Mets

The New York Mets have several high-profile players hitting the market this winter, and will have their hands full making the roster more competitive than it was in 2021. Last year, they underachieved and slumped to third place in the NL East, when they were expected to win it all.

The first steps in the Mets’ offseason were taken when they opted not to renew manager Luis Rojas’ contract. Now, the team is already making baseball decisions even if they don’t have a president of baseball operations or a general manager: they decided to extend qualifying offers to two crucial contributors: pitcher Noah Syndergaard and outfielder Michael Conforto.

If the players accept the offer, they will sign a one-year contract for the 2022 campaign and will earn $18.4 million, hitting the free agency market after next year’s World Series.

If they don’t accept the qualifying offer, the Mets will get high draft picks for each player and they will test the market this offseason.

The Mets would like to have both players next season

Both players have until November 17 to accept or decline the qualifying offer. Syndergaard, who lost the 2020 season and most of 2021 after undergoing Tommy John surgery and experiencing some setbacks, is widely expected to take the Mets’ QO.

Syndergaard was expected to return around June, and a couple of setbacks held him out until September, when he came back as a reliever and couldn’t throw nothing but fastballs and changeups.

Thor has implied he would take the offer. On October 3, he said that “it would be a tough pill to swallow not wearing the Mets jersey next year. I’m just going to take things day by day and try not to focus too much on it.”

Meanwhile, Conforto is also a strong candidate to take the qualifying offer because he didn’t have a good season with the Mets this year and will likely want to re-establish his value. He hit .232/.344/.384 with 14 homers and 20 doubles in 125 games.

The New York Mets decided not to wait for the resolution of Zack Scott’s DUI case in December and fired him this week. They now have no general manager or a head of baseball operations, and they have been searching for a while now.

The Mets have tried to lure top-end talent in the offices. They swung and missed with Theo Epstein, Billy Beane, David Stearns, and a number of highly regarded young executives currently shining with winning teams.

But they did talk with a famous executive recently. According to Andy Martino of SNY.tv, “the Mets have interviewed Billy Eppler for their exec vacancy and he remains under consideration, sources tell SNY. (He had a) Successful run with Yankees and (a) difficult situation with Moreno in Anaheim. Currently working on the agency side.”

The Mets are interested in Eppler

Eppler had a stint as the Los Angeles Angels’ general manager from 2015 to 2020, and while he couldn’t get the team into the playoffs during his tenure, he did sign Mike Trout to an extension and lured Shohei Ohtani, among other teams. He also brought Anthony Rendon.

Before leading the Angels, Eppler was a member of the Yankees’ front office, specifically, Brian Cashman’s right hand. He joined the Yanks in 2005 as a scout, working with Mark Newman and Damon Oppenheimer. He was then promoted the director of professional scouting.

Eppler is known for his use of statistics and has valuable experience in player evaluation and running a franchise, although his time with the Angels wasn’t particularly fruitful when it comes to results.

The Mets would ideally fill two positions before long: president of baseball operations and general manager, although it’s possible they hire just the latter.

As of now, their search has been unsuccessful, but it remains to be seen if they seriously consider Eppler. The two men they hired in the last year have had different off-the-field issues: Jared Porter was fired for sexual misconduct and Scott for driving under the influence.

As the New York Mets keep looking for a person in charge of making baseball decisions, several outlets announced that their general manager for most of the 2021 season, Zack Scott, won’t be returning to the team regardless of the outcome of his pending DUI trial.

The Mets’ MLB site, through writer Anthony DiComo (citing sources with knowledge of the situation) revealed the news. The organization hasn’t made it official, but it’s now a reality: Scott won’t continue with the club, and he has already been informed.

Scott, initially hired as an assistant general manager before the 2021 season, had been on administrative leave since shortly after his Aug. 31 arrest in White Plains, N.Y. He took over as the acting GM when Jared Porter was dismissed after sexual misconduct allegations.

The Mets keep looking for a person to make baseball decisions

Scott was in charge of the Mets’ baseball operations from January until late August, when he fell asleep at the wheel. He was arrested for driving under the influence. He pleaded not guilty on Sept. 2 and will face trial in early December.

That night, Scott attended an event at Mets’ owner Steve Cohen’s house. However, the event ended around 9 pm ET and the arrest occurred well into the night.

Mets’ president Sandy Alderson had previously stated that he wanted to wait until Scott’s case was resolved before deciding on his future. Evidently, the organization changes its mind.

Under Scott, the Mets made trades such as the Rich Hill and Javier Baez ones, and he was also credited for drafting pitcher Kumar Rocker (although he did not sign).

The Mets continue to look for someone to handle baseball decisions and operations. They have swung and missed with Theo Epstein, Billy Beane, David Stearns, and many more. Recently, according to Andy Martino of SNY, they were granted permission to interview Boston Red Sox’s executive Raquel Ferreira.

The New York Mets were one of the most disappointing teams during the 2021 season. Expectations were high and they actually led their division, the NL East, for months. However, a second-half collapse pushed them down to third place with a 77-85 record.

The Oakland A’s, on the other hand, were actually serious contenders until late September. They ultimately fell off the race but didn’t have a bad season. However, the two franchises appear to be in opposite directions.

The Mets are looking for a president of baseball operations and a general manager to take over and start improving the team. They have a wealthy owner and a president with a track record of success in Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson, respectively. They want to win, and will do whatever it takes.

Oakland, meanwhile, couldn’t get their longtime manager, Bob Melvin, to stay in charge, as he left for the San Diego Padres. They are expected to reduce payroll, even if it won’t result in a full-fledged fire sale.

