This is a season that no one with the New York Mets would’ve envisioned.
Almost right from the outset, they were a mess, and they haven’t been in the playoff picture down the stretch at all despite having an incredibly expensive roster that featured a host of changes in the offseason.
Despite that, there’s been at least one positive: Andy Green.
Green stepped into the dugout when Carlos Mendoza was fired in June, and he has a record of 35-34 as an interim manager through Sept. 15.
“The worst-case scenario — that the team would effectively roll over down the stretch — hasn’t occurred, with young players such as Carson Benge and Nolan McLean continuing to develop,” ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote in a new article on Wednesday.
Despite that, Green apparently isn’t going to manage the Mets in 2027.
Andy Green’s Future Decided
According to Olney, the Mets are going to find a different manager going forward.
That’s because the plan is to move Green back to the front office.
“However, the plans for Green have not changed, according to organizational sources: He will return to his work in the front office rather than continue as the club’s manager going forward,” Olney writes. “And the Mets have the option of choosing to reward Green by installing him in the currently vacant role of general manager.”
It would be fascinating for Green to end up as the GM after his role as interim manager, even if that is the path he had been heading on prior to this season anyway.
The front office and dugout often feel like very different places, but in modern baseball there’s more connection between the groups than ever, and Green would likely bridge things quite well.
Mets’ New Manager
According to Olney, David Stearns (head of baseball operations) will do the search for the next manager.
“(Owner) Steve Cohen will have final say, as owner, but he won’t push Stearns aside to pick his own candidate,” Olney writes. “If Stearns wants to target a prominent name, then Hall of Famers Carlos Beltran and Albert Pujols could be in play.”
There’s also another name that is a popular one, particular because of connection with Green.
“If Stearns opts for experience managing in the majors, then former Cubs manager David Ross — for whom Green was a bench coach in Chicago — could be a possible fit,” Olney writes. “Green, who has spoken about how much he learned from his time working with Ross, could be an important ally through a Mets’ managerial search.”
Any hire from the list of Beltran, Pujols and Ross would be viewed as a positive move by the Mets, but the hard part would still be coming — they’d still have to actually win games with their conceptually talented roster.
But at least Green helped the Mets stabilize the ship a bit this season, and he’ll have a hand in what comes next, too.
Andy Green’s Future With Mets Has Been Decided