Fredi Gonzalez is now officially out of the running to be the Mets' bench coach, reports SNY's Andy Martino.

Martino adds that the job seems to be down to Hensley Meulens and Joey Cora, with Meulens appearing to be the frontrunner.

Meulens emerged last week as a "strong frontrunner," according to Martino.

The 52-year-old Meulens has served as the Giants' bench coach for the last two seasons after spending the previous seven years as the team's hitting coach.

Aside from Meulens, Cora, and Gonzalez, Ron Wotus and Jerry Narron are known to have interviewed for the Mets' bench coach job.

Terry Collins was the preference of new manager Carlos Beltran to be his bench coach, but the Mets will be going in a different direction -- with Collins staying on as a special adviser to GM Brodie Van Wagenen.

The Mets' bench coach job will be extra important this season, as whoever gets the gig will be the right-hand man for Beltran as he learns the ins and outs of managing.

Aside from bench coach, the Mets are conducting a search for pitching coach that has included University of Michigan coach Chris Fetter, former Mets pitcher/current Twins coach Jeremy Hefner, and former big league reliever and Queens native Steve Karsay.

Van Wagenen said last Tuesday that no announcements will be made regarding coaching staff positions until the entire staff is filled.

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