Mets make major front-office hire in midst of brutal season

The New York Mets have been one of the most underwhelming and disappointing teams in all of Major League Baseball in 2023, and the changes to the organization are already starting.

According to a report from ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the team is going to be hiring David Stearns to be its new president of baseball operations to attempt to rebuild the roster.

Passan also reports that Billy Eppler will remain with the organization as its general manager, but will be the No. 2 person behind Stearns.

Prior to joining the Mets, Stearns, 38, was the long-time president of the Milwaukee Brewers and helped build multiple National League Central division winners. He stepped down as president following the 2022 season and will officially be hired by the Mets when the regular season ends in October.

The Mets had previously tried to hire Stearns to run their team, but were denied permission to do so by the Brewers. Stearns’ expiring contract, however, allowed him to speak with other teams following this year’s trade deadline.

The Mets jumped at that opportunity. 

This is going to be a fascinating offseason for the Mets because team owner Steve Cohen has already lowered expectations for how aggressive they might be in spending and how expectations might not be as high as they were coming into the 2023 season. The Mets were one of the most active teams in baseball this past winter and saw their payroll balloon to the top of the league. That sent expectations to a sky-high level, with hopes that the Mets could win their first World Series since the 1986 season.

They fell alarmingly short of those expectations, and spent the trade deadline selling off veteran players in an effort to rebuild the farm system. There has been speculation that superstar first baseman Pete Alonso could also be on the trade block this winter as he enters the final year of his contract. 

Stearns has a track record of building strong teams on a small budget, while also drafting and developing extremely well in Milwaukee. All of that will be important for the Mets, but with Cohen’s deep pockets he should also have more money to work with.