Milwaukee Brewers to lose front office executive Mike Groopman to Boston Red Sox

It seems safe to say now that both of the top baseball decisionmakers for the Milwaukee Brewers — Baseball Operations president David Stearns and General Manager Matt Arnold — will both be staying with the franchise, for now. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be any brain drain from their front office this offseason. According to a report from Chad Jennings and Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic, the Red Sox are hiring away Mike Groopman to serve as their Assistant General Manager. He had been Milwaukee’s Vice President of International Scouting and Player Personnel.

Milwaukee hired Groopman in 2017 as part of an effort to overhaul their international scouting department. Since coming on board, Groopman has overseen the signing of a number of Milwaukee’s best international prospects, including Hedbert Perez, Jeferson Quero, Eduardo Garcia, Jackson Chourio, and a host of others. The Brewers have been specifically active in the country of Venezuela, convincing several top prospects from that country to sign over the past few years.

Groopman also served as director of analytics for the Kansas City Royals for half a decade before coming to the Brewers, so he is one of those minds who brings to the table a deep knowledge of both scouting and analytics. Groopman’s loss could be a big one for Milwaukee and their ability to build the farm system, though David Stearns does have a strong track record of finding good executive talent.