According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, the Mets are now considering several candidates to replace Omar Minaya as GM.

Mets people have high regard for assistant GM John Ricco and consider him a future GM, but the team apparently will instead look to someone with more experience for their top front office position. They are is said to be ready to consider ex-Padres GM Kevin Towers, ex-Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes and White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn, among others, to replace Minaya for that role. Byrnes and Hahn, assuming they are interested, are both extremely highly regarded. Byrnes helped bring the D-backs to the NLCS championship series in 2007 while Hahn was part of the 2005 World Series championship team with the White Sox.

Towers is already reportedly the front-runner to get the D-Backs GM job, and an announcement could come shortly.

Jon Daniels is also an option if he opts out of his contract with the Texas Rangers, and last week Andy Martino of the Daily News said that John Ricco has definitely not been ruled out.

I think that basically anyone who is available will be rumored to have interest from the Mets by Heyman, Rosenthal and others. It’s not really news as much as it is obvious and apparent to all.

The bottom line is that Omar Minaya will be replaced, and right now the Mets are looking at EVERY OPTION and not ruling anyone out.

Everybody has an opinion on who should or shouldn’t be the new Mets GM, but basically it’s all just based on hunches and a crap shoot. Was anyone one of Omar’s skeptics on record immediately after his hiring predicting that everything would end so badly? I doubt it. People will accept whoever gets the job and hope for the best. All the Mets could do is try and fill the job with someone who a great judge of talent, an exceptional communicator, a master negotiator, and above all a solid leader with a good corporate background. Easier said than done, right?

The one thing I did find interesting in Heyman’s article is this:

In any case, New York is only a small part of the story this winter. Some estimate there could be as many as 12-15 managerial openings, with suspense all over the map.

I agree with Heyman, and that’s why I have said and will still say that the Mets should simply dismiss Jerry Manuel now and get the jump on finding the best replacement out there.

Waiting seems like a poor strategy as far as replacing Manuel goes.