Stearns & Company Five Years In

[3and2Fastball]

They are both too early in their GM careers to make an accurate judgement on them. I suspect that Stearns might be slightly better at evaluating talent and building the franchise overall, whereas Neander might be slightly better at building a contender under extreme budgetary constraints.

 

Depending on how tight the budget gets in the next few years, Neander might be better for the Brewers than Stearns, but of course that’s irrelevant as Tampa Bay isn’t giving up Neander. It’s interesting that Matt Arnold worked with Neander with the Rays for several years. There are definitely similarities in the way the 2 franchises do things.

 

Mark A seems to push for bigger, splashier moves, I think, than Rays ownership. Attendance is a much bigger deal in Milwaukee. I have no idea how Tampa Bay does what they do, competing in that division with generally sparse attendance. I think they have a better TV contract than the Brewers do, but it can’t be that much better.

[Jopal78]

They are both too early in their GM careers to make an accurate judgement on them. I suspect that Stearns might be slightly better at evaluating talent and building the franchise overall, whereas Neander might be slightly better at building a contender under extreme budgetary constraints.

 

Depending on how tight the budget gets in the next few years, Neander might be better for the Brewers than Stearns, but of course that’s irrelevant as Tampa Bay isn’t giving up Neander. It’s interesting that Matt Arnold worked with Neander with the Rays for several years. There are definitely similarities in the way the 2 franchises do things.

 

Mark A seems to push for bigger, splashier moves, I think, than Rays ownership. Attendance is a much bigger deal in Milwaukee. I have no idea how Tampa Bay does what they do, competing in that division with generally sparse attendance. I think they have a better TV contract than the Brewers do, but it can’t be that much better.

 

Neither team has pulled many players from their farm system in the last few years. Both GMs inherited some nice players from their predecessor (Neander inherited better pitching than Stearns). However, It's apples and oranges in terms of roster building. Neander has made an extraordinary amount of transactions moving major league players for other major league players (including a large amount of trades with Seattle), and very few free agents:

 

Acquired regulars: Austin Meadows, Zunino, Choi, Wendle, Yandy Diaz, Manuel Margot, Hunter Renfroe, Yarbrough, Glasnow, Anderson, Michael Perez

Traded Away regulars: Drew Smyly, Matt Andriese, Steven Souza, Chris Archer, Mallex Smith, Brad Miller, Nathan Eovaldi, Jake Bauers, Emilio Pagan, Ryne Stanek, Tommy Pham

Singed: Charlie Morton, Tsutsugo

 

Stearns on the other hand, has made more prospects/picks for player trades: Yelich, Claudio, Narvaez, Swarzak, Moustakas, Schoop, Soria, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Lyles, etc.

Stearns also has relied more on free agency to fill out his roster: Cain, Vogt, Chacin, Miley, Albers, Thames, Grandal, Garcia, Sogard, Gyorko, etc.