Murphy Admits He Nearly Became Mets Manager in Shocking Confession

Pat Murphy drops honest revelation on nearly landing Mets manager job.

Pat Murphy is a World Series champion manager with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Things could have played out very differently.

The Brewers skipper revealed that he was convinced he was about to become the New York Mets manager, right up until his final interview.

Speaking on "The Show" podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Murphy looked back on his candidacy for the Mets job after the 2019 season.

He went through three rounds of interviews as the Brewers' bench coach.

"I was excited about the job, you know, and I was excited to meet Brodie and all the people that I met through it," Murphy said.

"They have a great interview process. I mean, it was tremendous," Murphy said.

Murphy, referring to then-GM Brodie Van Wagenen, detailed just how thorough it was.

"I mean, literally, I was sitting there at one point in a round table, they showed video of a game, and then they would stop it," Murphy said.

"And I was armed with all the information, who was available in the game, what the game score was, what the situation was."

"I had the game card in front of me, and they were giving me situations. What would you do? You know, think about this. What are your considerations here?" Murphy said.

"Then another portion of it was doing a mock press conference, and then it was doing a mock postgame."

"And they brought in employees from the Mets to sit in the crowd. And Jessica Mendoza was one of them. And we laughed about it this week," Murphy said.

But it was not meant to be.

"I thought 100% I was getting the job until that last meeting with the owner," Murphy said.

"I kind of knew they were going in a different direction," Murphy said.

Van Wagenen reportedly preferred Murphy.

But the Mets hired Carlos Beltran instead in November 2019.

Beltran never managed a game.

He parted ways with the team in January 2020 amid the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal.

The Mets promoted Luis Rojas.

Murphy, meanwhile, stayed in Milwaukee and eventually took over as manager.

He has since won back-to-back NL Manager of the Year awards.

He capped it off by leading the Brewers past the Tampa Bay Rays for the first World Series title in franchise history.

That championship celebration produced a different kind of headline.

During Milwaukee's 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Oct. 28, a clip spread within a day.

Recorded moments after the final out, Murphy hugged Jake Bauers at Tropicana Field.

Bauers, who caught the last out and won NLCS MVP, handed Murphy the game ball.

The manager gave him the teasing farewell he had used all month: that Bauers was about to get paid and would forget how the Brewers played.

This time he tied it to the club Bauers left in November 2023, the 82-80 Yankees who missed the playoffs.

Murphy addressed it on the New York Post's "The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman," in an episode posted Tuesday.

"I didn't mean to say that the Yankees are selfish," Murphy said.

"I was just referring to the teams that have a lot of high-paid, long contract players. Sometimes it's harder to get all those guys to play together," Murphy said.

"You know, I used the Yankees (as an example) because I knew Jake (Bauers) was with them before," Murphy said.