After the New York Mets announced on Monday afternoon that they were not picking up the team option on former manager Luis Rojas, they appear to be moving things along with this offseason relatively quickly.
According to Mike Puma of the New York Post an industry source has told him that the Mets plan on scheduling an interview with former Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox executive Theo Epstein for their front office opening as soon as later this week.
Over the past few months, multiple outlets have reported that Epstein would be uninterested in merely joining a ball club as its President of Baseball Operations. According to Mike Puma, while no word on negotiations could leak until the two sides meet, Epstein could be in line for an increase from his $10 million dollar salary, as well as a possible ownership stake in the ball club.
Joining Epstein on the Mets’ shortlist of potential options are Oakland’s Billy Beane and Milwaukee’s David Stearns. Both would require permissions to be granted from their ball clubs, something the Mets have yet to attempt to ascertain.
Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweeted last week that as of now, Epstein and Stearns appear unlikely to join the ball club. He feels their best bet may be to try to lure Beane, who has a long time relationship with current Mets acting General Manager and Team President Sandy Alderson.
However, the addition of someone of Epstein’s caliber would be of a different tier. He cured the 86 and 108 year championship droughts of the Red Sox and Cubs, respectively.
Pulling Epstein away from a cozy position as a consultant for Major League Baseball might be the greatest gift Steve Cohen could give to Mets fans after a year filled with so much optimism ended on such a sour note.
This is going to be one of the more interesting storylines to watch over the next few weeks. Adding a proven and well-known executive certainly seems to be one of Cohen and company’s top priorities this offseason.
