The Mets’ real target remains David Stearns, whoever they hire as GM this

By Tim Britton, Britt Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal

CARLSBAD, Calif. — While the Mets are moving closer to naming their next general manager, New York has bigger plans for its head of baseball operations. Sources say the Mets’ primary target remains Milwaukee president of baseball operations David Stearns, even if they have to wait another season to land him.

The Mets have pursued Stearns each of the last two winters to be their president of baseball operations, only to be denied permission to interview the 36-year-old by Brewers owner Mark Attanasio.

But New York is operating under the belief that Stearns’ contract runs out after the 2022 season, and sources indicate that Stearns has serious interest in the position.

Stearns is from Manhattan and grew up a Mets fan. (He once wrote for his college newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, that attending the Mets-Braves game on September 21, 2001 at Shea Stadium left him “convinced of the power of sports.”) Stearns served as an intern with the Mets in 2008, and he also worked in the commissioner’s office, with Cleveland and with Houston before landing the Brewers’ GM gig in 2015. He was promoted to president of baseball operations in Milwaukee ahead of the 2019 season, when he signed his most recent contract.

In the Mets’ ideal scenario, a GM hire this winter would serve as a one-year placeholder, waiting to be supplanted by Stearns above him in the front-office hierarchy. Earlier this week, New York team president Sandy Alderson did not deny that the Mets would contemplate hiring above the GM level again next winter.