An introduction of the Mets’ new regime to the fan base will come Tuesday afternoon with a Zoom press conference.
Mets owner Steve Cohen and team president Sandy Alderson are scheduled on the call, which is set to begin at 12:30 p.m. and will be streamed on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Mets.com. It’s also likely SNY will carry the press conference, but as of Sunday night that had not been finalized.
The 64-year-old Cohen, a hedge-fund billionaire and lifelong Mets fan, completed his $2.4 billion purchase of the club from Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz on Friday. That same afternoon Alderson gutted the front office, announcing that general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, assistant GMs Allard Baird and Adam Guttridge, director of player development Jared Banner and special assistant Omar Minaya had departed the organization.
Cohen has been active on Twitter, where he announced the deal had closed. On Sunday, he indicated the statue honoring Tom Seaver that has been in the works for the past 18 months will likely be ready and unveiled for the start of next season. In previous tweets, Cohen has indicated he’s in favor of reinstituting Old Timers’ Day.
From a baseball perspective, Cohen has questions to answer about how involved he will be in the club’s daily operations. Alderson, who turns 73 on Nov. 22, was hired to oversee the entire organization, essentially filling the role of former team COO Jeff Wilpon.
Alderson, who served as Mets GM for 7 ½ seasons, is expected to hire a president of baseball operations, in addition to a general manager. Potential names for the top spot include Chris Antonetti, David Stearns, Mike Chernoff, Jon Daniels, Billy Owens and former Alderson lieutenants John Ricco and J.P. Ricciardi.
In addition to providing an update on his search for a new front office, Alderson will likely be asked to assess the status of manager Luis Rojas, who survived Friday’s purge. Rojas managed in the Mets minor league system during Alderson’s previous tenure, but was initially hired by Minaya during his reign as GM.
The Mets’ appetite for spending on free agents this offseason will almost certainly be broached. J.T. Realmuto, George Springer and Trevor Bauer highlight the free-agent class, and the Mets have a need at all three positions (catcher, center field and starting pitcher).