MILWAUKEE – We almost found out if Brewers manager Pat Murphy’s folksy, blunt style would work in New York.
After the 2019 season, Murphy was the choice of then-Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen to succeed Mickey Callaway, Murphy revealed to me and Van Wagenen confirmed in a phone call (Van Wagenen is now Murphy’s agent).
Murphy, then Milwaukee’s bench coach, was a finalist with Carlos Beltrán and Eduardo Perez and remembers his only reservation about a job he badly wanted is that the Wilpon Mets flew him for three rounds of interviews and each time he was in a middle seat in coach. Murphy remembers even doing a mock press conference and Van Wagenen said he excelled in the interviews and “1,000 percent he was my recommendation.’
Jeff Wilpon, in a text, said he did not recall what swayed the decision to Beltrán, but it was clear there was internal concern how Murphy would translate in New York. Beltrán was hired on Nov. 1, 2019 and resigned on Jan. 16, 2020 without managing a game after he was the lone 2017 Astros player implicated in the sign stealing scandal. Murphy said the Mets made further inquiries at that time and, as disappointed as he was from not being the first choice, he still wanted the job.