Source: GM Arnold staying with Brewers

HOUSTON -- Unless something changes dramatically, the Brewers’ baseball brain trust is staying put.

According to a source with knowledge of the process, Matt Arnold, No. 2 on Milwaukee’s front office depth chart in baseball operations, has withdrawn his name from consideration to be the Mets’ next president of baseball operations and will remain with the Brewers as general manager.

The club has not confirmed Arnold is no longer considering the Mets opportunity.

Arnold joined the organization as assistant GM in 2015 and was promoted to GM following the 2020 season after David Stearns was elevated to president of baseball operations.

Both Stearns and Arnold reportedly were recent targets of the Mets as that team seeks once again to fill its top position, but according to multiple reports the Brewers denied New York permission to interview Stearns for the opening earlier this month. Stearns is under contract for at least one more year after being promoted in January 2019, which didn’t change his day-to-day job but did give the Brewers more leverage to avoid losing him in a lateral move.

“He’s a great executive,” Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio said of Stearns in September, when the Mets' interest was swirling. “He’s also under contract with us.”

The same is true of Arnold, 42, who worked for nine seasons with Tampa Bay under current Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman before coming to Milwaukee as Stearns’ assistant GM in late 2015. Arnold held that title until last November, when the Brewers dropped the GM from Stearns’ wordy job title -- president of baseball operations and GM -- and gave it to Arnold, at the same time the Mets were conducting a GM search.

“There are probably a number of reasons why clubs go to this structure,” Stearns said at the time. “I think the first, these are big organizations, constantly growing with different aspects, different tentacles, and I think more and more organizations recognize that it’s helpful to have multiple people at senior leadership positions to oversee that group. There are more and more organizations going to this structure, so that leads to the potential of more and more organizations having open positions. Matt has a tremendous reputation throughout the industry, deservedly so, and that’s going to get noticed by other clubs, as it should.”

Said Arnold last November: “Look, it's certainly flattering to be considered for some of these incredible opportunities, but honestly that's not my focus today. It’s our focus to continue our partnership here for hopefully many years to come, and I'm really proud of our staff. I'm proud of what we've been able to accomplish here -- you know, the fact that we've made the playoffs three consecutive years is something I'm really proud of. I think that that's a credit to everyone that works here.”

Stearns and Arnold have built the Brewers into a perennial contender, with postseason appearances in each of the past four seasons after the club made the postseason four times in its first 49 years as a franchise. The Brewers appear poised for continued success thanks largely to a stable of young pitchers with contractual control; All-Stars Josh Hader, Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta are all controllable for at least the next two years under baseball’s current system.

Arnold declined to comment about the Mets’ interest on Wednesday.