Mets Rumors: Billy Beane Withdraws From GM Race; Brewers Deny David Stearns Interview

The New York Mets have lost out on another prospective front office target. 

According to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, Oakland Athletics' executive vice president Billy Bean reportedly has withdrawn his name from consideration for New York's president of baseball operations position. 

That followed Joel Sherman of the New York Post reporting Monday that the Milwaukee Brewers officially denied the Mets permission to interview president of baseball operations David Stearns.  

Neither Beane's decision nor Milwaukee blocking any Stearns interviews was met with much surprise:

Former Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs executive Theo Epstein, currently working as an MLB consultant, also reportedly declined the job earlier in October, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. 

Per that report, "Epstein's contentment working to improve baseball's on-field product for the league, plus a desire for his next team job to involve an ownership stake, building an organization from the ground up, may have made his candidacy with the Mets a long shot."

The Mets, meanwhile, have seen quite a bit of change since Steve Cohen took over as team owner. 

In Nov. 2020, general manager Brodie Van Wagenen and his front office staff were fired. His replacement, Jared Porter, was fired in January after it was reported that he had sent unsolicited explicit texts and photos to a female reporter in 2016. 

Zack Scott, who was working as the acting general manager under team president Sandy Alderson, was placed on paid administrative leave by the organization this month after being arrested for DUI on Aug. 31. He pleaded not guilty. 

Alderson has been serving as both president and general manager in the interim. 

"I originally signed on here as president of the team, not as president of baseball operations or general manager," Alderson told reporters in late September. "And so what I'm hopeful of [is] that we can find someone who is going to invest in the team long term and will get in the weeds and provide us with the leadership and the expertise that we need on the baseball side. From my standpoint, I'm happy to turn that over to someone that we find who's more than capable."

The Mets also fired manager Luis Rojas after two seasons on Oct. 4. 

It's been a rocky year for the Mets. And now with several of the team's top reported targets for president of baseball operations turning down the gig or not being made available to interview, it's back to the drawing board yet again.