Mets make several firings in big front-office shake-up

Sep 11, 2021; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets majority owner Steve Cohen and his wife Alexandra Cohen at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

The cleaning of house for the New York Mets apparently did not end at the trade deadline.

Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reported Thursday that there has been a major shake-up in the Mets front office. The team has decided to fire a number of longtime employees, including pro scouting director Jeff Lebow and farm director Kevin Howard. Performance director Jim Cavallini and baseball development director Bryan Hayes are also part of the dismissals.

DiComo adds that the Mets still intend to hire a new president of baseball operations in the winter. These dismissals now pave the way for that future hire to bring in some of their own staffers.

Howard, an ex-MLB draft pick who spent a decade at the minor league level, might be the best known of those names. But Lebow and Hayes had both been in the Mets organization since 2011 (with Cavallini joining in 2018).

Somebody was bound to get the boot after the Mets began the 2023 season with an obscene $343 million payroll … only to miss the runway completely and now be sitting at a division-worst 61-73. The team did see the writing on the wall early enough, selling off Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, David Robertson, and others at the trade deadline. But those moves were not enough to save their front office from a dramatic overhaul ahead of an offseason where the Mets will have plenty more big decisions to make.