But they are reportedly considering selling some assets. And that’s where the Mets can pounce and take advantage, as Michael Mayer of MetsMerized Online speculates.

The Mets should pounce

Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic noted that the A’s have several players due for raises in arbitration, like first baseman Matt Olson, third baseman Matt Chapman, left-handed pitcher Sean Manaea, right-handed hurlers Chris Bassitt and Frankie Montas, and center fielder Ramón Laureano.

Some of them would fit in nicely on the Mets, especially the pitchers, Laureano, and Chapman. Pitching is always needed, and Bassitt and Montas have proven to be very, very good, and Manaea could be a nice middle-of-the-rotation arm.

Chapman is solid offensively and a star at third, which has been a position of need for a long time on the Mets. Laureano, an elite defensive center fielder, could push Brandon Nimmo to a corner outfield position, where he fits best.

It will all depend on who ends up making baseball decisions with the Mets, but the team can match with Oakland and talk trades.

Former New York Mets’ manager Luis Rojas, who was let go by the team on October 4, is an option to remain in Flushing in another capacity. After all, he has fulfilled lots of roles over the years within the organization.

However, he managed the Mets for the last two seasons, and wants to extend his experience as a skipper on another team. Coincidentally, there are several clubs with openings, and he already interviewed with one of them according to latest reports.

Rojas has interviewed with the San Diego Padres for their managerial opening, reports Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union Tribune (link to the article from SNY.tv here).

Acee notes that the Padres have also interviewed Mike Shildt, who recently took the St. Louis Cardinals to the Wild Card game and was dismissed by the organization because of “differences in philosophy”.

The Mets had the opportunity to pick up a club option to keep Rojas around as the manager, but they declined to do so.

The Mets want Rojas around, but not as the manager

The Mets offered Rojas the chance to remain in the organization in “a yet to be determined capacity.”

His 2021 season started off strong, as he managed to keep the Mets afloat in the NL East despite lots of crucial injuries. However, everything went south in the second half and the team finished in third place in the division, with a 77-85 record.

As a manager, lots of analysts and fans have criticized his lineup construction and bullpen management, among other in-game things and situations, but he has his strong suits, too: he earns his players’ trust and backs them at nearly all times, and he is a highly respected figure around baseball.

The Padres are still scanning the market after firing Jayce Tingler. He led the Friars to a very disappointing season in which they failed to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants in the NL West standings.

So far, the New York Mets have swung and missed with most of their top candidates for the president of baseball operations position. Theo Epstein, Billy Beane, and David Stearns were all discussed at some point, but the possibilities of one of them joining the team are now extremely remote.

Sandy Alderson, the Mets’ president, wants to fill the position with someone capable, with experience and proven ability to lead an MLB club to sustained success. The problem is that the candidates that fill the criteria are not abundant.

Brian Sabean, who is currently working as an advisor for the San Francisco Giants, has been mentioned as a potential contender for the role.

According to Deesha Thosar, who covers the Mets for the New York Daily News, the executive would welcome the opportunity.

He would sign for the Mets “in a heartbeat”

“A source close to Sabean confirmed to the Daily News that he very much would like another challenge in his life. He’s going stir crazy in San Francisco with essentially nothing to do (in the role of a special assistant) with the Giants. But the real attraction for Sabean would be the fact that it’s New York and it’s the Mets, the source said. Unlike Billy Beane, who was reluctant to uplift his family and roots from the West Coast to New York City, the source close to Sabean said he would do it in a heartbeat if the Mets offered him the job,” Thosar writes.

It’s not hard to see why Sabean would be qualified for the job. He won three World Series Championships with the Giants as the general manager, in 2010, 2012, and 2014, and had winning seasons in 13 of the 18 years he was at the helm.

The 77-85 Mets certainly need guidance, but have the resources to be a force in the National League for years to come.

The New York Mets didn’t have any luck with their general managers in 2021. Jared Porter lost his job amid a sexual harassment scandal, and acting GM Zack Scott had a DUI arrest. In any case, neither man could bring sustained success for the Mets, who did hold the first place on the NL East for months but crumbled late and finished third with a 77-85 record, far from the playoff spots.

That’s why it is a priority for the Mets to hire a president of baseball operations during the offseason, to take over baseball-related decisions and name a general manager who can lead the franchise to greener pastures.

At the moment, there are several candidates. Theo Epstein will reportedly not take over the Mets, but two successful, forward-thinking baseball guys remain a possibility to fulfil the role: Oakland A’s Billy Beane, and Milwaukee Brewers’ mastermind David Stearns.

Beane is, according to SNY, considering the role. According to two long-time friends of Billy Beane say that the A’s exec is “very much open to the idea” of joining the Mets as their head of baseball operations.

The other candidates to take over the Mets’ baseball operations

Stearns, on the other hand, seems a bit harder to pry away from the Brewers. They are an up-and-coming franchise that has made the playoffs four consecutive years, from 2018 to 2021, after he took over as general manager in 2015. He was promoted to president of baseball operations in 2019.

SNY also recently reported that the Los Angeles Dodgers’ current assistant GM, Brandon Gomes, is a candidate to fill a front office position.

Both men are qualified to take over as the next Mets’ head of baseball operations, but getting them out of their current teams won’t be so easy. The fall is just starting, and the organization has some time to make the best decision.

The sooner the Mets can have their POBO, the better, as they can start planning the entire offseason, free agent acquisitions, and potential trades.