The New York Mets seem to have narrowed down their GM search to former Washington Nationals assistant GM Adam Cromie. If we’re at this point, that’s a real problem.

First and foremost, Cromie has been out of baseball for four years. After being rebuffed by nearly everyone in baseball, the Mets are now turning to people who are no longer in the game. It’s seriously come to that.

That’s not to say Cromie isn’t capable of ever doing the job. In fact, he was well on his way to being just this when he helped build the Washington Nationals into a World Series winner.

However, that was four years ago. Since then, he’s been a young associate with a big firm in Jones Day. While Cromie has assuredly kept up with the goings on in baseball, there is simply no way he could have the same in-depth knowledge he had with the Nationals.

That’s a massive problem.

Look, there is no doubt Cromie is smart and talented. Realistically speaking, he can very well be an asset to any MLB organization. He’s had experience developing analytical systems, analyzing players, and building World Series champions. If you can get a Cromie, you get one.

However, he’s been away so long he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. The Mets can ill afford having someone like that lead the organization.

The simple truth is the way the Wilpons operated the organization, the Mets were way too far behind in terms of analytics. It’s not that their baseball people didn’t want to invest more or learn more, it’s that the Wilpons didn’t.

Part of what the Mets need to be doing is building that area of their front office from scratch. They have to bring in the people who knew the stuff Cromie will as trying to find the people who know the things no one else does.

This is a Herculean task made all the more difficult by hiring someone outside of the game. Cromie certainly knows some people, but he doesn’t know the ones who have emerged. He also has the impossible task of bringing people to the organization at a time when other franchises have been trying to block the Mets from hiring their people.

There’s another element at play with Cromie potentially being hired away from Jones Day.

Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News previously reported Mets owner Steve Cohen had been eschewing the advice of his baseball people in the president of baseball operations and GM search. Instead, Cohen has looked to non-baseball people like former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Governor Christie has multiple connections with that law firm. No, this is not a political issue, and it certainly has nothing to do with Bridgegate. Given his area of expertise and relative novice, Cromie would have had zero involvement and very likely zero interaction with the former governor.

That said, it’s very likely Cromie’s connection to this search is through Jones Day. He’s an employee for a firm with connections to the governor. IF that’s the case, this is a problem.

No, it’s not a problem because Cromie isn’t qualified (he is). It’s more of a problem with how the search has been conducted. This is akin to how the Wilpons conducted their business. It was personal connections and not the baseball people who dictated what they did.

If Cohen made a hire this important operating like the Wilpons, that’s a huge issue. If not, no harm, no foul.

Overall, Cromie is probably the Mets should’ve had interest hiring in some capacity. Asking him to be a GM after being away from the game for four years to taking over a franchise which was arguably at least a decade behind a year ago really isn’t the right move.

That’s just where the Mets are right now. They’re stuck looking for people outside the game using unconventional means to find people. That is the biggest problem of all.