Report: New York Mets Still Trying To Figure Out How To Structure Their New Front Office

Although assistant General Manager John Ricco has been very visible in the media for the New York Mets this summer, he remains a long shot to become Sandy Alderson’s permanent successor. The Mets are still planning to hire an outside candidate to take over, and there had been whispers that the team could begin interviewing candidates as early as this month. There isn’t anything on the horizon, however, because the Mets are still formulating a strategy of how to structure their new front office. That could lead to a deviation from the typical norm of the GM/assistant model that the Mets usually follow, SNY baseball insider Andy Martino reports.

According to Martino, the Mets are more open to the possibility of hiring a President of Baseball Operations to go along with a GM, a structure that is in place for some of baseball’s more successful teams. The Chicago Cubs currently employ this structure, with Theo Epstein serving as the President of Baseball Operations while Jed Hoyer is the GM. This structure could allow the Mets to pursue candidates who are currently GM’s with other teams. Rival teams often won’t let executives under contract interview with new organizations for lateral moves, but they aren’t as likely to stand in the way of a potential promotion.

This could open the door for the Mets to pursue Milwaukee Brewers’ GM David Stearns and Cleveland Indians’ GM Mike Chernoff, two names linked to the search by FanCred’s Jon Heyman in the past. Naming a candidate like that as the President of Baseball Operations would open more possibilities for the Mets, who are looking at various types of people to replace Alderson. There have been reports that the Mets are looking for a well balanced candidate who has a scouting background and a working knowledge of modern analytics. A few names have been rumored over the past few months, but it is hard to give those rumors any credence until interviews are scheduled.