Matt Arnold elevated to president of baseball operations, David Stearns moves into advisory role

[Eye Black]

I can picture Stearns starting the conversation about stepping down... "Hey Mark, do you like apples?"

[BallFour]

David did some great things, amazing things really especially when you consider the fact the Brewers haven't developed a position player in his 7 years. But that is exactly why I am not devastated, until we get that side of things figured out Brewers fans will continuously be frustrated.

[DR28]

51 minutes ago, SeaBass said:

I very much doubt that. If MA were firing Stearns he'd be gone instead of remaining as an advisor.

I never said he was fired because of it... Realizing Hader trade was a mistake and him wanting to leave anyway is probably why he decided to step down.

[Jopal78]

10 minutes ago, BallFour said:

David did some great things, amazing things really especially when you consider the fact the Brewers haven't developed a position player in his 7 years. But that is exactly why I am not devastated, until we get that side of things figured out Brewers fans will continuously be frustrated.

Don't hold your breath that the next front office group will do better in developing certain types of players. Doug Melvin developed one starting pitcher during his tenure, and I'll credit him for drafting Woodruff, but otherwise it was all hitters on his watch with multiple first round busts on the pitching side: Mark Rogers, Jeffress, Even Frederickson, Eric Arnett, Kyle Heckathorn, Dylan Covey, Taylor Jungmann, Jed Bradley, and Kodi Medeiros.  That's just the way it goes some GMs are luckier than others in developing certain types of players.

However, Arnold may not share, to the same extent as Stearns, the up the middle roster building philosophy and we fans may be in store for a huge roster shakeup. 

 

[SeaBass]

1 minute ago, DR28 said:

I never said he was fired because of it... Realizing Hader trade was a mistake and him wanting to leave anyway is probably why he decided to step down.

Who says the Hader trade was a mistake though? Fans? Hader was pitching awful at the time. No, I don't think anything regarding Hader has anything to do with this move. It's been several years in the making since the first time the Mets asked to interview him and were denied.

[wibadgers23]

I'm not expecting much of a change at all in philosophy.  Coming from the Rays organization, maybe Arnold will be quicker to trade guys like Burnes, Woodruff, etc but who really knows.  This offseason just became a little more interesting.

[Jopal78]

7 minutes ago, SeaBass said:

Who says the Hader trade was a mistake though? Fans? Hader was pitching awful at the time. No, I don't think anything regarding Hader has anything to do with this move. It's been several years in the making since the first time the Mets asked to interview him and were denied.

I don't think the Mets have anything to do with it. Stearns has been in control 8 years and likely has taken this group as far as they're going to go. Given the economics of the game, there is a rebuild of some degree on the horizon in Milwaukee, and I would imagine Stearns feels he has already done all he can for the Brewers. 

Look at Epstein with the Cubs: he built it up and when the rebuild was knocking he felt he had done all he could and rode off into the sunset. Same deal with Stearns, IMO.

[DR28]

5 minutes ago, SeaBass said:

Who says the Hader trade was a mistake though? Fans? Hader was pitching awful at the time. No, I don't think anything regarding Hader has anything to do with this move. It's been several years in the making since the first time the Mets asked to interview him and were denied.

Maybe I read too much into the comments he made about the trade during end of season presser... But he didnt sound too pleased with himself for the move.

[Thurston Fluff]

I wonder is this paves the way for a bit of a roster shakeup. As someone mentioned earlier Arnold is from the Tampa Bay mold and may be more amenable to trading popular players than someone who didn't work under that sort of system. I could understand why Stearns may not have wanted to deal with small market restraints so perhaps it has something to do with why he's walking away when difficult decisions are on the horizon.

[BallFour]

10 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

Don't hold your breath that the next front office group will do better in developing certain types of players. Doug Melvin developed one starting pitcher during his tenure, and I'll credit him for drafting Woodruff, but otherwise it was all hitters on his watch with multiple first round busts on the pitching side: Mark Rogers, Jeffress, Even Frederickson, Eric Arnett, Kyle Heckathorn, Dylan Covey, Taylor Jungmann, Jed Bradley, and Kodi Medeiros.  That's just the way it goes some GMs are luckier than others in developing certain types of players.

However, Arnold may not share, to the same extent as Stearns, the up the middle roster building philosophy and we fans may be in store for a huge roster shakeup. 

 

Yep I am not holding my breath at all trust me. 

