BREAKING: What has been the worst kept secret in all of baseball is now official: former Milwaukee Brewers President of Baseball Operations and general manager David Stearns is being hired by the New York Mets. Stearns is from New York City and grew up as a Mets fan.
Jeff Passan of ESPN broke the news on X (formerly Twitter):
The New York Mets are hiring David Stearns as president of baseball operations, sources familiar with the situation tell ESPN.
A monumental addition to the organization, Stearns, 38, will take over officially once the regular season is over. The new era of the Mets begins soon.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 12, 2023
The Mets went into the 2023 season with a payroll of over $353 million, nearly $80 million more than the second-highest spending team. They are currently 65-78, just a half-game ahead of the Washington Nationals for last place in the National League East.
David Stearns Changed the Direction of the Milwaukee Brewers
David Stearns was hired by the Brewers in 2015 to take over for Doug Melvin as general manager. He started out his tenure with a splash, firing five of the Brewers’ seven coaches, endorsing Craig Counsell as the next manager, and trading away Jonathan Lucroy in the middle of the 2016 season.
At the time, he also hired now Brewers general manager Matt Arnold to assist with his rebuilding of the team.
Under Stearns’ direction, the Brewers made the playoffs in four straight seasons from 2018-2021. They fell a game short of the postseason in 2017 and 2022.
In other words, Stearns helped mastermind the most successful run of Brewers baseball in the franchise’s history. Milwaukee came with a game of the World Series in 2018 where they fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Seven on the NLCS.
Stearns will be remembered for his many trades that noticeably helped improve the team while not parting with high-profile talent. For example, he traded four prospects (highlighted by top prospect Lewis Brinson) to the Miami Marlins for Christian Yelich.
Trades with other teams also netted the Brewers popular players such Josh Hader, Mike Moustakas, and Adrian Houser, and Brett Philips.
In 2023, Stearns stepped down as President of Baseball Operations and took on an advisory role in the Brewers’ front office. Matt Arnold took over as the key decision maker on all transactions.
After the August 1 trade deadline, teams were allowed to negotiate with Stearns even though the final year of his contract with Milwaukee is not yet up. He will finish the season in Milwaukee but, as Passan notes, take over the Mets front office when the regular season ends.
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