David Stearns named Milwaukee's new GM

[MNBrew]

I sure like what I'm hearing about him, but I'm also glad the wisdom, savvy, & experience of Melvin will be around to complement what Stearns brings. Hopefully Gord Ash is kept around, too.

[molitor fan]

I see more Andy Pettitte than Braun personally....literally 8 or 9 national writers have chimed in as how this guy is incredibly well-regarded by those in the industry....sounds good to me

[RockCoCougars]

I hate the move. We have a guy who basically is going to learn on the job. Houston is having an OK season, but is that enough for this guy to ride in to this on their coattails? No background whatsoever as a player either.

 

Time will tell, I guess. Hopefully I'm wrong.

[trwi7]

We have a guy who basically is going to learn on the job. Houston is having an OK season, but is that enough for this guy to ride in to this on their coattails? No background whatsoever as a player either.

 

Read up on him. He's been involved in pretty much everything. Contract negotiations, arbitration, scouting, analytics, player development.

 

Why would you want a former player to be a GM? Dave Stewart is a former player and he doesn't look like a good GM at all.

[RockCoCougars]

We have a guy who basically is going to learn on the job. Houston is having an OK season, but is that enough for this guy to ride in to this on their coattails? No background whatsoever as a player either.

 

Read up on him. He's been involved in pretty much everything. Contract negotiations, arbitration, scouting, analytics, player development.

 

Why would you want a former player to be a GM? Dave Stewart is a former player and he doesn't look like a good GM at all.

 

I'm not dead set on having a former player, but it would be nice having someone who paid their dues at some level. I don't think that Harry Dalton played a lick either, and he was a great GM, but he had a tremendous background and track record in player development. Stearns seemed to start out right at the top in 'manager' roles. I just worry that he is not going to have the experience and Rolodex necessary to put together a winning organizational front office. I sure hope that this is not a situation where Attanasio is going to be able to push him around on personnel decisions to the point where he becomes a defecto GM himself. I'm not sure that I like the GM/manager combo we have right now for a rebuilding team, and Attanasio's finger prints are all over it.

[DocLuna7]

We have a guy who basically is going to learn on the job. Houston is having an OK season, but is that enough for this guy to ride in to this on their coattails? No background whatsoever as a player either.

 

Read up on him. He's been involved in pretty much everything. Contract negotiations, arbitration, scouting, analytics, player development.

 

Why would you want a former player to be a GM? Dave Stewart is a former player and he doesn't look like a good GM at all.

 

I'm not dead set on having a former player, but it would be nice having someone who paid their dues at some level. I don't think that Harry Dalton played a lick either, and he was a great GM, but he had a tremendous background and track record in player development. Stearns seemed to start out right at the top in 'manager' roles. I just worry that he is not going to have the experience and Rolodex necessary to put together a winning organizational front office. I sure hope that this is not a situation where Attanasio is going to be able to push him around on personnel decisions to the point where he becomes a defecto GM himself. I'm not sure that I like the GM/manager combo we have right now for a rebuilding team, and Attanasio's finger prints are all over it.

 

I don't agree with all of the points that you raise in your post but I do worry a bit about the larger MA imprint as well. Even if it's true, you should never say publicly that Craig Counsell has to be the manager under a new GM. (Not that I am advocating firing Counsell, just that no one should be publicly hamstrung) Let's hope that Stern is his own man and can make the decisions necessary to move this team forward.

[brewmann04]

It wll be very intresting to see what moves he makes in the front office.

[brewtank34]

Would love to see Montgomery retained.

[splitterpfj]

Time will tell if it's the right hire, but the Brewers did a great job of interviewing the, "right guys" on this. There were several names in the mix who would have made me happy, I have nothing bad to say about their choice.

[dlk9s]

I am a little disturbed that there is now officially a GM in baseball that is younger than me.... lol. Hopefully this works out and he is the smart-agressive type of GM that I think we need.

 

I know, whenever a 30-something gets hired as a head coach or GM, I wonder what I've done with my life.

[NYChez]

Interesting upcoming decisions: whether to try at all to compete in '16 and whether to bring up Arcia in '16. Houston getting very high draft picks for multiple years is paying off. Moves could easily be made for the Brewers to get a second top-5 pick on top of the one resulting from this year. Would Mark A let that happen? Could the owner and GM be at odds on this issue from the start, or has this already been discussed and worked out?

[Point Beer Is Best]

I am a little disturbed that there is now officially a GM in baseball that is younger than me.... lol. Hopefully this works out and he is the smart-agressive type of GM that I think we need.

 

I know, whenever a 30-something gets hired as a head coach or GM, I wonder what I've done with my life.

 

I had the exact same thought cross my mind. Although I also wondered what I had done with my life when Britney Spears broke out in her teens, but in retrospect I think I came out ahead by the time we hit 30.

[Point Beer Is Best]

Interesting upcoming decisions: whether to try at all to compete in '16 and whether to bring up Arcia in '16. Houston getting very high draft picks for multiple years is paying off. Moves could easily be made for the Brewers to get a second top-5 pick on top of the one resulting from this year. Would Mark A let that happen? Could the owner and GM be at odds on this issue from the start, or has this already been discussed and worked out?

 

I would have to assume they are in the same page. That was probably the biggest question they asked the candidates: What is your plan to build the Brewers into a consistent contender?

[Ennder]

Considering I think anyone over 50 is flawed at running a baseball team I have high hopes. The old school is deAd and worthless at this point for the sport.