[wiguy94]

Stearns said in presser that Mark wanted him to remain POBO next year and this was solely Stearns choice to step down.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

With Arnold stepping into the POBO role, I wonder if they will hire a new GM?

[DR28]

Stearns said he isnt going anywhere... Yea I dont believe that for a minute, as soon as a job is offered to him that he wants, he's gone.

[SeaBass]

10 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

I don't think the Mets have anything to do with it. Stearns has been in control 8 years and likely has taken this group as far as they're going to go. Given the economics of the game, there is a rebuild of some degree on the horizon in Milwaukee, and I would imagine Stearns feels he has already done all he can for the Brewers. 

Look at Epstein with the Cubs: he built it up and when the rebuild was knocking he felt he had done all he could and rode off into the sunset. Same deal with Stearns, IMO.

That could easily be true. I only bring up the Mets because he had been denied to interview with them. I think it's now confirmed that Stearns wants to take control of his career path without someone over him having the power to put limits on that.

Stearns may choose to remain an independent advisor, with the Brewers or other teams, until a job opening he finds attractive opens up. Just because he'll be a "free agent" doesn't mean he'll like what's available at the time.

[SeaBass]

18 minutes ago, DR28 said:

Maybe I read too much into the comments he made about the trade during end of season presser... But he didnt sound too pleased with himself for the move.

Clearly the reactions at the time prompted some type of comment to appease pressure from the outside. I don't recall his exact comments but he admitted he underestimated the reactions to the trade both within the organization and outside of it and he wished he had handled it better. But in the rest of his comments there was nothing there that said to me that he felt the trade was a mistake. Again I'm just going from memory.

[brewers888]

The Brewers had a chance to upgrade and hire Luhnow but went in house which I believe to be a big mistake. Good luck Arnold hopefully you prove me wrong. 

[brewers888]

This is all about Stearns wantin the Mets job since it opened up. The Mets made too many moves that were Stearns type of moves including bringing in guys like Escobar, Curtiss, and Vogelbach. I have suspected for some time that Stearns was in fact advising his good friend Eppler on what to do.

[Jopal78]

1 minute ago, brewers888 said:

This is all about Stearns wantin the Mets job since it opened up. The Mets made too many moves that were Stearns type of moves including bringing in guys like Escobar, Curtiss, and Vogelbach. I have suspected for some time that Stearns was in fact advising his good friend Eppler on what to do.

Ha. Well you did suggest the Brewers hire Luhnow who was suspended from baseball for cheating, so I guess anything goes in your world view. 

[BallFour]

Off topic, why don't the Brewers stream press conferences for their fans?

[Profbratsch]

39 minutes ago, SeaBass said:

Who says the Hader trade was a mistake though? Fans? Hader was pitching awful at the time. No, I don't think anything regarding Hader has anything to do with this move. It's been several years in the making since the first time the Mets asked to interview him and were denied.

The Hader trade was a mistake, but not the way some might think. It was the timing of the trade that was an issue for me. Had they dealt him during the winter meetings last year, his trade value would have been much higher, His performance during the latter part of his season with the Brewers lessened that value!

[SeaBass]

2 minutes ago, brewers888 said:

This is all about Stearns wantin the Mets job since it opened up. The Mets made too many moves that were Stearns type of moves including bringing in guys like Escobar, Curtiss, and Vogelbach. I have suspected for some time that Stearns was in fact advising his good friend Eppler on what to do.

I guess that qualifies as an... unlikely conspiracy theory. I really doubt Stearns had the time or ability to run two franchises at the same time.

[brewers888]

9 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

Ha. Well you did suggest the Brewers hire Luhnow who was suspended from baseball for cheating, so I guess anything goes in your world view. 

I couldn't care less if the Astros were cheating when all they do is win and have continued doing so with the players Luhnow drafted and signed. We should be so lucky to have an executive who is that great at his job.

[brewers888]

The whole Stearns staying on as an advisior is so laughable and just Attanasio forcing the Mets to wait one more season before hiring him. 

[brewers888]

7 minutes ago, SeaBass said:

I guess that qualifies as an... unlikely conspiracy theory. I really doubt Stearns had the time or ability to run two franchises at the same time.

No way he could possibly have been advising Eppler who is supposedly Stearns best friend?

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

2 hours ago, brewers888 said:

The whole Stearns staying on as an advisior is so laughable and just Attanasio forcing the Mets to wait one more season before hiring him. 

Or keep trade compensation leverage in place. 

How is it laughable? He's just supposed to let a front office exec who is under contract just leave to go to a rival for nothing?