Mets are hiring another former Dodgers employee to work in the front office

Just over a month later the appointment of James Kang as the new director of international scouting, New York Mets decided who would work most closely with him.

on Friday, Will Sammon of The Athletic announced that the Mets are hiring Laiky Uribe as associate director of international scouting. Uribe spent the last eight years with the Los Angeles Dodgers working in various scouting positions.

The Mets are hiring Laiky Uribe as associate director of international scouting, league sources tell The Athletic. Uribe worked as an international cross-checker for the Dodgers. He will join James Kang, recently added from the Guardians, as the Mets’ new director of international scouting.

— Will Sammon (@WillSammon) November 1, 2024

A native of the Bronx, Uribe played catcher for Odessa College and Galveston College in the early 2010s before beginning his professional career in August 2015 as a volunteer assistant with the St. Paul’s international scouting department. Louis Cardinals. He expressed excitement about returning home to the Big Apple post on Twitter/X: :

I have been fortunate to have spent the last 8 years with the Los Angeles Dodgers and will be forever grateful to the organization and everyone I have worked with. Ending this chapter with a World Series victory was the perfect sendoff. Now it’s time to go back to the Big Apple. Let’s go to the Mets!

— Laiky Uribe (@LaikyUribe) November 2, 2024

Before joining the Cleveland Guardians in December as a senior acquisition specialist, Kang and Uribe spent four years in the Dodgers organization, with each serving as international cross-checkers for the last three.

During this time, the Dodgers acquired a number of talented international players, including outfielder Josue De Paula (No. The Dodgers farm system), shortstop Joendra Vargas (No. 7) and outfielder Eduardo Quintero (No. 9). According to. Los Angeles currently boasts the fifth-best farm system in baseball MLB Pipelinewhile the Mets are in 13th place.

Hiring former Dodgers employees has become a trend for the Mets since Steve Cohen purchased the team in the fall of 2020. Ahead of Cohen’s first season as owner in 2021, the Mets hired Ben Zauzmer from the Dodgers to lead their analytics department, promoting him to the position assistant GM before the 2022 season.

Four years ago, Cohen He was said to be modeling his organization as the East Coast version of the reigning World Series champion Dodgers. After a slow start to the 2024 season, the Mets far exceeded their low expectations and managed to reach the NLCS, pushing Los Angeles to six games before ultimately being eliminated.

New York has the financial flexibility to compete with any team, including the high-performing Dodgers, who committed more than $1 billion to free agents last winter. However, what has stood out for Los Angeles in recent years is its continued ability to develop quality prospects, giving them an advantage in roster construction and blockbuster trade negotiations.

By continuing to recruit key former Dodgers scouts, the Mets appear to be seeking to replicate their NL rival’s success in identifying and attracting future stars in international free agency.