Mets welcome Stearns as president of operations
NEW YORK — Decades ago, David Stearns used to sneak into Shea Stadium to root for the New York Mets.
Now, he holds their entire roster in his hands.
Stearns was formally appointed the first president of baseball operations in Mets history Monday, taking over the hometown team he cheered as a child.
“I appreciate that they’re letting me in here without a ticket,” he said.
“The good news about Shea in the late ’90s is you had some ticket takers and ushers who were pretty sympathetic to a 13-year-old kid who just wanted to watch baseball,” Stearns said with a smile. “Only happened a couple times. May have only happened with one specific usher. But most of the time I was a legal paying fan.”
The former Milwaukee Brewers boss was introduced by owner Steve Cohen at a Citi Field news conference on the heels of a hugely disappointing season. Despite championship aspirations and a record $355 million payroll on opening day, New York dropped out of playoff contention by midsummer and finished fourth in the NL East.
“I’m thrilled to be here. This is my home. It’s nice to be back,” Stearns said. “I’ve got plenty of work to do.”
The 38-year-old executive was placed above general manager Billy Eppler and under Cohen in a working structure fairly common around baseball but new to the Mets.
A large scoreboard display in center field welcomed Stearns, who will lead a search for the team’s next manager after Buck Showalter was fired Sunday.
“I view the managerial position as one of true partnership,” Stearns said, later adding he’d be open to a first-time manager. “There’s no one I have in mind. We are going to cast a wide net. We’re going to have a real process.”
He also said he expects Pete Alonso to be New York’s first baseman on Opening Day next year — the All-Star slugger has been the subject of trade speculation because he’s eligible for free agency after the 2024 season.
“Pete is a great player. He is also good in the clubhouse. He is also homegrown. All of that matters,” Stearns said. “Pete’s an important member of this team, he’s an important member of this organization and I think we’re really fortunate to have him.”
Cohen had been seeking a president of baseball operations to oversee the entire department since buying the club in November 2020. Several attractive candidates, including Stearns, were unavailable during a three-year process that Cohen called “sort of dog years.”
“I’m really excited by this,” Cohen said. “You know, I’ve been really patient looking for the right person. As David and I got to know each other, I mean, it’s clear that we’re aligned in our thinking. We get along very well.”
Stearns grew up a Mets fan in New York City and even interned for the team early in his career. He said he and Cohen spoke about a dozen times on the phone and met face-to-face four times for three-to-six hours each, including a pivotal dinner with their wives that convinced Stearns working for the Mets could be the right fit.
As speculation increased over time that he would ultimately land this job, Stearns said he and his wife had to calm his excited mother, Susan, before finally getting to call her a couple of weeks ago and tell her “this was really happening.”
“It’s meaningful for me, it’s cool for me that our kids get to grow up Mets fans now. That we get to share that. That we get to live this journey together and they get to experience a little bit of what I experienced,” said Stearns, a Harvard graduate. “I grew up listening to Gary Cohen and Bob Murphy and Ed Coleman every summer. I’ve ridden the rollercoaster of disappointment and hope, along with every other Mets fan.
“I feel very fortunate and privileged to be here right now. I understand this doesn’t happen, right? You don’t grow up a rabid fan of a team and then one day get to stand here at a press conference talking about leading that team,” he added. “And so the fact that it has happened to me, I recognize how incredible that is.”
Stearns worked in the commissioner’s office at Major League Baseball from 2008-11. He was Cleveland’s director of baseball operations in 2012 and an assistant GM with Houston from 2013-15 during a successful rebuild.
After taking over the Brewers, he enjoyed a winning run while leading Milwaukee’s baseball operations department from September 2015 through the 2022 season before stepping down and moving into an advisory role.
Milwaukee came within one victory of the World Series in 2018 and returned to the playoffs each of the next three seasons. The Brewers won NL Central titles in 2018 and 2021, and another one this year. Stearns agreed to join the Mets last month, and his contract with the Brewers expired Sunday.
“I need to get under the hood a little bit, talk with our group, understand internally here what we think we do well and where we think there are areas for improvement,” Stearns said.
“Can you do what the Brewers have done here in New York? I think we can develop good starting pitching here. Absolutely. But it’s going to look different than the way Milwaukee has done it. It has to. No two organizations are the same,” he added. “We have to create our own blueprint here and I think we will.”
