Brewers Deny Mets Permission To Speak With GM Matt Arnold

The Milwaukee Brewers have denied the Mets permission to speak with GM Matt Arnold.

The Mets' search for a top executive to command their baseball operations department just took another frustrating turn.

Although Tuesday was jam packed with rumors and buzz surrounding their interest in Brewers general manager Matt Arnold, Milwaukee ultimately denied the Mets permission to speak with him on Wednesday morning.

First, MLB.com's Adam McCalvy discovered that Arnold withdrew his name from consideration. And as SNY's Andy Martino found out afterwards, the two sides never even spoke because the Brewers did not let the Mets interview Arnold.

Milwaukee's owner Mark Attanasio has now blocked the Mets from pursuing two of his top executives in David Stearns and Matt Arnold. 

While it is no surprise that Stearns wasn't allowed to speak with the Mets considering he would have been making a lateral move, it is a little shocking that Arnold was not granted permission to discuss a promotion elsewhere. But this is because the Brewers offered Arnold a contract extension, per MLB Insider Jon Heyman.

In the end, Arnold had no interest in jumping ship. And the Mets organization has been unable to land any of their desired candidates to take on the president of baseball operations vacancy thus far.

The word is that Mets owner Steve Cohen is leading the charge on his own, and so far, he has been unsuccessful in drawing any legitimate suitors. 

For the second straight year, the Mets might be stuck scrambling towards plan B if they once again whiff on bringing in a top exec to run the show.

So far, Billy Beane, David Stearns, Theo Epstein, Scott Harris and now Matt Arnold are all out of the mix. 

Dodgers VP Josh Byrnes and former Giants GM and current special assistant Brian Sabean have been linked to the Mets, but there has been no additional information regarding any discussion or interest from New York's corner.