Brewers exec David Stearns can get out of contract if club makes World Series?

Back in October, when the Mets were still in search of a new baseball operations leader, SNY’s Andy Martino reported that Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns — known to be of interest to Mets owner Steve Cohen — may have a vesting option for the 2023 season on his contract. Stearns was already known to be signed through 2022 at the least, and the presence of a clause extending that date through the 2023 season further reduced the likelihood that he’d be a realistic candidate in Queens.

Now, Martino adds some additional context, writing that Stearns is technically signed through the 2023 season, but his contract allows him to become a free agent this offseason if Milwaukee wins the National League pennant in 2022. Essentially, one of his perks based on the team’s on-field success would be the right to explore his market and field interest from other clubs a year earlier than otherwise scheduled.

The Mets, in particular, are known to covet Stearns. Their courtship of Stearns goes back two years now, as Cohen has sought permission to interview Stearns — and been denied by the Brewers — in each of the past two offseasons. Stearns has always been a long-shot target for the Mets, as most clubs generally only allow executives to interview with other teams if the opportunity in question would mark a promotion. Stearns already has baseball operations autonomy in Milwaukee and holds the title (president, baseball operations) that is now most commonly given to front office leaders.

Even if the Brewers don’t make a World Series appearance and trigger Stearns’ early out, it’s quite possible a fresh round of Mets/Stearns rumors will kick up again this winter. After all, nothing had changed from Nov. 2020 to Nov. 2021 — Stearns was still under contract for multiple years — but the Mets still placed him atop their front office wish list, only to again be rebuffed by the Brewers. Cohen hired Billy Eppler under the title of “general manager,” not “president of baseball operations,” so it’s technically possible that he could hire Stearns to head up the Mets’ baseball operations staff even with Eppler on board as GM.

One way to more firmly put an end to any pursuits of Stearns from rival clubs would be for the Brewers to sign Stearns to an extension. It’s now been more than three years since he was promoted from general manager to president and signed to the extension on which he’s currently operating. Perhaps Stearns, who’ll turn 37 later this week, is intrigued by the possibility of fielding interest from other clubs and wouldn’t want to explore a new contract at this time, but there’s nothing stopping the Brewers from discussing an extension during the lockout, should they choose.