David Stearns has added seven baseball operations positions since taking over as president of baseball operations for the New York Mets in October, according to organizational sources. The hires span analytics, player development coordination, and medical operations—departments that remained understaffed through the Eppler era despite owner Steve Cohen's $800 million payroll ambitions.
The expansion began quietly in November with two quantitative analysts from outside organizations, followed by a director of pitching development, a Latin American crosschecker, and a senior advisor for medical strategy. Two additional roles remain unfilled: a coordinator for infield instruction and a director of advance scouting. The structure mirrors what Stearns built in Milwaukee, where he ran the Brewers for nine years with a front office of 42 full-time baseball operations employees. The Mets, despite spending more on major league payroll than any club except the Yankees, entered the 2023 season with 29. That gap is closing.
This matters because front office depth is infrastructure. The Dodgers employ 68 people in baseball operations. The Rays, working with a fraction of the payroll, run 54. The previous Mets regime treated analytics as decoration—a few laptops in the corner while Billy Eppler made calls from his gut and his Rolodex. Stearns is installing the decision-support layer that allows a team to stop burning money on Josh Donaldson and start finding David Peterson's third pitch. The new pitching development director, hired from the Guardians' system, will coordinate between the major league staff and the minors. The advance scouting role will feed real-time game-planning data to Buck Showalter's successor, whenever that conversation happens. The medical advisor reports directly to Stearns, not through the GM layer, which tells you how many soft-tissue issues the prior setup missed.
Cohen has now paid for two philosophies. The first was Eppler's veteran-chasing, which delivered 101 wins in 2022 and a 75-87 collapse in 2023 when the roster aged poorly and the injuries piled. The second is Stearns', which prioritizes process over noise. Stearns declined to chase Shohei Ohtani or Yoshinobu Yamamoto this winter, instead signing Sean Manaea and Luis Severino to one-year rebuilds while the new front office evaluates what the system actually contains. That restraint frustrated some in the organization who expected Cohen's wallet to stay open. But Stearns has the owner's backing to build properly, which includes hiring the people who turn information into decisions before the trade deadline, not after.
The timing also matters for the broader market. The Padres, under new majority owner Peter Seidler's estate-controlled ownership group, are being watched closely by other front offices to see if the aggressive spending continues or if the next GM operates under a tighter leash. The Mets' buildup suggests the opposite trend: Cohen remains willing to spend, but now wants the infrastructure to spend efficiently. That makes the Mets a more dangerous competitor in two years than they were last season, when they simply had the highest payroll and the thinnest decision-making layer.
Watch for Stearns to fill the final two coordinator roles by spring training, likely from outside the organization. The infield instruction hire will signal whether the Mets plan to overhaul their defensive positioning system, which ranked 23rd in MLB in defensive runs saved last season. The advance scouting director will be pulled from a team currently in contention or a recently dismissed front office, and that name will tell rival clubs which organizations Stearns is targeting for talent. Also watch how quickly the medical advisor influences roster construction decisions, particularly around pitchers with unclear injury histories. If the Mets pass on a veteran arm this summer because of soft-tissue flags the old regime would have ignored, that is the new process showing teeth.
The Mets now employ 36 full-time baseball operations staff. Stearns has a three-year runway and an owner who will pay for mistakes. The hires are boring. That is the point.
The takeaway
Stearns has added seven roles in three months, building the decision-support infrastructure the Mets never had despite spending like the Yankees.
Editorial & Disclosure Notice: This article was written with artificial intelligence from public sources and is published without individual human review. Artificial intelligence and other digital tools are also used for research, analysis, editing, formatting, and production. Errors, omissions, outdated information, or inaccuracies may occur. References to companies, brands, products, services, organizations, or individuals are for informational and editorial purposes and do not imply endorsement, sponsorship, affiliation, partnership, or approval unless expressly stated. All trademarks and other intellectual property remain the property of their respective owners. Opinions, analysis, estimates, and commentary are informational only and should not be construed as financial, investment, legal, tax, medical, procurement, or other professional advice. Information may be corrected, clarified, or updated after publication. Corrections or removal requests: jenny@pops4.com.
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