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Kristen Shilton
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Max Domi was fined $5,000 — the maximum amount allowed by the league’s collective bargaining agreement — for boarding Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov as time expired in Game 4 of their second-round Eastern Conference playoff series Sunday.
Toronto was trailing 2-0 when the final buzzer sounded, and Domi hit Barkov from behind, sending him headfirst into the boards. Domi was given a minor penalty for boarding at the time while several other scrums broke out before officials moved players off the ice.
Florida’s victory evened the best-of-seven series at 2-all. Game 5 is set for Wednesday in Toronto.
Toronto coach Craig Berube didn’t comment on the Domi hit directly Monday, but he did say he thought Dmitry Kulikov‘s hit on Mitch Marner “was way worse”
On that play, the Panthers defenseman caught Marner up high with an elbow, leaving the Leafs forward momentarily dazed. No penalty was called on Kulikov.
It wasn’t the first elbowing incident to draw attention in the series.
In Game 1, Panthers forward Sam Bennett sent an elbow to the head of Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz shortly before Stolarz left the game. He was later hospitalized for further evaluation and hasn’t been able to resume skating since. There is currently no timeline for his return.
The physical intensity of the series might continue to rise now that it’s down to being a best-of-three. Based on how Game 4 played out, the Leafs are prepared to push back when they host Florida on Wednesday.
“We expected [the physicality], and I think we’re fine with it,” Berube said. “We’re handling it. We’re physical. I thought we were the more physical team [in Game 4].”
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Greg Wyshynski
DALLAS — Stars coach Pete DeBoer expects injured star defenseman Miro Heiskanen to play in their series against the Winnipeg Jets.
“I’m still sticking by what I projected: that we would see him in the second round,” DeBoer said Monday during an optional Dallas practice.
The Stars lead their series with the Jets 2-1, with Game 4 scheduled for Tuesday night.
Heiskanen remains day-to-day, with him not having played since Jan. 28, when his left knee was injured in a collision with Vegas Golden Knights forward Mark Stone. Heiskanen had knee surgery and has been working his way back to the lineup since Winnipeg’s opening-round series against the Colorado Avalanche. Heiskanen had 25 points (5 goals, 20 assists) in 50 games this season, averaging 25:10 in ice time.
Monday was a scheduled off day for Heiskanen. DeBoer said he’ll be “back at it tomorrow.” The coach said that any decision on Heiskanen’s status will be made together by the coach, the player and the team’s medical staff.
Last round, DeBoer said everything was “on the table” to ease Heiskanen back into the lineup, including playing seven defensemen. The coach said he’s not looking for the 25-year-old defenseman to log his usual minutes right away, having ranked fifth in the NHL in average ice time during the regular season.
“I don’t think there are specific restrictions, but we’re not going to put ‘im out on the ice for 30 minutes in his first game back in three months,” DeBoer said. “We’ll have to be smart about that.”
Dallas forward Jason Robertson has seen firsthand what it’s like to go from watching the playoffs to competing in them. He returned to the Stars’ lineup after being injured in an April 16 game, making his postseason debut in Game 1 at Winnipeg.
“You’re coming back from injury, so whatever you had is obviously going to bother you. So that’s the No. 1 thing. And then getting up to game speed in the playoffs is a different animal,” he said. “There’s no hiding out there. Every moment’s heightened, every missed assignment, any forecheck. Anytime you get beat up the ice, everything just gets heightened. So you just try to be super simple out there until you get your legs back and get in game shape. That could take a little bit.”
The Stars have weathered the loss of Heiskanen thanks to the depth of their defense corps. Thomas Harley has filled in on the power play, collecting four points in the postseason. Veteran Cody Ceci has handled an increase of over two minutes per game in ice time. Players such as Lian Bichsel and Alexander Petrovic have played effectively, DeBoer said.
“I think it’s been exceptional what our group’s done,” the coach said.
Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel acknowledged that Dallas, already leading in the series, will get an instant emotional boost when Heiskanen returns.
“An elite, elite player obviously,” he said. “We can’t worry about somebody that’s not here. If all of a sudden we show up and he’s out there in warmups, then yeah, we certainly have to recognize it.”
With the possibility there that Heiskanen could return as early as Game 4, Arniel would be fine if the Stars continued to take a cautious approach with their star defenseman.
“Hopefully, he takes a little bit more time to make sure he’s getting back on it,” the Jets coach said with a grin.
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