Mets changing up big league coaching staff 

NEW YORK -- Coming off a second consecutive losing season and with significant front-office and managerial changes coming, the Mets have shaken up their coaching staff.

The team this week gave six members of the big league coaching staff permission to seek jobs elsewhere. The Mets are in discussions to reassign hitting coach Hugh Quattlebaum elsewhere in the organization, and they have already shifted Quattlebaum’s assistant, Kevin Howard, back to his old role as director of player development.

The fate of pitching coach Jeremy Hefner is unclear. Hefner, who guided Mets pitchers to the National League’s fifth-best ERA (3.90) this season, is likely to return to the organization in some capacity. That could be in his old position or in a different role; it’s likely the Mets won’t make that decision until after they hire a new president of baseball operations and manager.

In other words, the Mets will head into the winter with zero coaches active on their big league staff. Those who have been given permission to seek employment elsewhere include bench coach Dave Jauss, first-base coach Tony Tarasco, third-base coach Gary DiSarcina, bullpen coach Ricky Bones, assistant pitching coach Jeremy Accardo and Major League field coordinator Brian Schneider.

Quattlebaum, whom the Mets hired as their director of hitting development, became the club’s hitting coach when it dismissed Chili Davis and assistant Tom Slater in May. The offense ranked 29th in the Majors in runs per game under Davis and 26th under Quattlebaum, who employed a more analytical approach.

Quattlebaum’s assistant, Howard, was hired last offseason to run player development, before he moved to the big league staff to replace Slater.

Jauss was a warm and well-liked voice in the clubhouse, but he was hired due to his close ties with Luis Rojas, who will not return as manager. DiSarcina had been on staff for the past four seasons, serving as the team’s infield coach, as well as its third-base coach, and, previously, bench coach. Bones had spent most of the past decade as the Mets’ bullpen coach, with a brief hiatus in 2019. Tarasco, Schneider and Accardo were more recent additions to the big league staff.

With all six of them gone, the Mets will be able to give their incoming manager and top baseball executive carte blanche to hire whomever they please. According to a source, there will likely be a recommendation from current staff members to keep Hefner -- who was popular with both players and front-office executives -- as the pitching coach. But otherwise, the staff will look wholly different next season.