David Stearns, familiar Mets front-office target, leaves Brewers' top job

The Mets’ top front-office target in recent years, Manhattan native and former Mets intern David Stearns, left his job as the Brewers’ baseball boss on Thursday.

But that doesn’t mean he will be available to the Mets — yet.

In transitioning from president of baseball operations to an advisory role, Stearns emphasized his continued commitment to the Brewers and owner Mark Attanasio, insisting: “I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to be here in Milwaukee.”

Stearns’ contract runs through 2023. Any team that wants to talk to him about a job still would need Attanasio’s permission to do so. Attanasio declined the Mets’ request each of the previous two offseasons.

Stearns said he and Attanasio discussed what would happen if and when other clubs came calling after he stepped down. He did not say what agreement, if any, they made. Attanasio was “open to and encouraging of” negotiating a contract extension, according to Stearns, but he didn’t want that.

“This is a job that requires complete and total commitment,” Stearns said at a news conference in Milwaukee. “It not only requires total commitment in the present, it requires total commitment in the future. When I began to hesitate about whether I could make that commitment, I knew it was really time to contemplate a change.

“I understand people want to know what comes next. The truth is I don’t know. I’m not going into this with any plan . . . I’m making decision A because I think it’s the right thing to do. I don’t know what [decisions] B and C will be, but I know that decision is the right thing to do for me.”

For the Mets, this reopens a familiar issue: What are they doing long-term with their front office?

They were interested in hiring Stearns (among others) in the fall of 2020, when owner Steve Cohen took over and fired general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, and again in the fall of 2021, when they wanted to hire a president of baseball operations but failed in that search.

Before they landed on Billy Eppler to run their baseball department with a lower title, that of general manager, team president Sandy Alderson said last November that the eventual hire would get “at least a year runway” to prove he deserves the job long-term.

A year later, neither Cohen nor Alderson have commented on that issue since the Mets’ 101-win season flamed out in the first round of the playoffs earlier this month. At the season-wrap news conference, which Cohen and Alderson did not participate in, Eppler said, “I’ve had a number of conversations with Steve and he’s given me that nod to continue to make decisions.”

Afterward, asked via text if the Mets are considering again trying to hire a president of baseball operations, Alderson declined to comment.

Cohen hasn’t said anything publicly since Oct. 5, when he tweeted, “Fans, Are you ready for the playoffs?”

The Mets also are in the process of replacing Alderson as team president, which is not a baseball-specific position. Most major-league hierarchies have a team president in addition to a top baseball executive.

At the latest, Stearns is slated to be available — to the Mets and other teams — as a free agent after the 2023 season.

General manager Matt Arnold, another Mets person of interest in the recent past, has taken over for Stearns as Milwaukee’s baseball leader.

The Brewers hired Stearns away from the Astros — for whom he was an assistant GM and who also might be looking for a new baseball operations leader this offseason — in September 2015. In the seven seasons since, the Brewers made it to the postseason four times, winning one series (when they made it to the NLCS in 2018). They won the NL Central title twice and finished second on three occasions.

This past season, Stearns made the surprise move of trading closer Josh Hader to the Padres, saying he believed it best positioned the Brewers to win in the future, given that they were unlikely to retain Hader when he reaches free agency after the 2023 season. But after the team subsequently spiraled, ultimately missing the playoffs, Stearns said he underestimated the impact trading Hader would have on the clubhouse.

“I know this decision, my decision to step down, comes somewhat as a surprise and provokes some questions,” Stearns said. “This has not been an easy decision for me. This is something that I’ve been wrestling with for some time.

“Over the past few months, our discussions about the transition have come into focus, and my feelings about the timing of the transition became a little bit more concrete. I think Mark [Attanasio] wanted to give me some time into the offseason to ensure that I felt this was the right decision. And it is.”

Five Mets Silver Slugger finalists. Batting champion Jeff McNeil was named a Silver Slugger finalist — twice — on Thursday. He is up for the honor as a second baseman and a utility player. The Mets’ other finalists: first baseman Pete Alonso, shortstop Francisco Lindor, centerfielder Brandon Nimmo and rightfielder Starling Marte.

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.