Blue Jays deny Mets' request to interview Mark Shapiro

Blue Jays ownership recently denied the Mets’ request to interview Toronto president/CEO Mark Shapiro as part of New York’s ongoing front office search, report Ken Davidoff, Joel Sherman and Mike Puma of the New York Post. Shapiro becomes the third known Mets’ target of the day to be ruled out as a possibility, joining Brewers GM Matt Arnold and Cardinals GM Michael Girsch.

A Shapiro pursuit would’ve always been a longshot, not too dissimilar from New York’s earlier unsuccessful runs at A’s executive vice president Billy Beane and Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns. Shapiro has paired with general manager Ross Atkins to run baseball operations for the Jays since 2015, and he inked a five-year contract extension this January. The Post scribes suggest it’s unlikely Shapiro would’ve given much thought to making the jump to Queens even if Jays ownership had given him the opportunity to do so.

New York has also had reported interest in Giants GM Scott Harris and Dodgers assistant GM Brandon Gomes, but both took themselves out of consideration in favor of remaining with their current clubs. Los Angeles senior vice president of baseball ops Josh Byrnes is among the publicly-known candidates who haven’t since been ruled out; the Mets are also reportedly considering a couple of internal options, and there are surely potential targets with other organizations whose names have yet to be reported.