New York Mets GM search: Chris Young is in, Bobby Heck is out (Report)

The New York Mets general manager search marches on. They’ve eliminated one of the favorites while a former Mets’ pitcher enters the race. 

Mike Puma of the New York Post reported that MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations, Chris Young, has interviewed for the New York Mets‘ general manager position.

Former pitcher Chris Young has interviewed with the Mets for their GM vacancy.

— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) November 25, 2020

Mets fans may remember Young from his time with the team. He was a starting pitcher for the Mets from 2011-2012, he was signed by Sandy Alderson. Since retiring, he’s worked with the MLB offices.

Young is a Princeton graduate and has quickly risen through the MLB offices. His position now may not seem impressive at first glance, but it’s the position that Joe Torre held until recently. Young has a lot of power in MLB and basically controls the on-field product.

He has no front office experience, but he knows baseball and he’s in a leadership role. Considering he’d be the No. 2, behind Alderson, in the Mets decision-making process, it could be a smart hire.

Meanwhile, one of the favorites for the position, Rays special assistant to the GM Bobby Heck, will not be the Mets GM. This comes from a report by SNY’s Andy Martino.

Heck had long been considered a favorite for the position due to his connection with Steve Cohen. Reports are that in 2018 Cohen recommended Heck for the GM job, but the Wilpons dismissed the idea.

It’s not clear if Heck interviewed for the position. Alderson stated on Monday that he interviewed six candidates for the position. Young is definitely one of them, is Heck another? Either way, there are still four or five more candidates that are currently unknown.