Interviews won’t begin until next week, but the Mets have identified the first three candidates for their open general manager position: White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn, Red Sox assistant GM Allard Baird, and former Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes. (They’ve received permission to talk to Hahn and Baird; Byrnes was fired in July.) Also on the Mets radar: Sandy Alderson, the former A’s executive who currently serves as a consultant in charge of reforming the league’s Dominican Republic office. They haven’t yet scheduled an interview with Alderson, though they’ve received Bud Selig’s permission to talk to him. [NYP, NYDN]