The Mets have operated without a general manager since last October, when Billy Eppler resigned during David Stearns’ first week as president of baseball operations. They might continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
“I haven’t settled on a decision yet,” Stearns said on Thursday when asked about the future of the GM position.
Haven’t settled on whether or not to fill the position at all?
“That’s right,” Stearns said.
That matches a general sense around the industry that the Mets don’t seem in a hurry to hire or appoint a GM.
This is not the only structural element of the organization that Stearns is still mulling. As any new head of a department would, Stearns has spent this season observing personnel and systems that predated his arrival. Three other areas awaiting decisions are pro scouting, analytics, and international.
Stearns’ bosses, Steve and Alex Cohen, are high on their first-year head of baseball and would support his recommendation. The structure of the baseball operations department is Stearns’ call.
Internal speculation for the GM job has centered on Vice President & Special Assistant to the President of Baseball Operations Eduardo Brizuela, who came to the Mets from Milwaukee shortly after Stearns. Brizuela is well-liked and could emerge as a leading candidate, but not without an extended process.
If Stearns does decide to seek a GM, he would not automatically promote from within. “It would be a fairly exhaustive search,” he said.
If he does not seek a GM this winter, that will not preclude him from doing so in the future, he said.
Industry insiders have connected two rival executives, Matt Klentak of the Brewers and Mike Groopman of the Boston Red Sox, to Stearns and the Mets. Both worked with Stearns in Milwaukee and are said to enjoy strong personal relationships with him.
Klentak, now Executive Advisor to Brewers GM Matt Arnold, served as GM of the Philadelphia Phillies from late 2015 until late 2020. Groopman is an assistant GM in Boston.
Folks around the league have also mentioned Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner as a potential GM in the mold of Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes and Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow. Both are former MLB pitchers with a firm grasp on contemporary ideas and data. Hefner has come up in internal conversations in other front offices as a target for high-ranking executive jobs, according to league sources.
Beyond the GM job, Stearns is still deciding exactly how to structure his front office. Many teams now employ a president or chief as the head of baseball operations, and layer a GM under that person. But it is possible to delegate tasks to assistant GMs or department heads, too.
Last offseason, Stearns conducted interviews for a head of analytics. Ben Zauzmer once held that job, but is now an assistant GM. That promotion created a lane for a quantitative position that would report to Zauzmer. Stearns did not land on a fit last winter, and is undecided whether to try again.
Nate Horowitz, hired by Eppler, is overseeing the vitally important pro scouting department. One industry source said that Horowitz is expected to continue doing so, but Stearns says that he views that, too, as a decision for the offseason.
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