BEARING DOWN ON STEARNS
Cohen has his eyes on ex-Brewers boss
FORMER Brewers baseball president David Stearns is thought to top Steve Cohen’s wish list to run the Mets’ baseball operation. In fact, he might be the whole list — for now.
“If Stearns wants it, he’ll get it,” one baseball person surmises, repeating the belief of many.
Stearns, a Harvard-educated, analytics-first executive who won pretty consistently in baseball’s smallest market, is from New York City and started as a Mets employee, checks all of Cohen’s likely boxes. Stearns will be a free agent, and Cohen may have competition, perhaps even from the Red Sox.
Stearns still isn’t commenting (he declined comment via text), and Cohen is not allowed to talk to Stearns (or about him) as he remains a Brewers consultant after vacating the top job when he and Brewers owner Mark Attanasio failed to work out an extension.
Cohen, who made clear this week he will hire a president of baseball operations (and won’t elevate GM Billy Eppler), tried for Stearns two years ago. Unlike in the case of many other qualified candidates who declined to interview, Cohen was prevented by Attanasio from speaking to Stearns, as is Attanasio’s right.
One former colleague, who called Stearns “brilliant,” said he expects Stearns will come to Queens. “He’s from New York, he loves the city and understands the people.”
While another former Stearns colleague suggested he’s skeptical New York is the preferred destination due to his seeming disinterest in the spotlight, that person didn’t doubt it could happen. That person said, “I’m sure everyone has a price but I’ve never thought it was the landing place for him.”
The one potential concern is that he took it very hard when he was chastised by ownership following the controversial trade of Josh Hader, according to a few folks. Multiple people used the word “burned out.”
No matter, he’s said to be interested in the next big baseball job, and with his superb credentials and experience seems like the obvious choice here, and possibly the only choice (except in the unlikely event Theo Epstein and Cohen somehow get together). …
Cohen left open the option to sell at the deadline. But one player expected to be off limits is Pete Alonso. “The fan base wouldn’t allow that,” says a rival … Bobby Bonilla receives his $1.19 million deferred payment Saturday on what we now call Bobby Bonilla Day, which means 12 BBDs remain. Deferring part of his pay at 8 percent interest has obviously been a huge boon to Bonilla. Dennis Gilbert, the agent who cut the deferred deal with the Wilpons, recalled, “Bobby was all for it … We talked and he educated himself on it.” It worked nicely for him. “He’s very happy,” Gilbert said of his client, who now lives in (and presumably shows folks) Sarasota, Fla.