Despite numerous reports from anonymous sources, who said executives are hesitant to work with Mets owner Steve Cohen and president Sandy Alderson, Billy Beane came out to set the record straight.
“The only reason I would consider leaving what I’m doing now is because of Sandy Alderson and Steve Cohen,” Beane, the vice president of the Oakland Athletics told SNY on Wednesday.
Last week, the Mets were granted permission to interview Beane for their president of baseball operations vacancy.
However, Beane ultimately withdrew his name from consideration. And despite the speculation that poured in after the Mets struck out on the three sexiest names: Beane, David Stearns and Theo Epstein, Beane provided clarification as to why he declined to pursue this role.
“Creating chaos in my children’s lives for my own ambition feels like a selfish thing to do,” said Beane.
As it turns out, the 60-year-old is putting his family first, so he felt it would be unfair to uproot his children from the Bay Area.
His twin daughters are in Catholic high school, the same one Beane's wife attended. They are also involved in sports and have built a life there.
This was an initial concern from the get go, as Beane has been settled in Oakland since 1990. He has also turned down multiple offers to work in the Boston Red Sox front office in 2002 and 2019 for similar reasons as well.
But Beane was motivated to defuse the narrative that young executives are reluctant to join the Mets' front office. According to Beane, he sees this position as a great opportunity to work under a passionate owner with extensive resources while being mentored by Alderson, who made his career.
Beane was Alderson's protégé in Oakland's front office for several years, before succeeded him as GM in 1997.
And the rest is history, as Beane discovered a way to build a winning team with a low-budget. This brought along Michael Lewis' bestselling book Moneyball, as well as a movie where Brad Pitt starred as Beane.
Beane made it clear that his career would be no where without the guidance he received from Alderson. He valued their time together so much that he brought Alderson back to the A's front office after he left his role as Mets GM in 2018.
Beane was not pleased with the rumors swirling around about him not wanting to work with Alderson again, and emphasized the opportunity young execs have to make their career by taking the job with the Mets.
“This is such an amazing opportunity for a young executive,” Beane said. “You get to work with one of the smartest executives of all time. I had that opportunity and I’ve been happy with the way my career has gone.”
Now, the Mets will be forced to pivot to unknown candidates, which obviously come along with some risk.
Regardless, there are still capable names out there such as Josh Byrnes, senior VP of baseball operations for the Dodgers, who has already been linked to the Mets.
At this point, time is of the essence with the qualifying offer period and free agency looming in November.
The Mets already have infrastructure set in place, but they'd like to have a president of baseball operations brought in before they hire a manager and begin signing players.
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