New Names Emerge In Mets' President Of Baseball Operations Search

There are a new list of names that have emerged in the Mets' president of baseball operations search.

Although the Mets were unable to hire any of the top three names they were initially targeting in Billy Beane, David Stearns and Theo Epstein, they have pivoted to a new list of candidates for their president of baseball operations search.

According to Mike Puma of The New York Post, Josh Byrnes (Dodgers), Brandon Gomes (Dodgers), Scott Harris (Giants), Matt Arnold (Brewers) and Peter Bendix (Rays) are now on the Mets' radar.

While these executives all reside in successful front offices, they are still unproven targets, which comes along with a bit of risk.

“The Mets are in a tough spot, because I don’t think fans are going to buy into them bringing in another unknown,” a rival executive told The Post on Tuesday. “I see some of those names that are mentioned, and nothing against them, but a lot of them are just new guys and you hire new guys, you are going to go through the same thing again.”

Another question around the industry is the uncertainty of whether it is team president Sandy Alderson or owner Steve Cohen leading the search.

Keep in mind, Alderson's last three hires have ended in disastrous fashion. Alderson brought in GM Jared Porter, who was fired a month later for sending inappropriate texts to a female reporter during his time with the Cubs. 

He also hired assistant GM Zack Scott, who was promoted to the role of acting GM before being placed on administrative leave in September for a DWI charge.

And let's not forget, Alderson is the one that brought in manager Mickey Callaway in 2018. Callaway was fired after two seasons with the Mets and it later came out that he harassed a number of female sports media employees as well.

Although Alderson came back to the Mets last year for a second stint to help Cohen build a baseball operations department, the season ended with Alderson as president of baseball ops and GM, along with his son Bryn Alderson and Ian Levin as assistant GMs. The Mets promoted Bryn Alderson and Levin to the assistant GM roles during the All-Star break.

The expectation is Cohen will hire a president of baseball operations who will bring in a GM to run the day-to-day operations beneath him. If and when this happens, Alderson will take a step back by focusing more on the business side and serving as an advisor to the baseball department. 

While it doesn't seem likely that Cohen will be able to bring in a big name, there are still plenty of intriguing options out there who can take on this prominent position with the Mets and jettison their careers.