Mets Hurry Up and Wait in POBO Search

These things can never be easy, can they?

The current state of limbo the Mets find themselves in is frustrating, no doubt. Hurry up and wait.

With a checklist of tasks to accomplish this offseason and the mantra of “oh geez, what will they screw up next?” practically ingrained into the fabric (and fan base) of this organization, the anxiety that’s coursing its way through Flushing should be expected.

There’s a lot riding on what the Mets do this offseason. From top to bottom, this is a watershed moment in the infancy of Steve Cohen’s ownership tenure. Either continue wading in the shallow end or start climbing that high-dive with the hopes of making a splash.

Naturally, the hiring of a president of baseball operations is priority number one, but even that process has been slowed to a crawl.

Heading into the initial weeks of the offseason with a plan is ideal. The Mets currently don’t even have a front office in place to put those wheels in motion. The disadvantages of this scenario are evident.

There’s plenty of time to get things back on track. Though, you wouldn’t deduce that upon perusing the newspaper or social media or by flipping on sports radio these days.

Again, this is a tormented fan base. We’ve been conditioned to expect the worst and we’re knee-deep in that pessimism right now. Perpetual consternation, whether justified or not, is our modus operandi. You can blame the last owners for that.

A wave of non-interest from the Mets’ three bigger targets — former Red Sox and Cubs president Theo Epstein and Oakland top exec Billy Beane removed themselves from consideration and Milwaukee formally declined New York’s request to interview David Stearns — and MLB’s ongoing postseason has put a crimp on things, but that’s not the only perceived factor in this saga.

Mets team president Sandy Alderson is seen by some as an albatross hanging over the position. That’s understandable. No one wants to take the reins of a ball club but not have full autonomy.

Assurances of Alderson staying on the sidelines with regards to baseball operations are all fine and dandy until that phone rings with a, “nope, that’s not going to work for us,” just as a move is being culminated.

We get that hypothetical apprehension, 100 percent. Still, there are a lot more ducks in this row.

The Mets have been linked to two Dodgers baseball ops executives, Josh Byrnes and Brandon Gomes, but until their season is completed (currently down 3-2 to Atlanta in the NLCS), they’re both back-burnered.

Mike Puma of the New York Post tossed out a few names on Thursday including Tampa Bay’s vice president of baseball development, Peter Bendix, who piques our interest substantially, and there are likely to be a bunch more coming out over the next few weeks.

Bottom line: there will be options, there will be traction, and, eventually, there will be a hire. Sooner rather than later is the preferred timeframe, of course. But patience is a virtue in these sorts of scenarios.

As the Mets can attest, making the wrong hire is much worse than taking a little heat for making sure you make the right hire.

It appears we’ll just have to wait and let this thing play out. The worst, right?

---

Never any paywalls. Once it leaves my head, it’s yours. If you want to pay me for my work, it’s greatly appreciated.

Become a paid subscriber below, or if you enjoyed the story, drop a buck or two in our Venmo account (@TheAppleNYM)