3 NY Mets moves we’d like to see if David Stearns comes from the Brewers next year

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Since stepping down as President of Baseball Operations from the Milwaukee Brewers, David Stearns has been highly connected to the New York Mets. A Mets fan since childhood, Stearns is a valued MLB executive who would be free to sign with any team as soon as this season ends.

Rumors of a union between Stearns and the Queen's team have been increasing as the season has progressed due to the team's inability to live up to expectations on the pitch. Assuming Steve Cohen manages to lure David Stearns over to the Mets as President of Baseball Operations, there are a few key moves we would like to see getting done.

The Buck Showalter decision and whether a familiar Stearns face could take over as Mets manager

On a nearly identical roster to last year, except for their starting rotation, one would expect the Mets to play similar baseball in 2022. Yet the team has been vastly disappointing with underperformances, mental errors, and poor in-game decisions.

Buck Showalter did an excellent job in 2022 with a team that had struggled with leadership and clubhouse discipline. However, this year, his level of experience and technicality in the game has been put to the test, and he has failed to pass the exam.

Mostly the decision-makers in the area of baseball operations demand full control over the decisions, including the choice of who will command the team on the field of play. In this sense, Craig Counsell, current manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, would be a free agent after the end of this season, implying that Stearns would be inclined to have his favorite manager command the Mets.

It would be a shame to lose Showalter after his tenure with the team in 2022, but to have a figure like Counsell on the team would be an absolute achievement. The already experienced young manager has nine years of experience with the Brewers, achieving a positive record in six of those campaigns, qualifying in four consecutive seasons (2018-2021) to the playoffs for the first time in team history.

Craig Counsell on the Mets would be a smart move and would provide a manager with enough playoff experience and baseball analytics to propel this team to a new level. Surely this would be the first decision Stearns would take and would be praised by everyone inside and outside the organization.

Ripple effects on the Mets coaching staff starting with these two positions

Regardless of whether Buck Showalter would remain the Mets' manager or Craig Counsell could take over with David Stearns' presence on the team, there are two coaches whose days should be numbered with the organization.

Jeremy Hefner and Jeremy Barnes should not continue as pitching and hitting coaches on the Mets team. Within the directions they have given players both coaches failed wildly this season.

Barnes turned an offense that was in the top five of most relevant offensive statistics in 2022, turned any positive gains into a wrong-approach offense at the plate that has been underperforming the most games this season. Hefner for his part, after being a coach recognized for his work, has failed to direct a rotation with the potential to be the best in baseball headed by two future halls of fame.

Many fans would love to see Carlos Beltran as the team's future hitting coach, and it is certainly something that should be considered. Likewise, the pitching coach position should look toward a new direction. Chris Hook, the current pitching coach of the Milwaukee Brewers, is a candidate to occupy a position on the coaching staff with Counsell again for his excellent work with the Brewers' rotation.

A new approach in the direction of the Mets toward more player development

The combination of Steve Cohen and David Stearns may become the MLB thing starting next season. Cohen has been emphatic about how he intends to retain as much talent as possible with the approach of developing it and making the team sustainable, and this is precisely one of Stearns' best skills.

From his arrival as GM to the Milwaukee Brewers at the tender age of 30, Stearns recited the mantra that would guide the organization moving forward: "to acquire, develop and retain the best young talent in baseball." It is evident how this system made the Brewers one of the most sustainable and successful organizations in baseball in recent years.

The Mets organization has been quite good at drafting talent but has had trouble retaining or developing this talent. Yet Stearns, who worked with Houston Astros GM Jeff Luhnow as his assistant, has an enormously powerful resume that relies on talent identification and development.

The free agency model adopted by the Mets has not been successful this season, and Billy Eppler has been unable to acquire good players via trade. Stearns would focus on a more sustainable system in the team where he would enhance the talent that he can contribute to MLB and change those that would not be as relevant, you only have to look at the Christian Yelich trade to get an idea of the genius of this MLB executive.

With David Stearns making the relevant decisions regarding the directions the team should take regarding baseball operations, the team could develop more sustainably and competitively in the future. Sometimes off-the-field decisions and strategies have a bigger impact on organizations than simply signing a top market player or doing a blockbuster trade.

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