The Theo Epstein rumors and speculation in connection with the New York Mets did not last long.
Today, soon-to-be new Mets owner Steve Cohen announced that he’s hiring former long-time Mets president Sandy Alderson to return to the organization in that role:
2/Sandy is an accomplished and respected baseball executive who shares my philosophy of building an organization and a team the right way.
I am excited to have Sandy in a key leadership role with the Mets if my purchase of the team is approved.
Lets' Go Mets!"
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) September 24, 2020
President of the baseball side AND the business side. Interesting. If you were a Mets fan who wanted to get unduly excited, you’d think about how that might mean the fabulously wealthy Cohen doesn’t care as much about the business side. Then again, it’s possible that Alderson, as a veteran executive, could be in place largely to shepherd the Mets into the next front office setup. As in, maybe they know this is going to be a two to three-year process, and Alderson is the right guy to help Cohen navigate it.
In any case, Alderson is likely to hire a top baseball exec to serve as GM in the near term, but obviously Epstein wouldn’t be heading over for that. You can close the book on Epstein and the Mets.
But the book remains very much open on what happens over the next 12 months, as Epstein completes the final year of his second five-year contract with the Cubs. It’s still the general expectation that Epstein will move on after next season, which, if true, means the next 12 months could serve as a very important transition period for the Cubs.