While the New York Mets continue to work on ways to improve their active roster, they are simultaneously searching for new faces for their coaching staff. The most notable opening is at bench coach, which became vacant when the Mets re-assigned Gary DiSarcina to third base coach. The Mets have already interviewed four candidates for the job, Newsday’s Tim Healey reports, with three of them having significant experience managing in the National League.
The known candidates are Jim Riggleman, who most recently served as the Cincinnati Reds’ interim skipper this season; former Marlins and Braves’ manager Fredi Gonzalez; Bryan Price, who was fired by the Reds this season and replaced by Riggleman; and AAA manager Tony DeFrancesco. Of this group, Riggleman makes a ton of sense since he has previously managed four different National League teams and can help Mickey Callaway with the nuances of NL baseball. That component was severely missing for the Mets in 2018, when Callaway struggled with facets of the game like double switches and waiting for pinch hitters to be announced, and DiSarcina wasn’t really in a position to offer too much guidance due to the fact his coaching experience came in the American League.
The Mets are also looking for a new hitting coach and bullpen coach as part of a coaching shakeup under new General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen. Chili Davis and former Met Dave Magadan are two of the candidates in the mix for the hitting coach position. There hasn’t been any public word yet on potential candidates for the bullpen coach position.
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