The New York Mets are currently working with no president of baseball operations and no general manager. Team president Sandy Alderson is currently calling the shots from a baseball standpoint, as the team won’t fill the former position for the time being. For the latter, though, the search is on.
The fact that the New York Mets don’t have a general manager yet hasn’t stopped them from adding reliever Trevor May and welcoming back starting pitcher Marcus Stroman, among other moves. They are constantly talking with agents about several players and are said to be seriously engaging the idea of bringing catcher James McCann.
Former Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill and ex Mets pitcher Chris Young have interviewed for the general manager position, and now, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post is reporting that Billy Owens is a candidate to be the Mets next GM.
Hill is interviewing with other teams, and Young took his name from consideration for the Mets’ gig and took the job as a general manager of the Texas Rangers on Friday.
Chris Young said no to the Mets
The Rangers have announced the hiring of Chris Young as their new general manager. The former hurler had been in the running for the Mets’ GM gig, but he removed himself from consideration to take the Rangers’ offering, largely because he lives in Dallas, per Rotoworld.
Owens, on the other hand, remains in the running. The Mets put their eye on him because of his very good work with the Oakland Athletics as an executive, and he worked with Alderson in the past two seasons in Oakland.
Davidoff reports that it’s not clear whether Owens has formally interviewed for the job, but “the Mets have held internal discussions about his candidacy, according to an industry source.”
Per the Post, Owens has spent 22 years in the A’s organization and became assistant general manager/director of player personnel in 2016. Davidoff writes that “he is highly regarded throughout the industry for having a keen scouting eye — he pushed Oakland to commit $36 million to a Cuban free agent named Yoenis Cespedes in 2012 — as well as strong people skills.”