Sandy Alderson. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Mets narrowed their general manager search to frontrunner Sandy Alderson and Josh Byrnes and scheduled meetings with each next week to focus more specifically on what each would do in the immediate future if he was running the team’s baseball operations.
In the first phase of interviews, the Mets spent about eight hours with each of six candidates discussing more long-range philosophical issues and gauging comfort levels, according to friends and executives briefed on the process.
But now that Mets COO Jeff Wilpon and assistant GM John Ricco, who together conducted the bulk of the first-round interviews, have recommended Alderson and Byrnes as the finalists, the agenda for the next round will revolve around more immediate issues, such as managerial possibilities and how each finalist would approach this specific offseason.
Mets owner Fred Wilpon and team president Saul Katz also will participate in this round. Byrnes is due in Monday and Alderson on Tuesday.
It is believed that neither of the finalists would favor hiring Wally Backman as manager.
The other four GM candidates — Red Sox assistant to the GM Allard Baird, Blue Jays special assistant to the GM Dana Brown, White Sox assistant GM Rich Hahn and Dodgers assistant GM Logan White — were informed yesterday by Jeff Wilpon and Ricco that they no longer are being considered to succeed Omar Minaya.
Alderson is viewed as the leading contender. He is receiving strong support from the Commissioner’s Office — Bud Selig and Fred Wilpon have a strong, long-standing relationship. Alderson, the former GM of the A’s and ex-CEO of the Padres, also provides the stature and instant credibility the Mets are hoping their next GM exudes. Alderson currently heads up MLB’s attempts to improve eligibility and drug issues in the Dominican Republic.
Byrnes, however, was described as more than just a prop in this derby. According to eyewitnesses at the Peoria Sports Complex, Byrnes took advantage of living in Phoenix to attend an Arizona Fall League game yesterday that included Mets prospects on the Mesa Solar Sox playing against the Peoria Saguaros.
Byrnes was fired as the Diamondbacks’ GM in the middle of this season. He previously served as an executive for the Indians, Rockies and Red Sox. His time as assistant GM of the Red Sox — from 2001 until he was named Arizona GM in November 2005 — could enhance his Mets candidacy because those Boston teams had a black cloud over them like these Mets do and similarly felt like second-class citizens to the Yankees. The 2004 Red Sox famously erased those stigmas by rallying from a 3-0 series deficit to beat the Yankees in the ALCS en route to their first championship since 1918.
Byrnes, like Alderson, also scores high among colleagues for his intelligence and integrity.