David Stearns' high-wire survival act just gave Brewers clearest indication yet of incoming lockout

The New York Mets' decision to fire manager Carlos Mendoza comes as little surprise if you've been paying attention to their situation. They just force-fed the Chicago Cubs a four-game sweep by making a comedy of literal errors all week long, which is sort of problematic when they blew up their roster over the offseason in the name of run prevention.

Of course, the architect of this Collapsing Tower of Queens (trademark pending) is none other than old friend David Stearns, who appears to have survived the Mets' first wave of housecleaning. And while that's great for the former Milwaukee Brewers president of baseball operations, it's also sort of confounding.

Stearns has made some quality moves in New York, like drafting Carson Benge and signing Juan Soto (though it's hard to give him too much credit for handing out the largest contract ever to the best hitter of this generation). However, he was also the one who sent fan favorites like Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso packing in favor of players like Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien, and Bo Bichette, none of whom have come anywhere close to working out in his favor.

All of which begs the question: How exactly did he survive Steve Cohen's axe?

Impending MLB lockout continues to dictate decisions arounds the league

Similar to the Boston Red Sox's situation with Craig Breslow and Alex Cora, the Mets clearly chose their front office chief over their dugout leader. That's not too surprising given Stearns' reputation, but it is interesting that it seems to be happening all around baseball this year.

The logic behind the matter, as best as I can surmise, is because of the impending lockout. No matter what form it takes, the new Collective Bargaining Agreement is going to fundamentally change the economics of baseball. It's already a difficult process to bring in an entirely new front office; doing so mere months before the most important financial shift (and possibly the longest hiatus) in the last 30+ years would be rife with pitfalls. The fact that the ridiculously mismanaged Los Angeles Angels fired their GM, Perry Minasian, last night only reinforces this belief. Whatever the Angels do, other teams should do the opposite.

Stearns has the benefit of not only being a Cohen hire, but also having experience working within financial limitations from his small-market days in Milwaukee. His institutional knowledge of the organization makes him the only candidate capable of leading the Mets through the upcoming work stoppage, regardless of his failures when it comes to roster construction.

What that means for the Brewers isn't anything too novel. We've been expecting the lockout for some time, and Matt Arnold's front office has been proactive about preparing for some payroll shifts by signing top prospects to long-term deals.

For anyone who was holding out hope that we wouldn't miss any time next year, though, Stearns' continued employment is probably our best sign yet that the 2027 season will be impacted in some way by the lockout.

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