Abbey Mastracco: Steve Cohen and the Mets finally have their man in David Stearns

Steve Cohen’s nearly three-year-long pursuit of David Stearns has finally come to an end. Time will tell whether Stearns was worth the wait.

Stearns will take over as the head of baseball operations for the Mets following the conclusion of the regular season, a source confirmed to the Daily News. The deal is for five years but the money is not yet known.

Stearns, a 38-year-old New York native, held the same position with the Milwaukee Brewers until last fall when he stepped down. He worked as an advisor this season with a contract that granted him permission to speak with other teams after the Aug. 1 trade deadline.

He recently told friends in baseball that he was mulling his options. One of those options was believed to be a return to Houston, where he was an assistant general manager with the Astros. Stearns might have grown up on the Upper East Side and gone to school at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School, but he still has ties to Houston. His wife, Whitney Lee Stearns, is from Houston and the two met at a party hosted by Astros owner Jim Crane. But there was little to those rumors since Crane doesn’t spend like Cohen.

To be fair, no one spends like Cohen.

Landing one of the most widely-respected young executives in baseball shows that the Mets have become a more desirable landing place for top talent. The Mets have struggled in the past to attract executives of Stearns’ caliber, with Cohen even saying he was lucky to find Eppler in 2021 since few people wanted the job. The hedge fund billionaire seemed surprised that so many top candidates turned him down and frustrated with the fact that he was unable to poach talent from other teams as he does with his hedge fund.

The resources are nearly unlimited and Stearns will no longer be hamstrung by a small-market budget.

The core of the roster is solid with Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, Kodai Senga and Edwin Diaz all locked up long-term. There is emerging young talent in Francisco Alvarez, Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos. The farm system added high-end talent at the trade deadline and he’s familiar with one of those deadline acquisitions in right-hander Justin Jarvis, who came from the Brewers in exchange for outfielder Mark Canha.

But the Mets, as they are currently constructed, aren’t exactly a juggernaut. Stearns is inheriting a strong framework but there are plenty of holes in the roster. While Eppler did a great job of identifying talent at the deadline, much of the season’s failures can be attributed to his poor roster construction.

The Mets did not have enough power in their lineup and Eppler insisted on keeping players like Daniel Vogelbach in the lineup when they weren’t producing. Relief arms with options were overvalued and underperformed. Manager Buck Showalter took much of the heat and although he is still under contract through next season, his job status is in question.

Stearns could bring Brewers manager Craig Counsell with him to Queens since the skipper’s contract is up after this season. However, sources have speculated that he’s ready to leave the dugout and focus on his kids. His sons Brady and Jack play at Minnesota and Michigan, respectively.

As some of their pitchers regressed this season, it brought questions about the Mets’ systems and processes. The organization has struggled to develop starting pitching since about 2015 and they don’t have any outfielders ready to step in and contribute at the big league level either. The Mets may have to move someone like Baty, Mauricio or Vientos to the outfield.

And then there is the impending question of Pete Alonso. The Mets nearly sent him to the Brewers, of all teams, at the deadline. When Milwaukee leaked that news a few weeks ago, it was believed to be in retaliation for Cohen’s dogged pursuit of Stearns. Alonso, one of the most prolific home-run hitters the Mets have ever developed, remains without a contract past next season and it’s unclear if they view the popular first baseman as a part of their future or not.

Cohen previously attempted to lure Stearns from the Brewers but was unsuccessful. Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, another New York native, did not look kindly on a big-market team trying to poach his top executive.

But the deal is now done.

A source close to Stearns told The News that the executive is a “mastermind” who will turn the Mets into perennial contenders within a few seasons. Others have questioned his draft history and are still wondering why he traded closer Josh Hader in the midst of a playoff race last season. If the true answer lies somewhere in between, the Mets will still be better off than they have throughout much of their history.

It’s not quite a new era, but an important extension of the current one. Finally, the Mets have their man in Stearns.