Maybe it was that Steve Cohen saw his younger self in David Stearns.
The Long Island native who used to sit in the Shea Stadium bleachers hired a Manhattan native who used to sneak into Shea Stadium without tickets on Monday, marking the most significant hire of his nearly-three-year tenure as the owner of the club. The Mets never had a president of baseball operations until David Stearns was officially hired Monday, and though Cohen always knew he wanted one, it seemed that Stearns was the only one he had ever truly wanted.
“I came into baseball three years ago and through conversations, there were probably four or five executives of David’s ilk that people talked about,” Cohen said Monday at Citi Field. “But just because they’re names doesn’t mean they’re available, which meant I was going to stay patient. I was going to wait and make sure that we got the right person as the head of baseball ops.
“That’s what I did.”
Stearns came to the Mets from the Milwaukee Brewers and before that, the Houston Astros. He’s been an assistant general manager, a general manager and a president of baseball operations. Under him, the Brewers reached the playoffs a franchise-best four consecutive years, advancing to Game 7 of the NLCS in 2019.
Before all of that, he was an intern for the Mets. It’s a full-circle moment and a proud one as he gets to introduce his kids to the roller-coaster ride that is Mets fandom. But after two years of rumors connecting Stearns to the Mets, this hire seemed like less of a pursuit and more of a foregone conclusion.
Cohen asked for permission to speak with Stearns as far back as 2021 but Brewers owner Mark Attanasio denied it. Now that he finally has his man, the hedge fund billionaire offered little in the way of specifics when it came to why, exactly, he kept trying, other than the fact that nearly everyone he talked to had good things to say about the 38-year-old wunderkind.
“The people who worked under David loved working for him, so he really was able to establish follower-ship wherever he was,” Cohen said. “People describe him as incredibly smart, thoughtful, open to new ideas and inclusive. It sort of aligns with my thinking about what I like and how I like to run an organization. So it seemed like a pretty good fit.”
Cohen heard nothing but “universal” praise for Stearns. There was someone who approached him at an MLB dinner and told Cohen that he had to hire him.
Stearns began talking to Cohen in August when his contract allowed him to do so. He stepped down from the same role with Milwaukee last fall and finished the last year of his contract in an advisory role. There were other teams that he talked to but he declined to say how far along any discussions went. A source previously told the Daily News that he was never in serious discussions for the PBO job in Houston because Cohen made it tough for them to compete with the salary.
Stearns also didn’t go into many details when it came to Cohen’s pursuit of him. The two began a dialogue in August. At some point, Cohen hosted Stearns and his wife, Whitney, for a dinner in an undisclosed location. Whether it was the food or the philosophy, we’ll never know, but Stearns and Cohen seemed to bond over their shared desire for a World Series championship and their desire to be close to family.
“It became clear that this could be a really, a really good fit because I think Steve and I do share a vision for what the Mets can and should be,” Stearns said. “And I think Steve also understands — and [Cohen’s wife] Alex understands — how important my family is to me and that this, for me, is a family endeavor.”
Cohen looked at a well-liked executive who turned a small-budget team into a perennial winner and decided that he wanted to see what that candidate could do with the biggest budget in baseball. Maybe there is more to it. Maybe the dinner was just that delicious and the artwork in the Cohen home was that stunning.
Whatever the specifics may be, it’s clear that the two share a bond that stems from their early fandom of the team they now run.
“I think you’ll find out I think we are aligned philosophically,” Stearns said. “I think we are both very motivated — both due to our backgrounds and our present positions — to help this organization win and be what we think it can be for our fanbase.”
