It’s safe to say that the Sandy Alderson era has now begun: The Mets announced today that Ricciardi, the former Blue Jays general manager who’d previously worked for sixteen years in the Oakland front office, has been hired as the special assistant to the general manager, and that he’ll “assist in all aspects of the baseball department.” Of note from the introductory conference call: Ricciardi said that he’s had a standing offer to join the Red Sox front office since he was fired by Toronto, and that he’d been leaning toward joining Boston until Alderson got the Mets job. [Surfing the Mets/NYDN]