The fact that the New York Mets are no longer looking for a president of baseball operations (Sandy Alderson is expected to take that role) doesn’t mean that the team isn’t looking for top baseball executives. In fact, now that they have new owner Steve Cohen, Alderson, and manager Luis Rojas, all energies and resources are directed to finding a good general manager.
It has been reported that the New York Mets already interviewed former Marlins president of baseball ops Michael Hill. Now, Mike Puma of the New York Post is tweeting that former big league pitcher Chris Young has also interviewed for the position.
Earlier this week, Alderson explained that six candidates have interviewed. One of them is, apparently, the former Mets’ pitcher.
Young is a 41-year-old former hurler. In 1297.2 career innings, he accumulated a 3.95 ERA. He even had a stint with the Mets, in 2011-2012. By that time, Alderson was already the general manager, a role he occupied from 2010 to 2018.
The former Mets’ player has been active in the office
Young has been working for MLB ever since he retired from playing. Per MLB Trade Rumors, the league “announced in May 2018 that Young had been named the league’s vice president of on-field operations, initiatives and strategy — a role in which he focused on the application of playing rules and regulations, on-field standards and discipline, pace of play and other special projects.”
In that role, Young reported directly to MLB’s chief baseball officer, Joe Torre, for the first two years. When the former Yankees’ manager moved into an advisory role as a special assistant to commissioner Rob Manfred in February, “Young took on a greater role within the league’s hierarchy and was promoted to senior vice president of on-field operations, initiatives and strategy,” per MLB Trade Rumors.
Quietly, Young has been accumulating valuable experience after his 13-year career ended. Could he be a serious candidate to be the general manager of the Mets?
Cohen, according to what he told reporters recently, would prefer experience from the winning candidate. “I’m not crazy about people learning on my dime,†he said. However, Young can’t be dismissed as an option.