Bobby Valentine wasn’t on the Mets’ list of managerial candidates to be interviewed this past week, but the former manager and National League champion has remained in contact with Mets owner Steve Cohen as he looks to dwindle down his managerial candidates to two or three finalists.
“I was with Steve the other night, and we never talked about doing it,” Valentine told WFAN’s Danielle McCartan at the sixth annual Italian American Baseball Foundation gala. “Matter of fact, it was the Scherzer night, and he was excited. He’s a friend.”
Valentine is all but confirmed not to be on the Mets’ manager radar for a second tenure now that the team’s top six candidates have already been interviewed, but Valentine doesn’t see himself being interested in a reunion regardless, as he is now nine years removed from his last season as a major league manager.
“That manager’s job I think is a young person’s job, but we’ll see what’s going to go on,” Valentine said. “I’m a Met all my life, or for decades anyway, so I’m always pulling for them.”
But Valentine didn’t rule out a potential interest in a place with the Mets in a different capacity.
“I’d be interested in talking to anybody about anything, because life is fun,” Valentine said. “But again, I don’t think managing the Mets is -- not managing, but I wouldn’t mind being part of what he’s doing, because I think he’s doing it all the right way.”
If Valentine were to come back to New York, he would be joining a retooled team looking to take the next step and reach heights that Valentine himself enjoyed with the Mets nearly two decades ago. He believes the team is on its way there.
“They’re making a good plan, and he’s executing it,” Valentine said. “Billy [Eppler] has to get here and get his roots on the ground…I think they’ve got it going. Now that we’re on a freeze, you can take a deep breath…and make the plan exactly the plan he wants it to be.”
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