Mets expected to pursue David Stearns again this offseason after Brewers contract is up

PHILADELPHIA — They say where there’s smoke, there’s fire and there appears to be some smoke signals coming from Citi Field.

The Mets appear poised to pursue Milwaukee Brewers advisor David Stearns to fill the vacant president of baseball operations role after his contract is up at the end of the season. At this point, it’s probably the worst-kept secret in baseball. It’s been widely reported that the former architect of the Brewers will be headed back home to New York to lead the baseball operations efforts of his childhood team. Industry sources have told the New York Daily News they believe it will happen.

The 38-year-old Stearns has long been coveted by the Mets and owner Steve Cohen. A Manhattan native with family in the area, Stearns previously worked for the Mets after graduating from Harvard. Cohen has pursued him in the past, but Brewers owner Mark Attanasio has denied the Mets permission to talk to his former head of baseball operations. Like many owners of small market clubs, Attanasio is sensitive to big-market teams poaching talent.

But Stearns stepped down from his role as the club’s president of baseball operations last fall. He moved into an advisory role to fulfill the final year of his five-year contract. He’ll be a free agent this fall. The Mets could make him the highest-paid executive in baseball, with speculation that Cohen will offer him a salary higher than that of Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball ops, Andrew Friedman. With bonuses, Friedman’s five-year, $35 million contract pays him over $7 million per year.

This wouldn’t necessarily change the Mets’ front office structure. General manager Billy Eppler is believed to be friendly with Stearns and has great respect for members of the Milwaukee front office, many of which were hired by Stearns. Rather, it would give the Mets more front-office leadership from someone who is said to be a very process-oriented and data-driven executive. One source praised Stearns’ organizational management abilities.

The Mets are attempting to build a new culture. The team is currently in the third year of Cohen’s ownership and boasts the largest payroll in the league, but is largely underperforming.

Eppler has had to construct a roster using expensive free agents because of a lack of high-end talent in the pipeline, especially on the pitching side. It’s an unsustainable method of building and the Mets are aware of that fact but have little choice if they want to capitalize on what they believe is a window of contention.

While the club has historically done a good job of developing infield and position talent, the pitching side has been lacking since the infamous “Five Aces” rotation. With a desire to develop talent internally in mind, the Mets have been hesitant to trade prospects over the last years. It’s why Eppler brought in Daniel Vogelbach, Darin Ruf, Mychal Givens and Tyler Naquin at the trade deadline last season. Over the winter, the team brought in Eric Jagers to serve as the director of pitching development to help address the deficiencies on the development side.

But changing culture from top-to-bottom can be a years-long process. Money can help and the Mets have plenty of that, but leadership will too. Someone like Stearns will oversee all departments and help implement the kind of processes and plans that will help the team streamline their development. As the leader of a small market club, Stearns has had to rely on development and sources believe he will invest heavily in research and development.

But fans hoping for sweeping changes right away might be disappointed. Stearns is not known to act on impulse. He’s more likely to make thoughtful, calculated decisions. He leans heavily on his small, but trusted group of executives and empowers them to lead and make choices for their own departments as well.

However, like any executive, Stearns has missed on a few of those decisions. The Josh Hader trade that sent a four-time All-Star closer to the San Diego Padres for Taylor Rogers, Dinelson Lamet, Robert Gasser and Esteury Ruiz preceded the Brewers’ collapse last season. The team saw its four-season playoff streak come to an end.

Reliever Trevor Rosenthal never threw a pitch for Milwaukee. The trade for Jonathan Schoop didn’t work out and Khris Davis became an All-Star in Oakland after he was traded. However, Stearns did acquire outfielder Christian Yelich from the Miami Marlins in 2018 and he won an NL MVP Award with the Brewers. Under Stearns' watch, the Brewers drafted right-hander Corbin Burnes, the 2021 NL Cy Young winner.

Last winter, the Houston Astros were hoping to bring in their former assistant general manager. Stearns worked in Houston under former general manager Jeff Luhnow from 2012-2105 and owner Jim Crane was said to be extremely interested in him after he stepped down from his role with Milwaukee. Ultimately, the club hired the Atlanta Braves’ former vice president of scouting, Dana Brown.

The Cohen-era Mets continue to change and evolve and Stearns may be the next step in the club’s evolution. Many in the industry have long wondered what the Stearns can do with a bigger operating budget and they may soon find out.