HOUSTON — David Stearns, long coveted by the Mets, announced Thursday he was stepping aside as Brewers president of baseball operations.
The catch: Stearns, 37, remains under contract with the Brewers for another year and said he plans to stay in an advisory position with the club. It’s also believed the Mets or any team that wants to hire Stearns would need permission to speak with him from Brewers owner Mark Attanasio.
According to a Mets source, team owner Steve Cohen does not plan to seek that permission and is focused on next year’s roster. Last offseason, Cohen hired Billy Eppler as the team’s general manager. The Mets won 101 games in the regular season before losing the wild-card series to the Padres.
Cohen has previously indicated that hiring a president of baseball operations is a long-term plan that doesn’t necessarily have to be implemented this offseason.
The Astros, for whom he worked before the Brewers hired him, would also be a fit for Stearns, given that team owner Jim Crane hasn’t committed to retaining general manager James Click.
Crane, according to a source, has deep admiration for Stearns. In addition, Stearns’ wife is from Houston.
One line of thought is that if Stearns joins any organization this offseason it will be the Astros because Attanasio may hold resentment over the Mets’ overt efforts to poach Stearns since Cohen bought the team. It’s possible Attanasio could ask for player compensation the Mets would be unwilling to meet.
In each of the last two offseasons, the Mets tried to pursue Stearns to head their front office but were denied permission. Stearns grew up a Mets fan in Manhattan and interned for the club after graduating from Harvard.
Stearns has helped build Brewers teams — on a relatively small budget — that consistently compete for the playoffs. The Brewers missed the postseason this year but qualified the previous four seasons.
“This is not an easy decision for me and something I have been wrestling with for a long time,” Stearns said in a statement. “Mark Attanasio and I have had an open dialogue and we both knew this day could eventually come. It has been a priority for both of us that any transition would take place while the organization is in a healthy position with solid leadership and a talented roster going forward. That is certainly the case today.”
After Cohen bought the Mets in 2020, he attempted to speak with Stearns but was denied permission. Jared Porter was ultimately hired as general manager but lasted only a month in the job before he was fired, after it was uncovered he sent inappropriate pictures and text messages to a female journalist during his time working for the Cubs.
Zack Scott replaced Porter on an interim basis, but he was placed on administrative leave late in the 2021 season following his arrest on DUI charges. Scott was acquitted of the charges but wasn’t retained by the organization. That led to a search last November in which the Mets were denied permission to speak with Stearns and several other potential candidates to lead the front office. Ultimately, Eppler — a former Angels general manager and assistant under Brian Cashman with the Yankees — got the job.
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