Mets could reportedly target Theo Epstein to take over baseball operations

New York Mets
Dec 7, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; New York Mets sign and logo during the MLB winter meetings at Gaylord Opryland Resort. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Mets, who held the NL East’s top spot for months but now find themselves struggling and on the outside looking for a playoff spot, may overhaul things in the not so distant future, according to recent reports.

Per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (link to the NJ Advance Media article here), Steve Cohen, the Mets’ owner, “remains interested in executing his original plan from last offseason to hire a big-name president of baseball operations above his GM.”

Rosenthal explains that Cohen’s search could end up in a well-known executive, responsible of breaking two curses in his career: Theo Epstein.

Epstein was the general manager of the Boston Red Sox in 2004 when they erased a 0-3 deficit in the American League Championship Series against the Yankees and broke an 86-year long drought without World Series wins in Boston by winning the Fall Classic against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Could the Mets convince Epstein to join?

Epstein is currently working for the commissioner’s office, but the report states that his interest in the Mets’ position would undoubtedly grow if Cohen were to give him an ownership stake and full control of baseball operations.

Epstein, besides the 2004 title, won another one in 2007 with the Red Sox, having laid part of the foundation for a third one in 2013. The executive, who would definitely help the Mets take the next step and opt for their first title since 1986, joined the Chicago Cubs as the president in 2011 and won a World Series in 2016, breaking another curse in the process (they hadn’t lifted the trophy since 1908.)

After nine years with Chicago, he left last season and joined the MLB office as a consultant. Would an approach by Cohen and the Mets be enticing enough for him to leave the Commissioner’s office and rejoin a baseball organization? Only time will tell.

 

Zack Scott is currently acting as the Mets’ GM.