New York Mets narrow GM search down to final 4 (Report)

The New York Mets have narrowed their general manager search down to four. An announcement could come as soon as next week. 

According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the New York Mets are down to four candidates in their general manager search.

Mets GM candidates include Red Sox ass’t GM Zack Scott, D-Backs ass’t GM Jared Porter, A’s exec Billy Owens and ex Marlins Prez/GM Michael Hill. There’s seems to be a vow of silence but unless someone comes out of woodwork, GM likely in that quartet. Decision may come next week.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 11, 2020

Billy Owens

Billy Owens name has long been connected to the Mets general manager opening. ESNY named him our top choice for the job way back in September.

Owens is the oldest candidate remaining who hasn’t been a general manager. He’ll be 50 years old in April. It’s hard to see him being the young candidate that Sandy Alderson wants to groom to one day take over the team.

However, Owens is qualified for the role. He’s one of the best scouts in MLB and he’s had a hand in turning the Oakland Athletics into one of the best scouting and development franchises in the game. He also has a prior connection to Sandy Alderson as the two worked together in 2019 and 2020.

Michael Hill

Michael Hill is another candidate whose name has been connected to the job for a while. The former Marlins’ president of baseball operations interviewed for the same job with the Mets before they decided not to hire anyone. He’s now a finalist for the general manager position.

Like Owens, Hill is older — he’ll be 50 in May. Given his previous tenure as a president of baseball operations, he wouldn’t need to be groomed for the role. That’s both good and bad for him.

Steve Cohen said in his opening press conference, “I don’t want people learning on my dime.” Hill’s experience will certainly appeal to that side of Cohen. However, it’s hard to see him taking over for Alderson after he leaves.

Hill hasn’t won much in his tenure as an executive. A lot of that is because of the horrid ownership situation the Marlins had with Jeffrey Loria and now Derek Jeter. Still, Hill made the postseason once and finished over .500 just three times in 14 years at the helm. That’s tough to ignore even with the limitations put on him.

Jared Porter

Jared Porter is the assistant GM and senior vice president of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He has his hands in everything the Diamondbacks do, but his background is in scouting and player development. He worked as the director of professional scouting for both the Red Sox and the Cubs before joining Mike Hazen in Arizona.

Porter has long been considered an up and coming front-office star. To most in baseball, it seemed just a matter of time before he found his first GM job.

At just 40-years-old Porter isn’t exactly young, but he’s young enough that he could take this job and lead the team for the foreseeable future.

Learning under Alderson before taking over the president of baseball operations would make sense for someone on Porter’s career path.

Zack Scott

Zack Scott is the most intriguing name on this list. He hasn’t been considered a top executive or future general manager. To see him on this list after not interviewing for a number of other open GM jobs is interesting. That wouldn’t make Scott a bad hire or unqualified for the job though.

Scott is the Boston Red Sox analytics guru and Chaim Bloom’s right-hand man. He currently oversees the Red Sox analytics and professional scouting departments.

He might have the best grasp on the blend of analytics and scouting as anyone on this list. However, he definitely leans on analytics.

He has a degree in mathematics and has spent almost his career in baseball research and development. That’s something that will likely connect with both Alderson and Cohen. Alderson, being one of the innovators of Moneyball alongside Billy Beane, and Cohen believe that analytics and data are keys to success in any profession.

Scott, 42 years old, has the least experience as a top-level executive of anyone here. He would certainly need to be groomed by Alderson before taking over and running the team on his own. However, his brilliant analytical mind could make the highest upside hire.