The New York Times profiles John Ricco, the Mets assistant GM and right-hand man to the last three Mets general managers:

Other teams tried to lure Ricco as well. When Minaya became the general manager of the Montreal Expos in 2002, his first call was to Ricco. Finally, in 2004, Ricco interviewed with the Mets and accepted Duquette’s offer to become his assistant general manager.

“I was brought in more because they knew I had experience with the rules and contracts,” Ricco said. “Those were the two areas and still remain my bread and butter.”

After a 91-loss season, Duquette was pushed aside and replaced by Minaya. The Mets made splashes over the next two years, trading for Carlos Delgado and Paul Lo Duca and signing Pedro Martinez, Carlos Beltran and Billy Wagner.

“He kept everything together when I was there and allowed me to go and pursue the talent,” Minaya said. “In a lot of ways, he was running the whole operation.”

I find it odd that someone so well respected did not move up to the GM position, either with the Mets or with another club. The Mets could rename positions to make Alderson president of baseball operations and Ricco GM, as a number of organizations do. Or it could be that Ricco likes a role where he doesn’t need to take the heat from the press and the fans.