Mets Morning News: Hefner to stay on as pitching coach, Mets in contact with Brewers GM Matt Arnold

Meet the Mets

With the World Series upon the baseball world, the Mets are still searching for the people to lead their front office moving forward. Mike Puma reports that the team has had talks with Brewers general manager Matt Arnold about hiring him as their new president of baseball operations. The Mets are still awaiting permission from the Brewers to interview Arnold.

It also remains a possibility that the Mets could promote someone from within the organization, such as assistant GM Ian Levin or vice president of amateur/international scouting Tommy Tanous.

Jeremey Hefner will return as the Mets’ pitching coach next year, a role in which he’s served for the past two seasons.

Sam Fels of Deadspin commented on the embarrassing nature of the Mets being rebuffed by their A-list and B-list candidates for their front office vacancies. LOLMets never says die, am I right?

Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reviewed the contract status of each member of the Mets roster.

Zach Buchanan of The Athletic takes a look at how the Mets might tweak Brett Baty’s approach at the plate to best tap into the potential of “that big Texas boy power.”

Around the National League East

As you may have heard, Atlanta is in the World Series and played Game 1 in Houston last night. They beat the Astros 6-2, but starter Charlie Morton fractured his fibula on a comebacker to the mound, forcing Atlanta to use a lot of bullpen due to his early exit. Morton will miss the rest of the World Series. Remarkably, Morton managed to throw 16 pitches on a broken leg.

It’s a rather tense World Series for the Snitker family, with Brian Snitker being the manager of the Atlanta Braves and his son Troy being a co-hitting coach with the Astros.

Regarding the name of Atlanta’s baseball team, Rob Manfred said, “We don’t market our game on a nationwide basis. Ours is an everyday game. You’ve gotta sell tickets every single day to the fans in that market. And there are all sorts of differences between the regions in terms of how the teams are marketed.” He also said that “the Native American community in that region is wholly supportive of the Braves program, including the Chop.”

Evan Macy of Philly Voice takes a look at how the Phillies may be able to improve their starting rotation for next season.

Christina De Nicola of MLB.com did a similar breakdown of contract status to DiComo, but for the Marlins roster.

Around Major League Baseball

The staff at the New York Post made their World Series predictions.

The Astros added Marwin Gonzalez to their World Series roster, replacing the injured Jake Meyers. It is Houston’s only roster change from the ALCS.

The current World Series matchup features rosters that still have the fingerprints of two executives who have been blacklisted from the game: John Coppolella and Jeff Lunhow.

Prior to Game 1 of the World Series last night at Minute Maid Park, Rob Manfred presented Shohei Ohtani with the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award. It is the first time Manfred has selected a recipient for the honor since taking over as Commissioner in 2015.

The Padres interviewed Ozzie Guillen for their managerial vacancy. They have also interviewed Mike Shildt and Luis Rojas for the position.

Rob Arthur of Baseball Prospectus showed that most pitchers add significantly to their velocity during the postseason.

Andy McCullough of The Athletic wonders if the events of the 2021 playoffs will put a stop to the trend of starting pitchers pitching in relief during the postseason.

According to reporting from The Athletic, the Alameda County board of supervisors voted 4-1 in support of an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) to fund a new ballpark for the Oakland A’s at Howard Terminal. This vote is non-binding, however.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

We reviewed Aaron Loup’s very good 2021 season out of the Mets bullpen and revisited our bold predictions from the beginning of the season.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 1986, the Mets won the World Series. They still haven’t done it since.