How The Mets Can Become The 'East Coast Dodgers'
When Steve Cohen took over the Mets in 2020, there were whispers the organization was modeling a blueprint to become the East Coast version of the Los Angeles Dodgers by being more analytically driven.
And they initially backed this up by hiring Ben Zauzmer away from the Dodgers to be their director of analytics prior to the 2021 season.
Now, as the Mets begin their search to transform their front office, they have discussed Dodgers senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes, along with Los Angeles' assistant general manager Brandon Gomes.
Due to MLB rules, the Mets cannot hire multiple executives from the same team's front office in the same offseason. This means the Mets will only be able to bring in one of Byrnes or Gomes this winter.
Several other reporters have been all over the Mets' interest in these two candidates, including SNY's Andy Martino, MMO's Mike Mayer and The New York Posts' Mike Puma.
According to Mayer, Gomes played a big hand in the Dodgers' impressive trade deadline in July, where they acquired ace Max Scherzer and infielder Trea Turner in a blockbuster deal with the Washington Nationals.
The Mets intend on waiting until the Dodgers' finish their season before requesting permission to talk to either executive.
And with the Dodgers looking like the favorites to win the World Series, the Mets will have to be patient if they are truly considering Byrnes and Gomes as serious candidates to join their front office.
Cohen recently talked to front office guru Theo Epstein earlier in the week but they mutually agreed the Mets' job was not the right fit.
Brynes was assistant GM to Epstein for two seasons with the Boston Red Sox, where they helped break the team's World Series curse in 2004. He also served as GM for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2005-10, GM and VP of baseball operations for the San Diego Padres from 2011-13 and has been the Dodgers' senior VP of baseball operations since 2014.
As for Gomes, the former big-league pitcher joined the Dodgers organization in 2016 as their pitching coordinator of performance on the baseball development side.
He has since risen through the ranks rather quickly, earning a promotion to director of player development during the 2017 offseason, before getting elevated to his current role as VP and assistant GM in March of 2019.
Although the Mets have their eyes on Gomes, he appears to be better suited for a GM role given his prior experience. If New York doesn't hire Byrnes to be president of baseball operations, this could pave the way for Gomes to potentially come in to be their next GM.
The Mets have also been linked to Oakland's Billy Beane and Milwaukee's David Stearns as candidates to take on their president of baseball operations vacancy, but these two names are currently under contract and it would be tough to poach them away from their respective organizations.
