The Mets were denied permission to talk to San Diego Padres quality control coach Ryan Flaherty for their open bench coach job, according to a report from The Athletic‘s Ken Rosenthal.
Flaherty was retained as a quality control coach role after the team hired Bob Melvin to be its coach. He was previously an advanced scout for Padres before earning the promotion. Flaherty’s coaching career piggybacks off an eight-year MLB playing career. He played under Buck Showalter under the Orioles from 2012 to 2017 as a utilityman. He was a former first-round pick by the Cubs.
“The Padres value him highly,” Rosenthal reported. “This late in the offseason, they simply were not willing to let him go.” He also said Flaherty was part of the process of luring Melvin to be the Padres’ new manager.
The Mets still have a handful of reported candidates for their bench coach job. These names include:
- Reds game planning and outfield coach Jeff Pickler
- Dodgers first-base coach Clayton McCollough
- Former Orioles bench coach John Russell
Russell was Showalter’s bench coach for his entire Orioles tenure. McCollough, on the other hand, interviewed for the Mets’ head manager job, but he didn’t make it to the second round of interviews. Nevertheless, he reportedly impressed the front office brass, and they are interested in bringing him out east to be Showalter’s right-hand man.
The team’s bench coach position is the primary one left for the team to fill on Buck Showalter’s staff. This week, the team hired Joey Cora as its third-base coach, Wayne Kirby as its first-base coach, and they poached Eric Chavez from the Yankees to be the team’s hitting coach. (Chavez was briefly considered to be the bench coach before moving to the hitting coach role.) Jeremy Hefner is still the pitching coach and was the only coach retained from the previous administration.
With the lockout of players by MLB owners expected to last well into January, the Mets have time to sift through candidates for the bench coach job. It wouldn’t be a surprise, though, to see someone offered the job this week given how active the team was last week hiring coaches.
