David Stearns first worked for the Mets in 2007, when he interned with the team after graduating from Harvard.

His name was floated in 2018 for the general manager job before the Mets hired Brodie Van Wagenen.

And when Steve Cohen bought the Mets in 2020, it was no secret he wanted to hire Stearns to be a key part of his team’s front office.

But as the billionaire found out, no amount of money guarantees anything in sports. The Brewers — for whom Stearns was, by then, the president of baseball operations — wouldn’t let the New York City native out of his contract to take a similar role in Queens.