Laura Albanese: Mets executive David Stearns' faint fingerprints are all over the Brewers
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns speaks to reporters during his end-of-season news conference on Sep. 28, 2026, at Citi Field. Credit: Jeff Bachner
When the Brewers take the field against the Rays in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday evening, they will have done so with one of the lower payrolls in baseball.
This isn’t new information, though it certainly is delightful for those who wished for the downfall of the Dodgers’ dynasty.
Meanwhile, the Brewers’ former architect, David Stearns, will be watching (or not watching) from afar after ushering the Mets to their first last-place finish since 2003. He did so despite all of the resources in the world — a $346,736,805 payroll that beat out the Dodgers for the highest in baseball this year, according to Spotrac.
Let’s do the math on that: The Brewers, whose payroll stands at a hair over $146 million, won 103 regular-season games and seven more in the playoffs, making their cost per win around $1.3 million. The Mets spent about $4.7 million for each of their 74 victories.
It’s enough to drive a Mets fan mad, and rightfully so. In his three-year tenure, Stearns has done very little to garner any good will. But for the bravely optimistic, the Brewers’ success does at least perhaps provide a blueprint forward — particularly considering that owner Steve Cohen already has said he intends to let his embattled president of baseball operations continue to execute his vision in the coming years.
Though Stearns left the Brewers in 2023 and hadn’t served as general manager since 2022, it’s entirely likely that they wouldn’t be where they are right now without his influence.
Stearns is directly responsible for hiring current general manager Matt Arnold, the savant who created a team that routinely outstripped preseason projections. He no doubt had some part in appointing Pat Murphy as bench coach in 2016, and though Murphy ascended to the helm only after the 2023 season, he’s likely to three-peat as National League Manager of the Year.
Of the 26 men on the National League Championship Series roster that swept the Dodgers, Stearns was either GM or served in an advisory role when 10 of them were acquired (it’s actually 11 if you count David Hamilton, whom the Brewers drafted, traded to the Red Sox in 2021 and reacquired in February).
Here are a few of the names: Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio, likely Cy Young Award winner Jacob Misiorowski and postseason darlings Aaron Ashby and Robert Gasser.
Two themes emerge: 1. Stearns was adept at identifying leadership potential and 2. He has a knack for pinpointing young talent that could conceivably contribute at the MLB level.
Here’s where I say that it’s more than fine to be more than skeptical: What plays in Milwaukee doesn’t necessarily play in New York, and Stearns has had to learn that lesson the hard way. And though he certainly had a hand in, say, signing Chourio as an international free agent and drafting Brice Turang, he didn’t do it in a vacuum. He was surrounded by plenty of very smart people who did not follow him east.
There are some signs of potential, though. Say what you will about Carlos Mendoza, but he had a steady hand and it’s hard to blame the 2026 disaster on him, especially considering the new coaching staff and the slew of early-season injuries. Though it’s early, his successor, Andy Green, managed the improbable. He took a sinking season and made something of it; young talent emerged and the clubhouse seemed to finally find a sliver of identity.
This offseason, Stearns also brought in former Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey to his front office, and while there’s no telling how that’s going to go, it is at least a glancing attempt to add more voices to the room.
He’s had major whiffs: Luis Robert Jr., Jorge Polanco and Freddy Peralta were nothing short of disasters (although Peralta rebounded to become a key member of the Rays’ rotation). Acquiring Marcus Semien appears ill-advised and Devin Williams struggled in his first season. He underestimated how long it would take Bo Bichette to acclimate and failed to properly protect against injury and lack of rotational depth.
His one real strength: how aggressive he’s been in promoting young talent. Let’s be clear — most of the Mets’ successful young players actually were drafted by predecessor Billy Eppler (with the very notable exception of Carson Benge, who is a legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate). But Stearns and the group supporting him have been at the forefront of the development and promotion of Nolan McLean, A.J. Ewing and Zac Thornton.
And sure, that must feel like cold comfort right now. For all of his success in Milwaukee, Stearns never did see the whole thing through. They’ve never won a World Series and this is their first appearance since 1982.
But for now, Stearns is here to stay, and Cohen believes his plan will come to fruition. They were hoping to see it happen in Flushing this year, but in these coming weeks, they’ll have to settle for watching it on their TV screens.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
