The New York Mets are believed to be formally interviewing Cleveland Indians general manager Mike Chernoff for their president of baseball operations vacancy, according to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi.
However, Mets owner Steve Cohen shot down the report, saying that he wasn’t aware of such plans. SNY’s Andy Martino further confirmed that an interview with Chernoff has not been set as of yet.
Chernoff has constantly been linked to the position since the arrival of new owner Steve Cohen and team president, Sandy Alderson, who laid out a tiered leadership system that includes a president of baseball operations and a general manager answering to him.
The 39-year-old is a Livingston, NJ native and his father, Mark Chernoff, is the vice president of programming for CBS Radio in New York. Local roots aside, he’s one of the up-and-coming stars of Major League Baseball’s front-office executives.
Rising through the ranks of Cleveland’s front office, Chernoff became the team’s assistant general manager in 2010, declined an opportunity to interview for the GM role with the San Diego Padres, and was promoted to the same position a year later in 2015 when Chris Antonetti was promoted to president of baseball operations.
Antonetti has also been linked to a front-office role with the Mets, but there has been no evidence of contact between the two parties.
As general manager, Chernoff helped put the final pieces of Cleveland’s AL pennant–winning team of 2016 together. They came just one win shy of winning their first World Series since 1948, falling in Game 7 to the Chicago Cubs.
The Mets have only interviewed Miami Marlins president of baseball operations, Michael Hill. They were also immediately tied to Theo Epstein after he stepped down from his role with the Chicago Cubs, but the 48-year-old executive said that he will take 2021 off.
Speculation followed that the Mets could offer Epstein a small percentage of team ownership, but a source told amNewYork Metro on Wednesday that such a scenario is doubtful.