[Jenkins5]

Love the pick! Like the day after Melvin announced in other forum I posted a long thing on how much I'd love Stearns! Way before I even knew he was a candidate! Someone mentioned Astros are an okay team...have you seen the young talent they have?! The young talent like Hader & Santans they stole in trades, or how they call or trade everyone off & still have a top 10 farm system? Yeah I guess they are okay....

[torts]

Love the pick! Like the day after Melvin announced in other forum I posted a long thing on how much I'd love Stearns! Way before I even knew he was a candidate! Someone mentioned Astros are an okay team...have you seen the young talent they have?! The young talent like Hader & Santans they stole in trades, or how they call or trade everyone off & still have a top 10 farm system? Yeah I guess they are okay....

 

[sarcasm]yeah, but how many world series have they won???[/sarcasm]

[JohnBriggs12]

Considering I think anyone over 50 is flawed at running a baseball team I have high hopes. The old school is deAd and worthless at this point for the sport.

 

Only difference between now and "back in the day" is the teams that lost 90 games back then actually tried to win while now the teams that lose 90 every year are being run by geniuses who are coyly building a dynasty through subjecting their loyal fans with a pathetic product. What happens when every team has such a genius running them and they all do the same thing? Are they all going to be contenders in 4-5 years? No they aren't.

 

That approach works as long as there's other teams following different paths. Once the copycats all are doing the same thing, the old school wisdom will be back in vogue.

 

Trends come and go in the game. Back in the late 90's the Braves were the model franchise. so the Brewers wanted to replicate that by hiring 48 year old Dean Taylor who was supposed to be an integral part of this successful Braves way of doing things. He turned out to be arguably the worst ever GM in Brewer history. Turns out the Braves success had more to do with Hall of Famers Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine heading their rotation for a decade than anything their front office was doing.

 

I'm willing to give this guy a chance, but his age and Harvard education is not a predictor of success nor is the fact that the Astros rebuilt their team by being God-awful for 5 years. It still comes down to money in this game and the haves have it all over the have-nots in the long run.

[CheezWizHed]

Once the copycats all are doing the same thing, the old school wisdom will be back in vogue.

 

No, it will be "retro"!

[EauClaireNWL]

If it's the young up and comer versus the mediocre retread GM, I'll take the new guy almost any day. Houston has done a good job of reloading their team and this guy has been a pretty big part of that in a small market. Obviously it's going to take at least a couple seasons to see what moves this guy makes, but he's going to have some payroll flexibility and a decent draft slot next year to start the rebuild proper.

[torts]

Stearns has been asst GM in Houston for how long?

[Point Beer Is Best]

Any idea if he'll bring the architecture with him that built the "Redbird" and "Launching Pad" analytical databases used by St. Louis & Houston (with enhanced security measures, obviously)?

[CheezWizHed]

There are a couple unemployed IT guys that are available to build it up from hack...er, uh scratch.

[lcbj68c]

Considering I think anyone over 50 is flawed at running a baseball team I have high hopes. The old school is deAd and worthless at this point for the sport.

 

Only difference between now and "back in the day" is the teams that lost 90 games back then actually tried to win while now the teams that lose 90 every year are being run by geniuses who are coyly building a dynasty through subjecting their loyal fans with a pathetic product. What happens when every team has such a genius running them and they all do the same thing? Are they all going to be contenders in 4-5 years? No they aren't.

 

That approach works as long as there's other teams following different paths. Once the copycats all are doing the same thing, the old school wisdom will be back in vogue.

 

Trends come and go in the game. Back in the late 90's the Braves were the model franchise. so the Brewers wanted to replicate that by hiring 48 year old Dean Taylor who was supposed to be an integral part of this successful Braves way of doing things. He turned out to be arguably the worst ever GM in Brewer history. Turns out the Braves success had more to do with Hall of Famers Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine heading their rotation for a decade than anything their front office was doing.

 

I'm willing to give this guy a chance, but his age and Harvard education is not a predictor of success nor is the fact that the Astros rebuilt their team by being God-awful for 5 years. It still comes down to money in this game and the haves have it all over the have-nots in the long run.

 

 

Never a more true word spoken in the past few months. There is going to have to be balance to be successful. Draft well, but hit in free agency. Compete, but don't tank for the sole purpose of a few draft slots. Mix in young stars with a few veterans who can perform. Mark A needs to spend wisely and Mr. Stearns needs to evaluate and choose wisely. Should be a fun time ahead. Hopefully, they don't put on a dreadful .420 product like they have this year and follow the Astros last 5 years.

[Invader3K]

The Brewers are holding a press conference today at 1PM central time to presumably introduce the new GM.

[monty57]

"Analytical thinking," or "Moneyball" isn't about putting a pathetic team on the field and building with high draft picks. It happens that many new GMs have come on board at the point the team needs to be rebuilt (like the Brewers are doing now), so they have used the draft to get talent, but that's probably more coincidence than strategy.

 

Modern analysis in baseball is about finding value. Sell off what everyone is overvaluing and stockpile what is undervalued. Human nature often leads to herd-like thinking, and everyone pushing for what worked yesterday. Value-seekers will try to "feed the beast" by offering up what everyone is scraping for and getting paid well for it.

 

This really emulates the Graham & Dodd methodology of investing (Ben Graham is the guy who taught Warren Buffett). The final printing of his "The Intelligent Investor" was in 1943, so it's really an old school way of thinking, it's just new to the baseball world. Don't worry, just as in the stock market, buying value and sticking to the "boring old plan" will never be something everyone will embrace. Even when it's shown to work, it's too sexy to chase after what's hot.

 

Time will tell, but I like the route Attanasio is attempting. Hopefully he picked a good one, and hopefully Melvin will be around to help him on the "here's how to talk to this GM" stuff, and Stearns will be free to build the team.