On Saturday, Mike Puma of the New York Post reported that Luis Rojas is no longer being considered for the Mets’ managerial opening.
Rojas, 38, is the son of Felipe Alou and brother of former Met Moises Alou and has been a coach in the Mets organization since 2007.
Originally, Rojas was a coach in the Dominican Summer League that year, followed by a 2008 campaign where he coached with the Gulf Coast League Mets. From 2010-14, he bounced back and forth from managing in the GCL and managing the Low-A Savannah Sand Gnats.
In 2015, Rojas managed the St. Lucie Mets and in 2017-18, he was at the helm for Double-A Binghamton before being promoted to the big league staff for 2019 as a quality control coach.
Rojas has been viewed in the organization as a steady riser and potential future manager for the Mets. However, even though he missed out on the opening this year, Rojas should be tabbed as bench coach for the team going forward.
The bench coach position for the Mets has been a point of instability over the last several seasons. In fact, this will be the fourth different bench coach the Mets will have had in the last four seasons going into 2020.
Rojas is a young guy who has steadily worked his way up the organization, has experience managing, knows the young players and is highly regarded by them and the organization.
Tabbing him as the next bench coach could be a valuable experience for Rojas, who would get a taste of working alongside whoever the new Mets’ manager is, managing games in the event the manager is ejected, and being more immersed with the team.
Plus, it would also prime him to perhaps be a manager one day himself, which would be beneficial to both him and the Mets.
For Rojas, him missing out on the managerial gig this time is not an ending, but can be the beginning of a new chapter of his career, especially if they make him the bench coach.
The remaining candidates for the Mets’ managerial position are Eduardo Perez, Tim Bogar, Derek Shelton and Carlos Beltran.
