Steve Cohen’s first few weeks as majority owner of the New York Mets have been spent searching rather than signing — which is all in due diligence.
As new leadership settles in, finding a new president of baseball operations or general manager to perform under Sandy Alderson is at the forefront of tasks to complete in Queens.
On Tuesday, reports surfaced that they were not granted to interview David Stearns of the Milwaukee Brewers for their PBO vacancy, but did request a meeting with Mike Chernoff of the Cleveland Indians for the same position. This coming shortly after Theo Epstein stepped down from his role as president of the Chicago Cubs and confirmed that he would take 2021 off.
It is unclear as of now if the Mets received permission to interview Chernoff, who helped build the Cleveland team that came within a few innings of winning the 2016 World Series and breaking the franchise’s title drought that spans back to 1948.
On the general manager front, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported that the Mets are considering Tampa Bay Rays executive Bobby Heck for a front-office role. A source was able to confirm Morosi’s report with amNewYork Metro, adding that Cohen has kept tabs on the Rays’ front office and that Heck has practically “been groomed” for a position with the Mets.
As of now, the assumption is that he would be under consideration for the GM job, which was vacated shortly after Cohen’s arrival when he dismissed Brodie Van Wagenen.
Heck is currently the special assistant to Rays’ general manager, Erik Neander, who was reportedly a target of the Mets as well, but likely will not leave his post in Tampa Bay.
With the Rays, Heck has helped Neander a franchise with the fourth-smallest payroll in Major League Baseball become an American League force, winning 96 games last season before winning the AL East and pennant in 2020. They made just their second-ever World Series appearance in October, falling to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games.
