Mets Hire Terry Collins As Next Manager

After a month-long managerial search, the New York Mets have reportedly found their man to replace Jerry Manuel.

Reports from both ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin and Newsday’s David Lennon have the Mets hiring Terry Collins as their next manager.

A fourth candidate may be Mets third base coach Chip Hale, but that’s currently uncertain. The team will also interview Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo on Monday, but he isn’t likely to go anywhere.

Last week, we heard about a number of internal candidates the Mets were considering for their vacant managerial position. This week, they’re going to turn their sights more to people from outside the organization.

Among them? The NY Daily News names Rangers hitting coach Clint Hurdle and former Mariners skipper Don Wakamatsu. Additionally, Nick Cafardo reports that the Mets will interview Red Sox bench coach DeMarlo Hale. Hurdle made a name for himself running the show in Colorado. Wakamatsu had a very successful 2009 debut in Seattle before 2010 turned sour. And Hale has been a strong candidate for a few teams before, and nearly got the job in Toronto that went to John Farrell.

Their second order of business this offseason is to find a replacement for manager Jerry Manuel. They wanted to find a GM so he could hire his own choice, and now Alderson is preparing his interview list.

Alderson is also planning to meet with Chip Hale and probably Wally Backman. Hale was most recently the team’s third base coach, while Backman manages the Brooklyn Cyclones, a minor league affiliate. And just to add more names to the pile, there’s AAA manager Ken Oberkfell, AA manager Tim Teufel, and minor league field coordinator Terry Collins.

It’s all official now - the Mets have decided to hire Sandy Alderson to serve as their new general manager, and the press conference will take place Friday afternoon, at 2pm ET.

It’s been said that Alderson’s first order of business in New York will be finding a new manager to replace the departed Jerry Manuel. But his actual first move may be filling out the rest of his front office staff. And towards that end, we have some leads:

His first task with the Mets will be finding a new manager to replace Jerry Manuel. They’ll want to get that done in short order so that the front office can turn its attention to roster matters.

We have some further developments in the Mets general manager story. We heard earlier today that Logan White was out of the running. Now, via Jon Heyman, we learn that Rick Hahn, Dana Brown, and Allard Baird are out of the running as well.

Only Josh Byrnes and Sandy Alderson have been invited back for second-round interviews, meaning that Byrnes and Alderson stand as the finalists. Again, it’s worth repeating that Alderson has been considered the front-runner all along, but now we know exactly who his competition is as this process winds down.

The Mets have been working with a pool of six candidates to fill their vacancy at general manager. That’s now down to five, as Logan White has been dropped from the running. White will remain with the Dodgers’ front office, where he serves as an assistant to general manager Ned Colletti in charge of amateur and international scouting.

Among the six, the overwhelming favorite remains Sandy Alderson, who just recently completed the second half of his interview. Alderson is considered by some to by the favorite, and by others to be a lock.

The Mets have already interviewed five people for their opening at general manager. We may now add a sixth name to the list of candidates, as the team has asked for, and been granted, permission to interview Dana Brown. Brown has most recently served as the Blue Jays’ special assistant to the GM, and previously worked for several years with the Expos and Nationals.

Brown will serve as the Mets’ minority interview, and Sandy Alderson remains the strong odds-on favorite.

The Mets’ series of GM interviews has begun, and you can officially add two more names to the list of candidates: Sandy Alderson and Logan White. Alderson has been in baseball for nearly three decades, and previously served as GM of the Oakland A’s. White, meanwhile, has recently served as the assistant GM with the Dodgers.

It was rumored a few days ago that the Mets had already decided on hiring Alderson, despite the fact that he hadn’t yet interviewed. We’ll see where things go from here, as it’s possible that his interview is little but a formality.

After removing Omar Minaya from the position, the Mets are wasting little time in trying to fill their vacancy at general manager. According to Jon Heyman, they’re prepared to begin interviews this week:

Byrnes, Hahn, and Baird do not make up the Mets’ complete list, and other people believed to be under strong consideration are Sandy Alderson, Jerry DiPoto, Dan Jennings, Terry Ryan, and Gerry Hunsicker.

The team has scheduled a 1:30pm ET press conference to discuss its decision, and the journalists present have surely had weeks, if not months, to prepare their lines of questions.

Up next, the Mets will interview various candidates and hire a new GM, who will then interview various candidates and hire a new manager.

The Mets have not yet begun interviewing potential GM candidates, and it’s assumed that the GM will then be responsible for hiring a new manager, so one can expect these two positions to remain vacant for at least a little while.

It is possible that both Minaya and Manuel will remain with the organization in different roles, as each is well-liked.