Mets' David Stearns started small in Milwaukee, but is now reaching his full potential
Mets president of baseball operation David Stearns speaks to the media before a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field on Sept. 20. Credit: Jim McIsaac
MILWAUKEE — With the Brewers on the brink of elimination Wednesday afternoon, the two architects of the franchise’s resurgence chatted behind the batting cage.
But one of them was wearing a Mets quarter-zip now, and standing beside his new boss, Steve Cohen.
David Stearns, the Manhattanite who grew up a Mets fan, would tell you this Wild Card Series is a homecoming of sorts for Flushing’s first-ever president of baseball operations (a title Cohen created for his arrival last October). But we see it more as a revenge tour, as Stearns was pretty much held captive in Milwaukee after he stepped down from running the Brewers into an advisory role, with owner Mark Attanasio blocking him from Cohen’s early recruitment efforts.
Attanasio was certainly entitled to keep Stearns through the length of his contract, even though he already had turned over the front-office keys to his protege Matt Arnold. But it didn’t feel like just business — more like gamesmanship, as Attanasio’s small-market Brewers didn’t want to do the new hedge-fund titan on the block any favors with his recently purchased mega-market Mets.
Consider this Wild Card Series, in Attanasio’s retractable-dome backyard, Exhibit A. As Stearns’ former employer, Attanasio is wise enough to know that this day was inevitable once his baseball-ops whiz kid got scooped up by another team. Stearns had engineered the greatest run in Brewers’ history during his tenure, with a franchise-record four straight playoff appearances and the team’s 481 wins over those six seasons were second only to the Dodgers and Braves in the NL. So Attanasio no doubt was hoping it wouldn’t be quite this quick — or with the Mets.
Back around Memorial Day, when the Mets were 11 games under .500, the scenario seemed as far-fetched as ice fishing on Lake Michigan in June. And with his Brewers ultimately running way with the division, Attanasio had to be satisfied Stearns would be off the radar for a bit. But Stearns proceeded to revive the Mets well ahead of schedule, rewarding Cohen’s faith and annoying Attanasio.
So on the eve of Game 1, when the NL Central champ Brewers still felt like the favorites in this best-of-three series, I asked Attanasio if he expected to see Stearns again so soon in October. Deep down, given his familiarity with Stearns, the Brewers owner had to fear there was a percentage chance.
“Look, we know how formidable and how smart he is, so probably would have not preferred to face him,” Attanasio said. “That said, I’m really proud that David was able to turn the Mets around in one season. And if you look at how he did it, he sort of did it the same way he did things here with a lot of small moves . . . but in the aggregative made a real difference.”
Attanasio’s right, of course. Stearns thrived in the margins during his rookie year, elevating players like impact journeyman Jose Iglesias, giving Mark Vientos his first big break, importing the former Brewers spark plug Tyrone Taylor, assembling a rotation from scratch and rebuilding the bullpen on the fly to help get the Mets to October.
“These guys have turned it on and haven’t really looked back,” Stearns said after the clincher in Atlanta. “We’re now going on four months as one of the better teams in baseball. We’ve earned the right to have this.”
Stearns has Cohen’s limitless financial resources at his disposal now — the Mets’ $340 million payroll still leads the majors, with a large chunk of dead money. But it’s the Harvard grad’s baseball IQ that makes him twice as valuable to an owner like Attanasio, who invested $119 million on these Brewers and annually plans to be a bottom-third spender, requiring maximum efficiency for every dollar.
No matter how cordial MLB owners may be to each other personally, there’s always been resentment between the super-rich clubs and the less rich ones. Cohen and Attanasio play for different teams in that respect, so it’s not surprising that Stearns became a trophy exec they wound up wrestling over, and his Mets debut proves why.
“Extraordinary job,” Cohen said. “Never quit improving this team. Found any way good to make this team better. And when you think about the roster at the beginning of the season versus where we are now — totally different roster. That just shows the tenaciousness to keep going and figure it out.”
The Mets’ playoff roster has only two relievers from the Opening Day version that faced the Brewers: closer Edwin Diaz and Adam Ottavino. At third base, Vientos replaced prospect flameout Brett Baty, Iglesias wound up taking over second from the injured Jeff McNeil and J.D. Martinez (a $12M luxury) bounced DJ Stewart.
Another brilliant move by Stearns: hiring Carlos Mendoza, and you could make a case that he deserves Manager of the Year honors over the Brewers’ Pat Murphy, who was Arnold’s first hire for that position. Regardless of how chummy Stearns may be with some of his former Milwaukee colleagues — everyone seemed friendly enough talking on the field before Game 2 — someone isn’t surviving this Wild Card Series. Stearns has put the Mets in a great spot to be that team.
“He’s a competitor, and we’ve seen it,” Mendoza said. “This goes back to the first day I got the job. Our standards, the way we’re going to do business, who we are. We’ve done a lot of that.”
Stearns sharpened much of those skills in Milwaukee. And now was using them to stick an October fork in the Brewers.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
