After rough season for Brewers, lots of work to do for new GM, 30-year-old David Stearns

MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Brewers fell out of contention very early this baseball season -- meaning change was inevitable around the team. When it comes to change at the top, youth will be served.

The Chicago Cubs beat the Brewers 3-1 on Sunday for their eighth straight win. The rebuilding Brewers finished the season with 94 losses -- 14 more than 2014.

David Stearns (Credit: Milwaukee Brewers)

If the Brewers are going to climb back up baseball's ladder with young talent, it will be a young talent evaluator getting them there.

The Milwaukee Brewers in late September named David Stearns as the organization’s general manager.

David Stearns

30-year-old Stearns comes to the organization after serving three years with the Houston Astros as assistant general manager.

So does Stearns think of himself as an authoritative guy?

"I think it's important to be a collaborative guy. I think as a leader of any organization -- whether it's a baseball team or something in another industry, you have to have a good team around you. You have to be able to communicate effectively with those people, so I look forward to a collaborative effort where everyone has an ownership stake in what's going on with our team on the field," Stearns said.

That will include Stearns' predecessor Doug Melvin, who is more than twice Stearns' age.

Doug Melvin

Melvin is moving into an advisory role in the Brewers' front office, which is much bigger than it was when he took over as Milwaukee's general manager in 2002. In some ways, baseball is becoming a young man's game off the field, as much as on it.

"You've got the international draft, you've got the Cuban market, you've got the amateur scouting, the professional scouting, the new CBA is coming up, the collective bargaining agreement that you're going to have to know from the first page to the end, the whole medical field -- and that's not even talking about the Major League team," Melvin said.

David Stearns and Mark Attanasio

Initially, Stearns seems like an extension of Brewers Owner Mark Attanasio. There is no obvious gulf between him and current Brewers Manager Craig Counsell either.

"Alignment is incredibly important. To have an owner, a manager and a general manager who are all on the same page, all speaking the same language is incredibly important. I think we're going to be fortunate here that we're going to have that," Stearns said.

While Stearns and Counsell might crunch the numbers to make their decisions, most Brewers fans just want to be entertained, connect with the favorites and feel their team has a chance to win. It wasn't that long ago that Stearns was that same way -- watching the Mets at Shea Stadium while growing up in New York.

David Stearns

"I think everyone has that past-time or that hobby that teaches them life lessons. For me, whether it was playing or being a fan of the game, baseball has always been that to me. I was a slop throwing right-handed pitcher who wasn't very good, but enjoyed the game. I would have evaluated myself as not professional ball worthy," Stearns said.

The Brewers feel he's exactly professional ball worthy of his new role.

Stearns has a lot of work to do. The Brewers lost more than 90 games this season for the first time in a decade. As he himself says, he may age in a hurry.