Mets Notes: GM Search, Callaway, Cespedes, Reyes

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.