Mets fans, an all-new episode is here!
This week, Mike and I are joined by The Athletic’s Will Sammon, who spoke with us about the surprising resignation of general manager Billy Eppler. We discuss all things David Stearns and what makes him so special, what kind of fit Craig Counsell would be as Mets manager, the latest on Pete Alonso negotiations, and much more!
After covering Stearns previously in Milwaukee, Will has a good idea of what made the New York native so successful running the Brewers. So, what’s the secret formula? For Sammon, the pitching labs and talent evaluation are superior, but it’s David’s ability to listen that may be his greatest strength:
“The first thing that comes to mind when I think of David Stearns is a conversation that I had with him a couple of years ago. This was in 2021, and the Brewers were putting the finishing touches on a great season. They had a great pitching staff headed by Corbin Burnes and a tremendous bullpen, and the glue of that was pitching coach Chris Hook, who was with the team before Stearns tenure and not well known at the time, so I always wondered what made Stearns say ‘okay let’s keep this guy’. Really, it came down to a simple answer from him, similar to what he said at his first press conference with the Mets, which was that his first order of business was to listen to people who are still on the staff and to get a feel for the people that are part of the group currently. And that’s what happened with Hooke, no one on the Brewers had a bad thing to say about him, and they urged Stearns to keep Hook around. So, of course, Stearns kept the guy, and he kept advancing in the organization until he became the pitching coach, which is still he is in Milwaukee.”
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