory capacity for the final year of his contract. At the time, he said he was “looking forward to taking a deep breath, spending time with my family and exploring some other interests.”
This led to immediate speculation that Stearns was setting the table for a move out of Milwaukee. The Astros parted ways with general manager James Click at the end of last season and owner Jim Crane was reportedly interested in bringing Stearns back to Houston. That job ultimately went to Dana Brown and Stearns stayed in Milwaukee with diminished responsibilities. It was then reported a week ago that Stearns had been reinvigorated by his smaller role and was contractually able to pursue other opportunities after August 1. He had already spoken with the Mets and Astros and now, at long last, he and the Mets are officially reuniting. As mentioned, he’ll take on the president title with Eppler beneath him as the general manager.
The Mets will be hoping that this is the perfect marriage to set off a proper dynasty in Queens. Since taking over the club at the end of 2020, Cohen has cited the Dodgers as a model franchise that he wanted the Mets to emulate. The Dodgers hired Andrew Friedman away from the Rays in October of 2014, allowing him to implement the creative, data-driven and analytical approach he deployed in Tampa but with more resources for signing or retaining star players. That club has continually produced significant players from its own system and indeed spent at the top of the market to great success. They last finished under .500 in 2010 and haven’t missed the playoffs since 2012.
Stearns already has a strong track record from his time in Milwaukee, even without massive financial resources. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, Milwaukee’s payroll was never in the top half of the league during the Stearns tenure, topping out at 17th place in 2019. Their success has been built on homegrown players like Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Devin Williams, as well as trading for players like Christian Yelich, Willy Adames and many more. The Mets, on the other hand, ran up the highest payroll in baseball history this year.
Time will tell what kind of timeline the club has in mind for its next steps. After being traded to the Rangers, Max Scherzer said he was told that the Mets would be taking something of a step back in 2024, focusing a bit more on the future and being a bit less aggressive in pursuit of short-term competitiveness. Eppler and Cohen responded and more or less confirmed that would be the case. Perhaps Stearns will take a year to get to know the club’s inner workings, keeping the moves modest until he gathers the necessary information to guide the club into the future.
The short-term trajectory will be revealed as the summer turns to fall and then to winter. But the long-term goal seems clear, as both Cohen and Eppler have long stressed the importance of building a strong farm system to supplement the club’s financial might. The Mets and their fans will be hoping that the combination of Stearns leading the baseball decisions and Cohen writing the checks will lead to a similar run of success as the Dodgers have enjoyed.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
David Stearns Has Spoken With Mets, Astros About Potential Front Office Positions
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.
Steve Cohen Discusses Mets’ Front Office, Deadline Outlook
Steve Cohen conducted a press conference this afternoon, as promised. The Mets’ owner addressed the struggling franchise, which goes into play tonight carrying a 36-43 record that has them 8 1/2 back of the National League’s final playoff spot.
Cohen predictably expressed frustration with the team’s performance. However, he stressed he had no plans to remove general manager Billy Eppler or skipper Buck Showalter midseason (link via Andy McCullough of the Athletic).
“If you want to attract good people to this organization, the worst thing you can do is be impulsive, and win the headline for the day. You’re not going to attract the best talent. You’re not going to want to work with somebody who has a short fuse,” Cohen told reporters. “I know fans want something to happen. I get it. But sometimes you can’t do it, because you have long-term objectives.”
While there’s no sweeping leadership change in the near future, Cohen hinted at a noteworthy front office move further down the line. He indicated the club planned to hire a president of baseball operations at some point, though he declined to put a timetable on that process. The Mets have been without a team president since Sandy Alderson moved to an advisory capacity last offseason.
Initial expectations were that Alderson’s replacement would be focused on the business side while Eppler retained baseball operations autonomy. Cohen’s comments this afternoon suggest he’s likely to bring in a new baseball operations leader, pushing Eppler into the #2 role in the front office. Andy Martino of SNY writes that the Mets still also intend to hire a business-oriented team president. The president of baseball ops/GM hierarchy is relatively common around the game, though it’s rarer for a club to hire a president to take over the front office while retaining the same GM who previously led baseball operations. Martino suggests Eppler would be involved in the hiring process for the baseball operations president.
“My view is this is a very complex job and there’s a lot to do, and it’s a lot on one person,” Cohen said of the front office structure (relayed by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). “That’s still out there. We’ll see. At some point, we will fill that position.” How that might affect Eppler’s future with the organization is undetermined. No new hire seems imminent, so the second-year GM will continue running the front office for the near future at least.
If that hiring process runs into next offseason, it’s sure to invite plenty of speculation about David Stearns’ future. The Mets reportedly showed interest in Stearns over the 2021-22 offseason prior to hiring Eppler. He was still serving as Brewers’ president of baseball operations at that time, though, and Milwaukee owner Mark Attanasio declined to grant the Mets permission for an interview.
Stearns remained Milwaukee’s front office leader through the end of last season. At that point, he stepped into an advisory role and ceded day-to-day autonomy to GM Matt Arnold. At the time, the 38-year-old spoke of a desire to “to (take) a deep breath, (spend) time with my family and (explore) some other interests” with fewer baseball operations responsibilities. He remains under contract with Milwaukee through the end of the 2023 season, so other teams would have to wait until the upcoming offseason to gauge his interest in new opportunities.
Whether the Manhattan native has any interest in jumping back to the top of a front office isn’t clear. For now, ties between the Mets and Stearns are simply speculative. Abbey Mastracco of the New York Daily News wrote again last week that some within the industry expect the Mets to renew their pursuit of Stearns next winter.
