Speaking with reporters on Sunday, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon revealed that he and assistant general manager John Ricco will lead the initial round of interviews to find the team’s next GM (via Mike Puma of the New York Post). While the job still technically belongs to Sandy Alderson, it seems the leave of absence he took in June to battle cancer essentially ended his reign atop the team’s baseball department. Indeed, the Mets have known since June that they’d need a new GM, Tim Healey of Newsday was among those to tweet. None of Ricco or fellow assistants Omar Minaya and J.P. Ricciardi are candidates to succeed Alderson, Wilpon said (via Puma), though he hopes those three return. Whether that happens will be up to the team’s next baseball chief, however.
The Mets would like to hire a new general manager in time for the GM meetings in November, but that’s not a necessity, per Wilpon. He also revealed that the team will consider a president/GM or executive VP/GM power structure, James Wagner of the New York Times reports. On the role Alderson’s replacement will have in building the team, Wilpon said, “They will know that their final recommendation will go through me, but it’s not something where I am in the mix of picking the players.”
- It’s possible the Mets’ coaching staff will also see changes heading into next season. First-year manager Mickey Callaway said he expects his whole staff to return in 2019 (per Healey), but he may not be even be safe. Callaway’s fate “will depend on the new GM’s thoughts,” Wagner tweets. Wilpon did praise Callaway & Co. on Sunday, saying (via Healey): “Mickey and the staff did a nice job not letting anybody quit and keeping them moving forward, which was certainly something that could have happened. We saw it with other teams in our division, where they had a great first half and fell apart.” While crediting his own team’s coaches, Wilpon jabbed at the NL East rival Phillies, who collapsed in the second half of the season.
- Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes will undergo the second of two scheduled heel surgeries on Oct. 23, Tim Britton of The Athletic was among those to tweet. Cespedes expects to resume baseball activities roughly four months later, but he still won’t be able to run, Britton adds. The soon-to-be 33-year-old underwent his first heel surgery in late July, which ended his season and could keep him out for a sizable portion of 2019.
- Meanwhile, one of Cespedes’ teammates – infielder Jose Reyes – told reporters that Sunday’s game will be his last with the Mets, Wagner relays. The 35-year-old Reyes, a Met from 2003-11 and again since 2016, has managed a meager .583 OPS in 250 plate appearances this season. Reyes hasn’t decided on whether he’ll try to play again in 2019, but considering his output this year, he may not generate any interest as a free agent.
Don’t know anything about Ricco, but Omar and J.P. were failures’ as GMs. Are you as scared as I am on the prospects of the Wilpons hiring them? And I’m not even a Mets’ fan. Who would you want them to hire, Mets’ fans?
Went back and read one of your replies about Amphetamines not being PED’s. I’ve got to admit I totally agree with you.
appreciate that, Slevin.
Yea, I’ve seen that guy David post that multiple times, along with a few others.
Not sure where you guys stand, but to me it’s not an issue. Greenies were provided by the team doctors in bowls whereas PEDs without a prescription are basically cash transactions delivered to others in plain wrapping or in a hidden setting with the user also taking masking agents all designed to hide who’s actually using. The purpose of greenies is like that of five hour energy shots, a huge advertiser: alertness; certainly not the same as PEDs.
I disliked Omar quite a bit largely because he isn’t capable of having a conversation that sounds even remotely intelligent but as much as I agree that ultimately he wasn’t successful he wasn’t entirely unsuccessful either. He built contending playoff teams and had several drafted players and traded for players who develop well. Not all his credit but he should get some. Of course a lot of his moves were atrocious, they weren’t all bad and most GM’s have a good number of fails to their names too.
I think Cherrington is a good pick
He won’t take the job. Next
Minaya only drafted deGrom, Matz, Harvey , Duda, Dillion Gee, Jon Niese and Daniel Murphy. Serviceable major leaguers.. plus a couple of high end players. He didn’t do so bad
Jesus Christ….maybe he can heal Cespedes
Reyes won’t be back? Really? I mean he’s batting about a buck 90.
Minor league deal only as he doesn’t deserve a big league deal.
With the Mets, he’s through, and I don’t think any other team will pick him up.
He will wait til Jeff is desperate for a fan friendly move. Then he will be offered a 2 year $25 million deal.
Brett Kavanaugh????? Seriously, they need some real leadership, not named JP or Omar….they’re intriguing, because of the talent they have, but it just doesn’t seem to work for them.
And they’re stuck with the very young and very good Braves, the emerging Phils, and the ever-present Nats…….blowing it up may not be the worst case scenario……the farm system is a bit better than “meh”, but, again, the Braves and Phils have better ones, and the Nats have more potential high-ceiling types……
They should probably take advantage of the fact that “tanking” is now a popular thing to do, and go forward in that direction……the Yanks are good, young, and have more coming, so they’re going to be the “other” NY team for quite a while…..
Didn’t we basically see this article earlier in the week.oh I forgot it is NY so we have to discuss NON STOP
Poor Mets fans
Hey Dark—not poor Mets fans…
It’s
Mets fans make poor decisions…consistently.
Reyes has a -0.7 bWAR over his last 430 games. He’s been totally washed up since 2014/when he assaulted his wife.
Hey Justin. Reyes is aiming for an average like the one that he posted on his wife.
Crickets
Clever joke. Is your life so miserable that you have to comment on every Mets story to get any attention? It’s pathetic. The Yanks made the postseason. Try to enjoy that.