The Mets’ offseason started with three swings and three misses.
After former Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs general manger Theo Epstein dropped out of the race to be the Mets’ next team president, the team got more bad news on Monday. The Milwaukee Brewers declined the Mets’ request to interview president David Stearns, while Oakland Athletics president Billy Beane also withdrew his name from consideration for the role.
Owner Steve Cohen’s quest to land a big name to head up baseball operations is off to a rocky start with three big candidates off the table. Now the Mets need to expand their search.
Here are three other possible candidates to lead the Mets’ overhaul of the front office.
Josh Byrnes
The Mets have already been tied to Byrnes in their search for a new president of baseball operations. Byrnes has spent the past eight seasons as senior vice president of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are still currently playing in the postseason and attempting to defend their World Series title. That would mean the Mets couldn’t speak to Byrnes until the Dodgers are done playing, if they receiver permission.
Byrnes isn’t the only Dodgers executive to be tied to the Mets in recent weeks, either. Assistant general manager Brandon Gomes has been named as a potential candidate for a Mets front-office role, though the Dodgers could promote him to keep him in L.A.
Chris Antonetti
While the Mets didn’t have any luck getting permission from the Brewers to speak to Stearns, they could request to speak with Cleveland Indians president Chris Antonetti. Antonetti became GM of the Indians in 2010, and he was promoted to president in 2015. He helped build the team that reached the World Series in 2016.
Getting permission to interview Antonetti would be another hurdle, but with Cleveland seeing plenty of turnover on their roster in recent seasons, perhaps there’s more of a chance to Mets could get him in the door for an interview.
Jeff Luhnow
The Mets wouldn’t need to seek permission to interview Luhnow, since he’s currently out of a job. But they’d have to deal with the same issues that led to Carlos Beltran leaving his role as manager in 2020 before he ever sat on the bench for a game.
Luhnow was general manger of the Houston Astros from 2011 through 2020, building the roster that won the World Series in 2017 and reached it again in 2019. But he was fired in 2020 after being suspended for the entire season due to his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, along with manager A.J. Hinch. That same scandal cost Beltran his job with the Mets.
So there’s certainly baggage attached to Luhnow. But others involved in the scandal have returned to work in baseball. After serving his suspension in 2020, Hinch was hired to manage to Detroit Tigers. Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who parted ways with Boston prior to the 2020 due to his involvement, was rehired by the Red Sox in 2021.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription.
Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com.
Ad Choices