John Ricco, who served as the Mets' assistant GM under Sandy Alderson last season, will be serving in a newly-created role by the franchise starting this year.
Ricco's new role will now be Senior Vice President, Senior Strategy Officer. The official statement from the Mets stated Ricco will report to COO Jeff Wilpon "on special business and finance projects, including significant construction projects the Mets are planning for their Spring Training facility and other minor league facilities."
Ricco won't be completely abandoning the baseball operations side to his job, though. He will still be an advisor to new GM Brodie Van Wagenen and hold his normal responsibilities with salary arbitration, baseball operations' budget, and the team's payroll.
"This new role will give me the chance to broaden the scope of my executive experiences, while remaining a contributor to the operations areas I know and enjoy," Ricco said. "I am intrigued by the possibilities and excited about the challenges ahead."
"John has been invaluable to this organization for many years," Jeff Wilpon said. "I'm extremely grateful that he's remaining with us. He brings a wealth of knowledge on a variety of topics and we know he will have a lot of success in his new role."
When Van Wagenen took over, he brought in former Red Sox executive Allard Baird to be his assistant GM, which left Ricco's future with the Mets up in the air. But, along with Omar Minaya and Ruben Amaro Jr., he will remain under Van Wagenen this season. However, special assistant to the GM J.P. Ricciardi did part ways with the Mets after Van Wagenen came aboard.