2019 MLB Season: Rating the NL Central general managers

2019 MLB Season: The NL Central’s best GM

David Stearns, Milwaukee Brewers

Stearns turned in the best performance by a front office exec in 2018. He made a nice run at replicating that accomplishment this season, improving his Brewers by nearly six games, enough to earn a repeat (if brief) trip to post-season play.

Stearns made three discerning personnel moves during the off-season, all three of which paid off. In January, he talked free agent Yasmani Grandal into signing a two-year, $32 million deal, filling an obvious Milwaukee need.  In February, he took advantage of the game’s general assessment that free-agent third baseman Mike Moustakas’ asking price was too high. Stearns re-signed Moustakas at a relative bargain $7 million with an $11 million mutual option for 2020.

Then in late April, he offered a job to free-agent pitcher and 2018 Brewer Gio Gonzalez, who had been cut by the Yankees a few days earlier.

Between the three of them, Grandal, Moustakas, and Gonzalez stabilized three questionable positions and produced a combined +3.1 WAA.

The re-signings of Moustakas and Gonzalez illustrated another Stearns strength, his uncanny ability to discern talent that was worth keeping from talent that needed to be sent packing. He traded away five players, none of whom generated value for their new teams in excess of +0.1. Their net impact on the acquiring teams was -3.5 games.

Short-term acquisitions: +0.2

Short-term trade losses: +3.5

Short-term free-agent signings: +1.7

Short-term free-agent losses: +0.5

Short-term rookie production: -0.1

Short-term total: +5.8