Promise and Results: The Early Genius of David Stearns

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If you’re a Brewers fan, take yourself back to Sept. 21, 2015. On the surface, there is not much to write home about. The Crew would lose 9-5 that day to the Chicago Cubs to become 63-87 on the season, a season in which they would finish 68-94, their worst record in 11 seasons. However, there was also a separate event on that Monday that would change the course of Brewers baseball for (what appears to be) the considerable future. That day, the Brewers hired a relative unknown young executive by way of the Houston Astros, and his name was David Stearns.

After helping take a team in the doldrums just a few years ago (three straight 100-loss seasons from 2011-2013), to one of the best teams in baseball in 2017 (101-61 this season), Milwaukee hoped that he could help do the same thing for them. So far, it’s safe to say that he has delivered.

Now, Stearns made some solid moves in his first year as GM (trading Cy Sneed to the Astros for Jonathan Villar in November of 2015 for example), it is his second year where he has really made his name as one of the best GMs in the game. As with trying to manage a team in any professional sport, some moves have worked incredibly well while others seem to have incredibly flopped. Stearns, though, has had much more of the former than the latter in the past 12 months. Let’s take a look at some of the best.

Nov. 29, 2016: 1B Eric Thames Signed to Three-Year Contract

Thames may not have ended the season getting his bat on the ball as often or as well as he was a few months ago. However, there was no bigger story in baseball through April and the first part of May than the Korean Baseball Organization import. Hitting .345 while slugging 11 home runs and driving in 19 runs, Thames provided one of the most exciting four weeks by a Brewers player in recent memory. While he slowed down in a big way since then (hitting .163 in June and .173 in August), he continued to provide solid power from the left side of the plate as well a defensive presence at first base (.994 fielding percentage). With the performance this season of a certain waiver wire wonder in Jesus Aguilar, Thames may have to take more of a bench role in the next two years of his deal, a deal which already appears to be paying off.

Dec, 6, 2016: Traded RHP Tyler Thornburg to the Boston Red Sox; Received 3B Travis Shaw, INF Mauricio Dubon, RHP Josh Pennington and PTBNL (Revealed to be INF Yeison Coca)

The holy grail of Milwaukee moves over the past year, Stearns seems to have fleeced Boston in this deal. On top of Shaw, the Crew received two players who currently hold spots on the team’s top 30 prospects list on MLB.com (Dubon at No. 9, Pennington at No. 22). But, come on, Shaw has been incredible. The Brewers’ MVP of 2017 has put together a slash line of .273/.348/.518 with 34 doubles, 31 home runs and 99 RBIs. He put together a streak of games without committing an error that lasted from April 26 until July 27, has established himself as the one and only true Mayor of Ding Dong City, and showed the Red Sox what they’re missing, as Boston struggled significantly at the hot corner with players such as Pablo Sandoval prior to their deadline deal for San Francisco’s Eduardo Nunez. Just 27 years old and with free agency not coming until 2022, the Brewers could be looking at their first long-term stud at the position since franchise great Paul Molitor patrolled the position from 1982-1989.

Aug. 12, 2017: Received 2B Neil Walker From the New York Mets; Sent New York Minor League RHP Eric Hanhold

Yes, this is the most recent David Stearns pickup, but it has been yet another success for Milwaukee in the personnel department. Despite being on the team for just over one month, the switch-hitting Walker has already made quite the statement. Through 35 games, he is hitting .264 with seven doubles, four home runs and 13 RBIs. Looking beyond the usual box score stats, though, is where Walker’s impact is truly felt. Walker holds a fantastic 29/24 strikeout to walk ratio, exactly what the Brewers have needed and craved all season in a table setter as both of their usual second basemen in Villar and Eric Sogard have struggled at times at the plate and getting on base. Walker may be a free agent this coming offseason, but the success that he has had thus far in a Brewers uniform and the opportunities for playing time he could have at his fingertips if he continues to produce may just lure him back to the Cream City, if only for another year or two.

These three moves are not the only ones that show the knack for spotting talent that Stearns possesses. Here are some other transactions Stearns has made that have helped to form this current Brewers roster:

Jan. 30, 2016: Traded Jean Segura and Tyler Wagner to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Chase Anderson, Aaron Hill and Isan Diaz (current Brewers No. 6 prospect).

July 26, 2017: Traded minor league OF Ryan Cordell to the Chicago White Sox for RHP Anthony Swarzak.

Dec. 10, 2015: Manny Pina acquired from the Detroit Tigers as PTBNL in trade of Francisco Rodriguez to Detroit.

June 25, 2017: Selected Stephen Vogt off waivers from the Oakland Athletics.

Dec. 15, 2016: Signed Eric Sogard as a free agent.

Dec. 17, 2015: Traded Jason Rogers to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Keon Broxton and RHP Trey Supak (current Brewers No. 19 prospect).

July 30, 2016: Traded Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress to the Texas Rangers for Lewis Brinson (current Brewers No. 1 prospect), RHP Luis Ortiz (current Brewers No. 3 prospect) and Ryan Cordell (later traded for Swarzak).

Now ask yourself, how many general managers in the MLB, if not all major U.S. sports, have had such success in acquiring players through this short of a span in recent history? On top of that, how many have been fortunate enough to have their hard work behind the scenes turn into such quick success on the field? If you can name some, you could probably only count them on one hand, and that’s the early genius of David Stearns.