There are a few main trees from which teams are constantly looking to pluck executives from. Those trees are the Guardians, the Rays, the Astros, and the Cardinals, or singular identities such as Theo Epstein.
However, some individuals check multiple boxes. David Stearns is one. He was a highly sought-after individual and came from both the Guardians and Astros executive trees, having been part of the then Cleveland Indians’ front office under Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti before being hired by Jeff Luhnow as his assistant general manager with the Astros.
Jeff Luhnow came from the Cardinals executive tree, which is mainly defunct at the moment as there are no other top executives from the Cardinals organization besides the president of baseball operations and general manager.
Stearns’ first move after being hired by the Brewers was to hire an executive away from the Rays to be his top lieutenant, Matt Arnold, now the GM of the Brewers. This is just one example of how David Stearns likes to surround himself with a diverse group of baseball minds all of whom can contribute slightly different, yet complementing perspectives. Now with the Mets, he’s made three major hires in an attempt to retool the front office and achieve the same kind of diversity he had in Milwaukee. Stearns recently brought in Kris Gross, Andy Green, and Eduardo Brizuela, a move that was publicized a couple of weeks ago.
Kris Gross
Kris Gross not only has a ton of experience scouting for one of the better scout-and-develop teams of the last decade, but he also worked with Stearns for nearly four years with the Astros. Gross was one of many top minds brought in by Jeff Luhnow after he was hired as the GM of the Astros over a decade ago. Luhnow hired away many talented baseball personnel from the Cardinals front office and Gross was one of them. Since then, Gross has continued to advance in his career, ultimately becoming the Astros director of amateur scouting.
He continued to run amateur scouting for the Astros across three regimes, working under Luhnow, James Click, and Dana Brown most recently. He remarkably achieved successful amateur drafts throughout all the internal turmoil and upheaval within the Astros’ front office. Yet, when Brown was hired last offseason, Gross’ role within the amateur scouting deportment changed dramatically. With Brown’s scouting background, Gross was no longer the voice of authority over the amateur draft. Adding insult to injury, Brown brought in close ally and longtime scout Russ Bove which further reduced Gross’ influence within the Astros front office.
Hence, the Mets present a perfect opportunity for both the Mets and Gross. Gross gets to work with Tommy Tanous and David Stearns, and will have plenty of authority within the entire Met scouting operation. The Mets obtain yet another sharp scouting mind, one who excels at drawing amateur talent from all over the country.
Andy Green
Andy Green is a very interesting, out-of-the-box choice to run player development. He doesn’t have a lot of front-office experience. While it is unclear a the moment what Green’s title will be, he was hired to be an integral part of player development. We don’t currently know if his title will be VP, Assistant GM, or Director. What Green does bring is plenty of experience in player development. He coached in the minors for several years but also managed and coached the San Diego Padres during their rebuild phase.
This is a classic David Stearns kind of hire and is the kind of hiring Mets fans should get accustomed to from him. As MLB has seen a meteoric rise in managers being hired straight from their front office jobs he, in turn, has hired someone from the dugout into a top-level executive position. Applying the same logic, yet in reverse, if the game has moved to a place in which front office members are directly qualified to manage, managers should in turn be directly qualified to impact and inform the front office. With the idea that as a former coach and player, Green will provide a unique perspective, one that the Mets have lacked in the upper tier of their front office.
Green, who was hired by Kevin Towers, started his coaching career for the D-Backs within the milieu of their minor league affiliates. After Towers was fired and Tony LaRussa was brought in, Green was rewarded for his excellence in coaching, twice winning minor league manager of the year, and was hired to the Major League staff. After only one season, Green became the first of many managers hired by AJ Preller. Green, unfortunately, oversaw four seasons where the Padres retooled their major and minor league rosters, and was unceremoniously let go. He immediately latched on with the Cubs as their bench coach, which too happened to be the dawning of a new era in Chicago following the departures of Theo Epstein, Joe Maddon, and recently David Ross.
Now that he’s been hired by David Stearns, Green has achieved a very rare feat of being hired five times by executives and managers whom he had no previous professional relationship with. This is not only a testament to Green’s intellect and baseball acumen, but also a testament to his character as a person. Maybe the most fascinating tidbit regarding Green’s major league journey is the sheer diversity of by whom he was hired.
Green has been hired by both old-school and new-school mindsets. He was twice hired by classic baseball minds of yesteryear in LaRussa and Towers, while also hired thrice by new-age, analytically savvy, young Ivy League executives. This extraordinary diversity of thought shows how Green is considered an asset no matter who may be running the show. It also bought Green the privilege of familiarizing himself with some of baseball’s greats and let him develop as a branch on the mushrooming Theo Epstein front office tree.
Hoyer, whom he worked for with the Cubs, and Preller, are both well respected around the league, especially in terms of drafting and developing. Their track record of assembling an immense wealth of prospects predates their times as PBOs. Both have led or helped forge tremendous classes of top-flight prospects on multiple occasions, spanning different franchises, over the last decade. Being able to learn from these very different, yet successful minds can only be seen as a feather in Green’s proverbial cap.
Eduardo Brizuela
Eduardo Brizuela, who was hired as VP and Special Assistant to the GM, brings decades’ worth of experience and has an extensive history with Stearns. Brizuela brings strong ties to Venezuelan baseball and has had a myriad of roles over the years with the Brewers. He’s worked as the Brewers VP, director of minor league operations, farm director, and director of Latin American scouting and operations during his tenure in Milwaukee, spanning almost two decades. He is yet another unique voice of reason within the Mets front office and will provide a crucial opinion on all things scouting.
Brizuela predated David Stearns in Milwaukee, yet became a mainstay and a dominant figure during his tenure in Milwaukee. He was eventually elevated to third in command there and will assume a similar role with the Mets. While the Mets have had a robust international scouting department for years now, dating back to the Minaya regime, they never had as big of an impact in Venezuela as they had elsewhere, specifically in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
With these three important hires, Stearns has revamped both the scouting department as well as the player development department and it will now be up to these three individuals to execute Stearns’ long-term vision for this team. They will be entrusted to meticulously hire their own deputies and complete their staffs as a means to infuse the Mets’ organization with new ideas and new perspectives.
A Front Office For The Future
These moves will dramatically impact how the Mets run their organization for the foreseeable future. They will ensure Stearns has a few of his own lieutenants to accompany the bevy of bright minds already in place and will blend savvy minds with Steve Cohen’s money. Guys like Ian Levin, Tommy Tanous, and Ben Zauzmer all run different facets of the Mets’ front-office operations and are very well respected throughout the game. Along with key special assistant Carlos Beltran, the front office is shaping up to be a powerhouse of differing and balancing opinions.
Stearns’ vision of blending the old with the new, analytics with both scouting and developing is what gave credence to these hires. Hiring an expert in amateur scouting, an expert in international scouting, and Green who has substantial on-field experience as both a former player, coach, and manager will provide the franchise with a healthy mix of competing viewpoints. This will aid in the process of making correct decisions about both the present and future of the Mets. Headed up by Stearns, this should ensure the perfect environment for long-term success and a winning culture, as well as shaping the Mets’ future GM search into one of the most sought-after roles in the MLB. Mets fans have waited a long time for stability. David Stearns and his legion of minds will bring it.
