Report: Mets denied permission to interview Jays' Shapiro, Cards' Girsch

The New York Mets are aiming high and missing large in their search for the franchise's next president of baseball operations.

New York had interest in speaking to Toronto Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro about the team's vacancy, but the Blue Jays denied the Mets permission to do so, sources told Joel Sherman, Ken Davidoff, and Mike Puma of the New York Post.

Shapiro, who was the Cleveland Indians' general manager before moving to Toronto in 2016, was likely a long shot for the Mets. The 54-year-old signed an extension with the Blue Jays earlier this year and has shown no signs of wanting to leave MLB's lone Canadian club.

While Shapiro is one of the most high-profile names the Mets have missed out on, he's just one on a long list that keeps growing larger. The St. Louis Cardinals denied the Mets permission to speak with their GM, Mike Girsch, after he told Cardinals ownership he wasn't interested in the Mets' presidency, sources told the Post.

Los Angeles Dodgers assistant GM Brandon Gomes turned down a chance to interview with the Mets and will stay in his current role with the Dodgers, Davidoff, Sherman, and Puma report. The Milwaukee Brewers also reportedly denied the Mets permission to interview their GM, Matt Arnold.

These latest rejections come after the Mets aimed even higher to start the offseason, with no success. The team has already been turned down by former World Series-winning executive Theo Epstein, longtime Oakland Athletics president Billy Beane, and Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns.

The Mets' current GM, Zack Scott, is on administrative leave after being arrested for driving while intoxicated in August. Team president Sandy Alderson is running baseball operations in the interim.