MLB

Strong-willed manager for Mets not in Alderson’s view

Sandy Alderson almost certainly will hire a low-profile manager for the Mets whose main focus will be to carry out the vision of the new general manager without drama.

So the likelihood of a Wally Backman or Bobby Valentine is minimal, at best. Think more along the lines of a John Gibbons, Bob Melvin or Don Wakamatsu.

Alderson will work to bring in a few loyalists from his past to help implement his philosophy. According to several sources, he already has reached out to Paul DePodesta, whom he hired in San Diego, to help strengthen the Mets’ statistical department and J.P. Ricciardi, whom he worked with in Oakland, to assist on player personnel. DePodesta, the former Dodgers GM, has to decide if he wants to leave the Padres for whom he is executive VP. A few executives briefed on the subject said they think DePodesta will join the Mets. Ricciardi, the former Blue Jays GM, is an analyst for ESPN who is weighing several options.

An Alderson ally told The Post that the new Mets GM feels like he is behind in addressing employment issues up and down the organization. For example, the contracts for the Mets’ scouts expire Saturday and several reached by phone yesterday said they were in the dark about their future.

To further accentuate the late start, an executive who used to work for Alderson said the new Mets GM would value “intelligence with leadership skills” in a managerial candidate and, thus, definitely would have interviewed John Farrell, who already was hired as the new Blue Jay manager, and Eric Wedge, who was hired as the new Mariner manager.

“Look at the trouble that Milwaukee and Pittsburgh are having finding good [managerial] candidates,” an NL personnel man said. “There is just not a lot out there.”

The executive who once worked with Alderson said “don’t have preconceived notions about who Sandy will hire. He is far too bright and open-minded to keyhole someone. This is not a close-minded person.”

That would mean Backman or Valentine or maybe even Joe Torre would be in play. One AL executive said, “Can you imagine how psyched a Mets fan would be if they woke up one morning soon and Sandy Alderson was the GM and Bobby Valentine was the manager?”

Except Alderson is on record as seeing the manager as a subordinate who should carry out the GM’s vision.

Translation: Limited pay, input and spectacle. That would go a long way to eliminate Backman, Valentine and Torre. Several people who know Alderson well expect he will value experience and, if possible, New York ties.

No one involved directly mentioned Melvin, Gibbons or Wakamatsu. But all were described as having elements that could entice Alderson. Melvin, who is under consideration by Milwaukee, previously managed Seattle and Arizona (he was fired by Josh Byrnes, who was runner-up to Alderson); plus Melvin served as a Mets scout this year. Gibbons played for the Mets and has strong ties to both Billy Beane and Ricciardi, who both consider Alderson a mentor. Wakamatsu was fired this year as Mariners manager, but is considered smart, hard working and served Beane’s A’s as bench coach in 2008.

Also, Alderson told a friend that he was shocked by “the limited flexibility” on the roster due to so many pricey, near-impossible-to-move players such as Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo and Carlos Beltran. But Mets ownership was clear in meetings with candidates that it sees the problem with the current condition of the roster and shaky infrastructure of the whole organization, and stressed that it is not looking for a quick fix, but a long-term vision that will restore winning and credibility to the franchise.

That is what made Alderson so attractive to the ownership: The belief — no matter how far behind he might be at this second — that he could prioritize a far-reaching strategy, articulate that philosophy well inside and outside the organization, hire and empower good employees, infuse the organization with a moral path, deliver panic-free decision making to a club that too often altered course to appease players, media and/or fans, and deliver instant credibility in the industry to a franchise struggling with its reputation.

Thus, for Alderson, the heavy lifting is about way more than the identity of the next manager despite all the attention that is about to focus on that hire.

joel.sherman@nypost.com