Mets’ GM search down to Chaim Bloom and Brodie Van Wagenen

According to Jon Heyman, the Mets’ GM search is down to Brodie Van Wagenen and Chaim Bloom. Doug Melvin, the former GM of the Brewers and the presumptive front runner for the job, is out of the running.

This is a fairly shocking development. In the past week, everything pointed to the Mets hiring the 66-year old Melvin, who was assumed to be the favored candidate of Fred Wilpon. Wilpon reportedly wants to make the Mets (who have one of the smallest analytics departments in baseball) more old-school, and the long-time baseball man Melvin seemed like the candidate that best fit that mindset.

Instead, it is Rays’ vice president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom and player agent Brodie Van Wagenen that make up the pool of finalists. Bloom, a 33-year old Yale graduate, started his career with the Padres before working in the league office and ultimately making his way up the ranks with the Rays. He’s often viewed as an analytically-inclined hire, but also headed up the player development department for the Rays. Van Wagenen, meanwhile, is the co-head of the baseball division at CAA, and represents several current Mets, including Yoenis Cespdes, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard. His status as an agent makes hiring him a bit tricky, and he is viewed as a more outside-the-box hiring.

The Mets hope to have their new GM named by next week, which fits with the general moratorium on big announcements during the World Series.