Four candidates for Mets general manager are revealed

More than a month into the Mets’ search for a baseball operations boss — and more than two weeks after they downgraded their goal from hiring a president of baseball operations to hiring a general manager — a pool of candidates has become public.

There are at least four, a source confirmed Friday night: Red Sox assistant general manager Zack Scott, Diamondbacks assistant GM Jared Porter, Athletics assistant GM Billy Owens and former Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill.

Further, a source said, there are others being considered for the job but who have not been publicly identified. The Mets are not considering anybody already with the organization for the job. MLB Network first reported the above names Friday.

Scott and Porter are branches on the Theo Epstein tree of major-league executives. Owens has been with Oakland for more than two decades and worked with Alderson the previous two years. Hill, the only member of this quartet who has experience leading a baseball operations department, is a free agent after parting ways with Miami in October.

Scott is Boston’s analytics overseer, holding the assistant GM title for the past two years. He joined the organization as an intern in 2004 and steadily climbed the ranks. Although he has specialized in analytics, he also has overseen the pro scouting department for the past year and has a voice in a variety of other decisions, including player acquisitions and contracts.

Porter has been with Arizona for four years — hired there by GM Mike Hazen, another former Epstein underling — and is essentially Hazen’s righthand man. He has worked for the Red Sox (2004-15) and the Cubs (2015-16). Although use of analytics is baked into working for all of those clubs, Porter mostly followed a scouting track, including serving as the director of pro scouting for Boston and Chicago.

Owens, who played seven minor-league seasons in the 1990s, became an amateur scout after retiring as a player. He was a hitting coach in the Athletics’ farm system for five seasons before switching to the front office and has worked under Billy Beane, the executive vice president of baseball operations, and GM David Forst. As a senior advisor with the A’s during the 2019-20 seasons, Alderson to some extent worked with Owens.

Hill had been with the Marlins for 19 seasons, including the last six as president of baseball ops and last three under owner Bruce Sherman and chief executive officer Derek Jeter. He went to Harvard — starring on the baseball and football teams — and had a brief playing career in the minors before starting his front-office time with the Rays in 1995.

Initially, Hill interviewed for the Mets’ president of baseball ops opening, reportedly doing so Nov. 7 — the first full day Cohen and Alderson were on the job. When they lowered expectations to finding a GM, they remained in touch with Hill.

Blevins returns. Lefthanded reliever Jerry Blevins, 37, agreed to a minor-league deal with the Mets, he announced on Twitter. He was with the team from 2015-18 and pitched for the Braves in 2019. After spending spring training with the Giants, Blevins was released and did some TV work for SNY.