While the front office structure will be a pivotal decision for Cohen in the long term, the more immediate focus is on navigating the trade deadline. With a little over a month before August 1, he declined to commit to the club’s direction. However, Cohen did imply the team would have to cut into their deficit over the next four weeks for the front office to consider short-term help.
“If I’m in this position, I’m not adding,” Cohen said (via McCullough). “I think that would be pretty silly.” He didn’t sound anxious to tear the roster down, either, saying the team “would probably do very little” if they’re out of contention. David Robertson, Tommy Pham and Carlos Carrasco are the club’s notable impending free agents. Max Scherzer, Omar Narváez and Adam Ottavino all have opt-out clauses at year’s end. The team has options on Mark Canha and Brooks Raley, while Pete Alonso is arbitration-eligible for one more season.
Astros Have Not Requested Permission To Interview David Stearns
The Astros remain without a general manager less than a month from the start of Spring Training. Owner Jim Crane dismissed former GM James Click at the start of the offseason once Click declined a one-year extension offer on the heels of a World Series win. That came after months of reported friction between owner and GM, leaving Houston’s front office in a state of uncertainty.
Crane doesn’t appear to be in a rush to tab a new baseball ops leader. Speaking with reporters this evening at the Houston Sports Awards, the owner indicated he’s not feeling pressure to make a move (link via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle). “We’re still searching,” Crane said. “We’re scanning the crowd right now. No, look, we’re still working on it. We’ll take our time and get it right.”
Unsurprisingly, Crane didn’t offer many specifics about the ongoing search. He noted that he’s considering candidates from both within and outside the organization. Perhaps most notably, Crane said he has not reached out to the Brewers about the possibility of interviewing former Milwaukee president of baseball operations David Stearns for a front office position.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported earlier this week that Houston was eyeing Stearns, who’d worked for the Astros before landing the top gig with the Brewers in 2015. Stearns held that post for seven years until resigning at the start of this offseason. General manager Matt Arnold, his longtime top lieutenant, took control of the baseball ops department. Stearns, who is under contract with the Brewers through the end of the 2023 campaign, has remained on hand as an advisor to Arnold and owner Mark Attanasio. For any club to hire or even interview Stearns before the end of the upcoming season, they’d need Attanasio to sign off.
While Crane said he hasn’t contacted the Brewers thus far, he didn’t specify whether he planned to do so at any point in the process. Of course, it’s not clear whether the 37-year-old Stearns would have any interest even if the Astros did reach out. When he announced he was stepping down in October, the Harvard graduate firmly stated he “not going anywhere” other than Milwaukee in the short term and stressed he was embracing an opportunity to spend more time with his family with his lightened workload.
A few people are known to be under consideration for the Houston job. Braves vice president of scouting Dana Brown, former Giants general manager Bobby Evans, Guardians assistant GM James Harris and longtime Astros catcher and former Tigers/Angels skipper Brad Ausmus have all been linked to the search in recent days. A report from USA Today over the weekend pained Brown as the frontrunner, but Rome hears from a source that it’s still too early in the process for any individual to have pulled firmly ahead of the pack.
Brad Ausmus Reportedly Among Astros’ GM Finalists
Earlier today, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that the Astros have at least three finalists for their GM vacancy: Braves vice president of scouting Dana Brown, Guardians assistant GM James Harris and former Giants GM Bobby Evans. That’s not an exhaustive list, however, and Jose de Jesus Ortiz of Our Esquina tweets that former Astros catcher, Tigers/Angels manager and (most recently) A’s bench Brad Ausmus is also among the finalists. Per Ortiz, Brown and Ausmus are the two favorites for the job.
Jumping straight into the GM’s chair would be a first for Ausmus, though it wouldn’t be his first stint in a big league front office. Ausmus was a special assistant in the Padres’ front office shortly after retiring as a player, and he held a similar role with the 2018 Angels under then-general manager Billy Eppler.
Since retiring, however, the bulk of Ausmus’ experience in the game has come in a big league dugout. That includes a four-year stint as the Tigers’ manager from 2014-17 and a 2019 run as the Angels’ skipper. He spent the 2022 campaign as the bench coach under newly hired A’s skipper Mark Kotsay, but Ausmus turned down an offer from the team to return for a second season in that position. Ausmus’ decision to decline that offer came just a week before ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that Ausmus traveled to Houston to meet with former teammate Jeff Bagwell, who’s been a key advisor to owner Jim Crane and has held some sway in the team’s baseball operations decisions.
At the same time, there are renewed connections with now-former Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns, who served as an assistant GM in Houston before being hired as the GM in Milwaukee more than a half decade ago. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes that Crane has maintained some interest in bringing Stearns back to Houston.
As has been the case each time Stearns has been rumored as a potential fit for another front office vacancy — the Mets courted him in two separate offseasons, for instance — there are notable caveats to consider. While Stearns stepped down as president in Milwaukee, he remains under contract with the Brewers through the end of the 2023 season. He’s no longer running baseball operations but remains an advisor to newly minted GM Matt Arnold and owner Mark Attanasio.
Furthermore, Stearns appeared at the Brewers’ press conference to announce the reshuffling of the baseball operations hierarchy and plainly declared that he was “not going anywhere” and planned to remain in Milwaukee. That was several months ago, of course, and Stearns didn’t place a definitive timeline on a return to baseball operations — or even whether he planned to pursue such opportunities at all. However, because he’s under contract, the Brewers would need to grant the Astros permission to interview him, and Milwaukee may even require player compensation if Stearns were to depart prior to the conclusion of his contract.
The Astros have operated without a GM this offseason after parting ways with World Series-winning GM James Click following the season. Click rejected what many viewed as a token one-year extension offer that came on the heels of myriad reports about mounting friction between the GM and Crane.