David Stearns named Milwaukee's new GM

[DocLuna7]

Does anyone know if the press conference at 1 is going to be televised on FSN? Would like to check that out.

[3and2Fastball]

Must say, I'm pretty thrilled. As others have mentioned "time will tell", but this sure feels like a step in the right direction.

[WV Brew]

JS Online is having video of the news conference live. Check the front page for the link.

[DocLuna7]

JS Online is having video of the news conference live. Check the front page for the link.

 

Perfect, thanks.

[trwi7]

Another link

 

http://m.brewers.mlb.com/mil/video/v493508183/brewers-press-conference

[JohnBriggs12]

"Analytical thinking" or "Moneyball" isn't about putting a pathetic team on the field and building with high draft picks"

 

No, but people are crediting Stearns with finding some of the talent in the Astros organization and this was a team that lost a whopping 324 games in a 3 year period from 2011 to 2013. Granted the losing had started even before they unloaded Pence in his prime for a bunch of prospects but that's hard to do even if you're trying and resulted in them being at the top of the draft where it doesn't take special powers to find talent. Asking fans to endure that kind of futility is brutal especially elderly fans who are "season to season" and amongst the most loyal in the sport of baseball. I'm hoping that's not in young Mr. Stearns plans but something tells me he couldn't care less about an 80 year old grandmother who tunes in Brewer broadcasts religiously to help pass the time. Just sayin.

[jodo23]

I, for one, am going to miss Melvin's "and that." Here's to hoping Mr. Stearns has a similar endearing vocal tic. Something other than "um" or "ah".

[Invader3K]

"Analytical thinking" or "Moneyball" isn't about putting a pathetic team on the field and building with high draft picks"

 

No, but people are crediting Stearns with finding some of the talent in the Astros organization and this was a team that lost a whopping 324 games in a 3 year period from 2011 to 2013. Granted the losing had started even before they unloaded Pence in his prime for a bunch of prospects but that's hard to do even if you're trying and resulted in them being at the top of the draft where it doesn't take special powers to find talent. Asking fans to endure that kind of futility is brutal especially elderly fans who are "season to season" and amongst the most loyal in the sport of baseball. I'm hoping that's not in young Mr. Stearns plans but something tells me he couldn't care less about an 80 year old grandmother who tunes in Brewer broadcasts religiously to help pass the time. Just sayin.

 

The Astros, and also the Cubs, had extremely long rebuild processes that were arguably not the norm. I don't think most people are suggesting the Brewers need to spend 4-5 years rebuilding. We already have some good young pieces in place.

[Invader3K]

Attanasio says they had a total of 44 (!) candidates that they examined and looked at. Certainly seems like they did their due diligence.

[reillymcshane]

"Analytical thinking" or "Moneyball" isn't about putting a pathetic team on the field and building with high draft picks"

 

No, but people are crediting Stearns with finding some of the talent in the Astros organization and this was a team that lost a whopping 324 games in a 3 year period from 2011 to 2013. Granted the losing had started even before they unloaded Pence in his prime for a bunch of prospects but that's hard to do even if you're trying and resulted in them being at the top of the draft where it doesn't take special powers to find talent. Asking fans to endure that kind of futility is brutal especially elderly fans who are "season to season" and amongst the most loyal in the sport of baseball. I'm hoping that's not in young Mr. Stearns plans but something tells me he couldn't care less about an 80 year old grandmother who tunes in Brewer broadcasts religiously to help pass the time. Just sayin.

Every rebuild is different. Houston's rebuild was drastic due to many factors, including a lack of minor league talent and a lack of major league talent (all at the time they started losing). I don't think many people think Milwaukee is in that drastic of a boat at this time. No one is saying we need top 5 picks for the next three or four years in order to contend. It's about getting talent. The draft is essential - but it's not the only way. The team has some good young players, and needs to assess the existing assets and see how they can align to making the team a winner. If that's 2017, great. If it's 2018, that's fine. If it means a step back in 2016 (say trading a guy like Lucroy) so we can take two steps forward in 2017, that's okay.

[trwi7]

I, for one, am going to miss Melvin's "and that." Here's to hoping Mr. Stearns has a similar endearing vocal tic. Something other than "um" or "ah".

 

You don't like the uhh or umm every fifth word?

 

I'm guessing that's probably just nervousness.

[trwi7]

"We want the best scouting information. We want the best player development department. That's what the best teams in baseball are doing, the ones that compete consistently year in and year out and that's our goal."

[reillymcshane]

Stearn is saying all the right things - draft well, acquire good talent, keep up a steady stream of major league talent, can't build a team through free agency, employ best practices throughout the org, etc., etc.

 

For obvious reasons, he's not going into specifics to much.

[monty57]

"We want the best scouting information. We want the best player development department. That's what the best teams in baseball are doing, the ones that compete consistently year in and year out and that's our goal."

 

That's probably the most undervalued (and important) commodity in all of baseball. Whatever mix of "scout vs SABR" you're using, if your plan is to find undervalued players, you'd better have good people and systems in place for assigning value.

 

I am still awed by the fact that teams spend hundreds of millions on players, and even managers, but they pay a relative pittance to the guys who are charged with valuing the players and putting a winning team together. A player can help or hurt a team for a short period, while a GM (and his staff) can build a build a dynasty or destroy a franchise.

[jodo23]

Counsell was similarly nervous in his first press conference. I'm willing to bet Stearns will be an extremely comfortable speaker once he comes back down from Cloud 9. Good for him, I wish him the best!

 

You don't like the uhh or umm every fifth word?

