Did the Mets just lay the groundwork for the Red Sox?
Reports surfaced Wednesday afternoon that New York is going to hire Luis Roja to be their next manager. The move comes just about a week after the Mets parted ways with Carlos Beltran due to his role in the 2017 Houston Astros’ cheating scandal.
Rojas might not be a household name, but he’s been a staple within the Mets’ organization for 14 seasons now. He most recently served as a quality control coach, which the team website defines as a uniformed role in which he “served as a conduit between the front office and coaching staff on all issues including game preparation, strategy and analytics.” Rojas has professional managerial experience, too, previously serving stints as skipper at the rookie league, Single-A, High-A and Double-A teams within the New York organization.
According to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, the Mets will keep the coaching staff intact.
The Mets’ move ultimately could affect the Red Sox in a couple of ways. The first is a more indirect way, as it shows one of the strategies Boston could use in replacing Alex Cora after mutually agreeing to part ways for the former manager’s role in the Astros’ cheating scandal.
Boston has been tight-lipped about its plans to replace Cora, but with less than a month until the start of spring training, time is of the essence. The Red Sox still have Ron Roenicke on their staff, and he has big-league managerial experience. If the Red Sox went the same route as the Mets, they could hire someone like Roenicke — even as a year-long interim manager — and keep the coaching staff intact. The obvious benefit of that is it keeps a seemingly well-liked staff in place with as much continuity as possible given the situation. Should Boston go this route, it could also open the door for assistants or minor league managers like Jason Varitek or Billy McMillon.
The issue with that, though, is Boston still doesn’t know what MLB will rule in regards to the 2018 Red Sox after their own cheating allegations. If we’re to believe the club, the coaching staff and players, then it doesn’t sound like Roenicke or anyone else on the staff will face a suspension.
The second way the Mets’ decision could affect the Red Sox is that it obviously opens the pool of candidates and cuts down on the competition. There are a few candidates who have been discussed for all three open jobs (including the Astros’ gig), and New York’s decision to go internal doesn’t really affect those other searches. In fact, it could help the Red Sox if they ultimately decide to try and hire away a member of the Mets’ coaching staff. The Sox reportedly have some level of interest in Mets bench coach Hensley Meulens. If Boston is interested — which it hasn’t yet shown — it seems like a pretty easy move for Meulens, especially after being passed over in favor of Rojas.
Additionally, the Mets’ hire cuts down options for someone like Eduardo Perez, who was considered a candidate in Queens and reportedly is also in the running for the Houston job. There hasn’t been much buzz about him regarding to the Red Sox, but that always could change, too.
