One rival GM predicted the Mets will hire Jeremy Hefner to be their next pitching coach, SNY's Andy Martino noted on Monday, with that GM expressing regret over missing out on hiring Hefner.
Hefner, who is viewed as a rising star in the industry, is having his interview with the Mets on Monday at the GM Meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., according to The Athletic's Marc Carig.
The 33-year-old Hefner served as the assistant pitching coach for the Twins this past season. He joined Minnesota as a scout in 2017.
Hefner played for the Mets from 2012-13, but his major league career was derailed due to a pair of Tommy John surgeries -- in 2013 and 2014.
He retired after the 2017 season.
"Hef is among the first wave of players who finished their careers and are really comfortable with this data," Twins baseball operations director Daniel Adler told The Athletic's Dan Hayes last season. "Those guys are going to be better ambassadors for this stuff than we can ever be. There's always going to be something helpful about a person who played to make our research better and communicating to others who may be more skeptical."
In addition to Hefner, the Mets have been linked to "rising star" Chris Fetter, who has been working as a pitching coach for the University of Michigan since 2018.
The 82-year-old Phil Regan served as the Mets' interim pitching coach in 2019 after the firing of Dave Eiland in June.