The New York Mets have had a bit of a mess of a front office search process ever since Steve Cohen took over as owner. After a number of very high-profile misses last year (and a DUI drama), Sandy Alderson wound up staying on as President, with Billy Eppler coming in as GM.
But the Mets still want a president to replace Alderson, and apparently that process is underway again. I guess the Cubs sweep really kicked things into high gear (mostly kidding):
No names have leaked out yet on the interviews, but I presume they will once again be very high profile (though not David Stearns, the Brewers’ president that they have long coveted – he’s still under contract). I’m not sure anyone in the current Cubs front office would be poached for this kind of role, with Jed Hoyer firmly ensconced as President of Baseball Operations, and Carter Hawkins only in his first year as a big league GM. The other executives in the front office are very well-regarded, but it’s hard to see them leapfrogging Eppler.
Which, by the way, is one of the awkward things about all of this: the Mets hired a GM before they had their long-term president. So the person coming in to run the show is … going to have to keep Eppler on? Going to fire Eppler immediately? And Alderson is staying on in an advisory role, so how much power does he have? And how much does Cohen actually control things?
There’s a lot of money available and it’s extremely high profile, so they’ll get a top name. But the Mets do come with some unique issues.
Also, they just got swept by the Cubs, who are now their daddy. Shoulda done more at the Trade Deadline …