Mets Morning News: Adam Cromie and Steve Cohen meet face-to-face

Meet the Mets

Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal is the latest to pen a column about how nobody seems to want the Mets’ GM job.

But former Nationals AGM Adam Cromie has emerged as the frontrunner for the job. Joel Sherman reports that Cromie and Steve Cohen had a face-to-face meeting on Tuesday night and an offer could be forthcoming.

Justin Toscano of Northjersey.com and Tim Healey of Newsday wrote profiles about Cromie, his career journey, and his decision to leave baseball.

If the Mets do indeed hire Cromie or another individual without a lot of experience, Sandy Alderson’s level of involvement in baseball operations will increase.

Regardless of who the Mets do ultimately hire as their general manager, their real target is still David Stearns, who will no longer be under contract with the Brewers after next season.

Scott Boras weighed in on some Mets and baseball related matters at the GM meetings, including the still-ongoing front office search, Kumar Rocker re-entering the draft, discouraging tanking, and interest in Michael Conforto.

“Those comments I would characterize as a blowhard in a house of cards,” Sandy Alderson said in response to Boras’ assertion that Michael Conforto is a coveted “beast of the NL East.”

Rivals believe it was a risk for the Mets to give Noah Syndergaard the qualifying offer, according to Jon Heyman.

The Mets met with Javier Báez’s representation yesterday, according to reports. Rumor has it that Báez could sign early in the offseason and the Mets remain interested in bringing him back.

Around the National League East

After being initially hesitant to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Juan Soto was convinced by medical experts and is now fully vaccinated. He hopes his experience can change the minds of others.

Phillies GM Dave Dombrowski has received a 2022 budget from John Middleton and said he doesn’t “find it restrictive.”

Mark Bowman of MLB.com looks at five questions the Braves are facing this offseason.

Marlins GM Kim Ng answered questions about the Marlins’ priorities this offseason.

Around Major League Baseball

The state of CBA negotiations are “as bad as I’ve ever seen it,” a source told Jon Heyman.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman hinted that the Yankees may be on the market for a center fielder, which indicates that they do not see Aaron Hicks as a sure thing moving forward.

The Yankees did make a signing yesterday, signing lefty Joely Rodríguez to a one-year, $2 million deal after the team declined his $3 million option.

The Dodgers officially signed Andrew Heaney to a one-year deal worth $8.5 million.

In his media availability, Scott Boras also talked up his two major clients at the shortstop position: “I think we have Semien and Seager on the market, these people have character that is so understood by teams because of who they are, what they’ve achieved and what they’ve done.”

Reliever Joakim Soria is retiring after a fourteen-year career in baseball.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

On a new episode of A Pod of Their Own, we discussed the debacle that is the Mets’ front office search, as well as reporting detailing sexual misconduct by Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.

We continued our season review series by taking a look back at Miguel Castro’s mostly good 2021.

Steve Sypa wrote about Mets owner Steve Cohen finding himself at the center of fight for better wages and conditions for minor league players.

This Date in Mets History

The Mets acquired Bobby Bonilla (for a second time) on this date in 1998.