He went from being a huge fan of the New York Mets to becoming the top manager of the baseball team. It was a dream come true for David Stearns (38), who was appointed as the Mets’ new president of baseball operations.
The Mets officially announced the appointment of President Stearns on the 3rd (Korean time). On this day, a press conference was held at the home stadium, Citi Field. Mets owner Steve Cohen was also present. Owner Cohen said, “We were very patient to find the right person to lead the club. As he and Stearns got to know each other, he found that their ideas coincided. “We get along very well,” he said.
‘ESPN’ said, ‘Decades ago, Stearns used to sneak into Shea Stadium to cheer on the Mets. Now he has the Mets’ entire roster in his hands. Stearns was officially appointed as the first president of baseball operations in Mets history, putting him in charge of the hometown team he supported as a child.
“Thank you for allowing me to enter without a ticket,” said President Stearns. “In the late 1990s, there were ticket buyers and ushers at Shea Stadium who had the same passion for 13-year-olds who wanted to watch baseball. “I watched baseball like that a few times, and most of them were legitimate paying fans,” he said, recalling his memories of cheering for the Mets as a child.
President Stearns, a graduate of the prestigious Harvard University, took his first steps into the baseball world in the summer of 2004, when he was 19 years old, as an intern on the stadium operations team of the High Single-A Brooklyn Cyclones, a Mets affiliate. He started from the bottom, cleaning baseball stadium restrooms. He worked in the Major League Baseball Commissioner’s Office from 2008 to 2011, and in 2012 with the Cleveland Guardians’ baseball operations team. He subsequently served as assistant general manager of the Houston Astros from 2013 to 2015, and was appointed general manager of Milwaukee in September 2015. He became a hot topic at the young age of 30 at the time.
Milwaukee enjoyed its heyday under General Manager Stearns. Although it was difficult to spend a lot of money in the small market, they recruited Christian Yelich through a trade and made him a central hitter, and built a minor league farm into a sustainable strong team with a strong pitching staff, leading them to fall baseball for four consecutive years from 2018 to 2021. A first for the Milwaukee team.
Stearns, who was promoted to president after renewing his contract in January 2019, resigned after being eliminated from fall baseball last year. After stepping down from his position as an advisor to the team, rumors of a move to the Mets continued to emerge. After the Mets failed to form an efficient roster and play fall baseball despite a large investment this year, they eventually hired President Stearns.
The contract period is 5 years. According to the ‘New York Post’, President Stearns finally decided to join team owner Cohen after four meetings and 12 phone calls. With an average annual salary of $10 million including incentives, it is estimated to be the highest salary among major league baseball operators. He received the best treatment in the industry and became the top manager of his hometown team, so it was a dream come true for President Stearns.
“I’m really excited to be here,” Stearns said. This is my home. “I’m happy to be back,” he said. “It’s also meaningful to me that my children can grow up as Mets fans. I am now able to share my experiences with my children안전놀이터. I feel very lucky and privileged to be in this position right now. “I know how amazing it is that something like this happened to me,” he said happily.
He continued, “We need to talk to people at the club to first understand internally what we are good at and what we need to improve. I think the Mets will be able to develop good starting pitchers. But it will be different from the way it was done in Milwaukee. It has to be that way. No two organizations are the same. “We have to create our own blueprint here,” he said, predicting a different way to run the club than in his time in Milwaukee.
The first choice given to President Stearns is director. With coach Buck Showalter resigning, a new coach must be selected first. There are rumors of recruiting manager Craig Counsell, who was with Milwaukee, but President Stearns said, “I don’t have anyone in mind.” It is also open to novice directors. We will cast the net wide. “We will have a real process,” he said. Regarding the future of first baseman Pete Alonso, a ‘prospective free agent’ who has been rumored to be traded, he said, “I expect that he will be our first baseman in the opening game next year. He responded that he would not be traded, saying, “He is a great player in the clubhouse as well.