It’s a signing that has been presumed and foreshadowed for well over a year now, and it’s finally happening.
Former Milwaukee Brewers President of Baseball Operations David Stearns, who stepped back into an advisory role last year as he rode out his contract, is leaving the organization in favor of the big seat with the New York Mets:
In a lot of ways, the last two years of Steve Cohen’s Mets ownership has simply been about waiting for Stearns to become available. Sandy Alderson hanging on for a bit, Zack Scott as the acting GM, Billy Eppler as the full-time GM. All decision-makers, sure, but all undoubtedly knowing that Cohen wanted Stearns. This was always going to happen eventually.
If Stearns is as good as the Brewers’ architecture would have you believe, the New York Mets are about to become the Los Angeles Dodgers of the East: money out the wazoo AND top baseball leadership to guide long-term processes. I kind of hate it.
The silver lining is that at least Stearns is no longer with the Milwaukee Brewers. It’s not clear how much day-to-day involvement he had over the past year anyway, and Matt Arnold might be a great new top baseball man anyway. But Stearns was pretty clearly a star, so getting him out of Milwaukee in any capacity is probably an OK thing as far as rival NL Central clubs are concerned.
To that end, the next big question: will Stearns try to bring Brewers manager Craig Counsell, a free agent after this season, with him to New York?