THE BIG STAGE OF NEW YORK INTIMIDATES MANY METS GM CANDIDATES
New York Mets https://www.espn.com/mlb/team/_/name/nym/new-york-mets president Sandy Alderson says the biggest impediment in the club’s dragging search for a general manager isn’t his presence nor owner Steve Cohen, but the spotlight created by the New York market.
“I think it’s mostly about New York, and not about, you know, Steve or the organization or what have you,” he said Tuesday. “It’s a big stage and some people would just prefer to be elsewhere.”
Alderson said the team is considering several candidates for its vacancy, but he does not have any interviews lined up during baseball’s general manager meetings this week in Southern California. He hopes to have some clarity by the end of the week but did not want to set a deadline for when New York will end its ongoing search.
“I don’t want to give you a timeline,” he said. “We’ve already blown through what most people would say is a reasonable timeline.”
New York fired acting general manager Zack Scott on Nov. 1, two months after he was arrested on charges of drunken driving. Scott was promoted to the role in January when Jared Porter was fired after fewer than 40 days on the job following revelations he sent sexually explicit text messages and images to a female reporter in 2016 while working for the Chicago Cubs https://www.espn.com/mlb/team/_/name/chc/chicago-cubs.
Porter and Scott were hired the last offseason after Alderson and Cohen failed in their search for a president of baseball operations. Alderson said the club has hit a similar roadblock this offseason.
Alderson said several candidates were unable to get permission from their current club to interview for the job, while others have declined because they are too comfortable personally or professionally where they are.
Largely, though, he thinks New York itself is keeping people away.