 

I'm guessing that's probably just nervousness.

[3and2Fastball]

I was struck throughout the press conference with how completely unfocused Mark A came across and how much in contrast Stearns appeared focused, polished and alert.

[splitterpfj]

"We want the best scouting information. We want the best player development department. That's what the best teams in baseball are doing, the ones that compete consistently year in and year out and that's our goal."

 

This is exactly right.

 

This next year will be a great time for Brewers fans to pay more attention to the draft process. It's something to look forward to, for one thing, and it also shows how woefully inexact the whole thing remains.

 

The best guy doesn't always go first, the obvious guy doesn't always pan out, "Who's that?", sometimes makes it to the big leagues. This is all about scouting - for the draft, for international players, and for players you may trade for, the best information wins.

 

Pay for the best information - put the right people in the field, tell them what you want from them, and use it.

 

Two great examples from the Green Bay Packers' past:

 

The scouts said, "Take Joe Montana", and they were going to, but they needed a noseguard, so they talked themselves out of what their people had told them, and they took Charlie Johnson, from Maryland. Remember him? Oh, I'm sure you do.

 

The scouts said, "Take Ronnie Lott", and they were going to, but they needed a quarterback, so they took Rich Campbell, from Cal. The man simply could not throw the ball at an NFL level.

 

You're welcome, 49ers ... twice.

 

Pay the right people to bring the right information ... and when they do ... use it.

[patrickgpe]

the one thing that was obvious is that this is no longer your dad's milwaukee brewers. Its going to be a completely different organization, which is a good thing

[danzig6767]

Impossible to know right now if Stearns will make enough smart decisions to make the Brewers good, but for now at least, i just hope Attanasio lets his new GM set the direction for the team over the next few years and that includes letting Stearns trade pretty much any player he wants, even if Attanasio is against a move personally and Attanasio no longer playing a big role in free agent signings.

 

I get Attanasio owns the team and a lot of these wealthy guys who buy pro sports teams are just going to to be involved in things because that's part of the fun of owning a professional sports team, but they hire a GM for a reason, because that guy should know way more about the sport than the owner does.

[MNBrew]

"We want the best scouting information. We want the best player development department. That's what the best teams in baseball are doing, the ones that compete consistently year in and year out and that's our goal."

 

This is exactly right.

 

This next year will be a great time for Brewers fans to pay more attention to the draft process. It's something to look forward to, for one thing, and it also shows how woefully inexact the whole thing remains.

 

The best guy doesn't always go first, the obvious guy doesn't always pan out, "Who's that?", sometimes makes it to the big leagues. This is all about scouting - for the draft, for international players, and for players you may trade for, the best information wins.

 

Pay for the best information - put the right people in the field, tell them what you want from them, and use it.

 

Two great examples from the Green Bay Packers' past:

 

The scouts said, "Take Joe Montana", and they were going to, but they needed a noseguard, so they talked themselves out of what their people had told them, and they took Charlie Johnson, from Maryland. Remember him? Oh, I'm sure you do.

 

The scouts said, "Take Ronnie Lott", and they were going to, but they needed a quarterback, so they took Rich Campbell, from Cal. The man simply could not throw the ball at an NFL level.

 

You're welcome, 49ers ... twice.

 

Pay the right people to bring the right information ... and when they do ... use it.

Thank goodness for an indirect yet real payback with a happy ending:

 

The 49ers needed a franchise QB and took Alex Smith right away . . . and Aaron Rodgers fell all the way to the Packers, where he learned the NFL game as Favre's understudy and has acquitted himself quite well ever since!

[bjkrautk]

"We want the best scouting information. We want the best player development department. That's what the best teams in baseball are doing, the ones that compete consistently year in and year out and that's our goal."

 

Is there any GM who would say "We want a mediocre player development system"? The questions are whether he knows what is required to build those systems here in Milwaukee, and sustain them with a level of resources which will not have the same resources available as would be found in cities like New York, Boston, or Los Angeles (or even Chicago).

 

I'll admit it bothers me to see the Brewers hiring a GM from a "new school" team which has gone into a Brewers 2014-like nosedive (5 games under .500 since the trade deadline, no longer in first place in the division), including getting fleeced by an "old school" GM.

 

2015 is the Astros first winning season since 2008. Stearns has only been in Houston for 3 years; looking at their roster, the core of the current Astros team was drafted by the club well before that.

 

This hiring has the outward-facing appearance of being a "me too" move, but I hope he can prove me wrong.

[Pugger]

Indeed, he does look like Braun.

 

I like the move. We'll see how magnetic he is, bringing in past colleagues, and how he is at judging the Brewers scouting and leadership talent.

 

And we'll see how he is at working with Attanasio.

 

All of that is a lot, but his pedigree is strong, and I have only heard good things about him.

 

He looks like Braun??? I don't see the resemblance.

[Pugger]

I was struck throughout the press conference with how completely unfocused Mark A came across and how much in contrast Stearns appeared focused, polished and alert.

 

Mark seemed to be pretty giddy about this hire so perhaps this is why he appeared unfocused?

[Oldcity]

 

I'm not dead set on having a former player, but it would be nice having someone who paid their dues at some level.

 

Just like Friedman, Daniels, Luhnow, Epstein, Zaidi...

[Oldcity]

I'm hoping that's not in young Mr. Stearns plans but something tells me he couldn't care less about an 80 year old grandmother who tunes in Brewer broadcasts religiously to help pass the time.

This is exactly the type of person the Brewers have catered to the last 3-4 seasons.