Mike's Mets - Jon Daniels

 By Mike Steffanos

Jon Daniels is looking for a new job. Should the Mets consider him for their PBO?

The Texas Rangers fired their president, Jon Daniels, last Wednesday. That ended Daniels' run of almost 17 years at the helm of that club. When he was first promoted to replace John Hart as GM in October 2005, the then 28-year-old Queens, NY native was a true baseball wunderkind. He was the youngest team GM in MLB history. Interestingly, one of Daniels' deals in his first winter as GM was to trade pitcher Chris Young to the Padres. 17 years later, Young is taking over the top role with the Rangers.

Of course, I didn't choose to write about Jon Daniels for that interesting bit of irony. For years, Daniels's name was linked to the Mets whenever they searched for a new GM. After Omar Minaya was fired in 2010, Daniels was a candidate for the job that ultimately went to Sandy Alderson. It's unclear if Daniels actually wanted the Mets' job back then. This was the post-Madoff Mets owned by the penurious Wilpons, and Texas was at the start of the golden era of the Rangers' franchise. Texas won division titles in 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2016. They also were a wildcard team in 2012. They made it to the World Series in 2010 and 2011, ultimately losing to the Giants and Cardinals.

Daniels was considered one of the top execs in MLB during those years, but the bloom has come off the rose over the last half-decade. The Rangers engaged in a teardown and rebuild that has born little fruit. They invested heavily in the free agent market this past offseason, only to find themselves 10 games under .500 and out of the playoff hunt in a season where an extra wild card team was added.

I don't know how seriously Daniels was considered for the job when the Mets were searching for a PBO these last couple of off-seasons. Jon Heyman mentioned Daniels in a tweet from last fall:

In addition to Theo Epstein, names that interested the Mets last year or have been heard recently include David Stearns of the Brewers, David Forst of the A’s, Mike Chernoff of the Indians, Josh Byrnes of the Dodgers and Jon Daniels of the Rangers. More could surface (obvs). https://t.co/6xB5m9PugC

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) September 9, 2021

If the Mets were interested in Jon Daniels, it didn't translate into an interview. Perhaps the Mets were denied permission, as happened with so many candidates, or perhaps their interest was overstated. I don't know. It will be interesting to see whether the Mets elect to speak with Daniels after their season ends — hopefully in November. By all accounts, Billy Eppler was hired last winter with the knowledge that a PBO could be eventually hired and placed above him in the baseball operations hierarchy. Could that happen with Jon Daniels this off-season?

Billy Eppler has earned high marks in most quarters for his work in building a winning roster for the 2022 New York Mets. The job of running a baseball team has become more and more collaborative over the years, and Eppler has a reputation as a great boss who encourages collaboration. It's hard to make a case that Eppler has shown a need for a guiding hand above him. While Steve Cohen could undoubtedly afford to pay Jon Daniels to be the Mets' PBO, would he feel the need to do that? I guess we'll find out this off-season.

In the meantime, it seems to me that what happened with Jon Daniels in Texas is an interesting topic to explore for a club that hopes to build a long-term winner. For many years, the Ranges with Daniels at the helm seemed a great role model for that type of success. The Rangers did a terrific job with their farm system, particularly in signing talent from Latin America. Early in his tenure, Daniels won many trades because his front office was just plain smarter than the folks in other front offices with whom he was dealing.

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