David Stearns agrees to become Mets president of baseball operations, reports say

NEW YORK — David Stearns has agreed to become president of baseball operations for the underperforming New York Mets, according to multiple reports.

The 38-year-old will serve under owner Steve Cohen and general manager Billy Eppler, reports said Tuesday. Stearns led the Milwaukee Brewers’ baseball operations department from September 2015 through the 2022 season before resigning and taking an advisory role.

Stearns is a New York native and Harvard graduate who interned with the Mets in 2007. It has long been speculated that he might one day return to Queens.

Milwaukee was one win away from a World Series berth in 2018 and returned to the playoffs in each of the next three seasons. The Brewers won the NL Central titles in 2018 and 2021.

“Baseball has been a huge part of my life, and I anticipate it will continue to be a huge part of it,” Stearns said last October when he resigned as the Brewers’ president of baseball operations. “In what capacity, I think, remains to be seen. I think it can go from being a fan – a really passionate fan – to one day working in a management position again. I’m not really going to close any doors.

Stearns takes over a team that opened the season with a record $355 million payroll and became a huge disappointment. The Mets entered a season-worst 13 games under .500 at 65-78 on Tuesday and were eliminated from the NL East race on September 2. They were 10 games back in the wild-card race with 19 to play and six teams ahead. them for last place.

New York management abandoned the season before the Aug. 1 trade deadline, jettisoning star pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander as well as closer David Robertson, outfielders Mark Canha and Tommy Pham and reliever Dominic Leone.

Stearns interned for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2005 and 2006, worked in the Arizona Fall League in 2007 and spent 2008 to 2011 working for Major League Baseball, including time in the labor relations department . He was Cleveland’s director of baseball operations from December 2011 to November 2012 and Houston’s assistant general manager from 2013 to 2015. He was hired by Milwaukee as general manager in September 2015 and promoted to president of baseball operations in January 2019.

Sandy Alderson served as general manager of the Mets from 2010 to 2018 and resigned after being diagnosed with cancer. He returned as team president in November 2020, when Cohen purchased the Mets from the Wilpon and Katz families. The Mets hired general manager Jared Porter, who was fired in January 2021 after 38 days due to revelations of sexually explicit text messages. Zack Scott, Porter’s replacement as interim general manager, was fired following a drunken driving arrest and after the Mets became the first team to spend up to 103 days at first place, then finishing with a losing record (77-85). Scott was later acquitted.

Alderson hired Eppler in November 2021 without being able to find a president of baseball operations, then resigned near the end of 2022.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb