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Billy Owens, a longtime A’s executive who worked with Sandy Alderson the two prior years, is believed to be in the mix for the Mets’ general manager opening.

While it’s not clear whether Owens, 49, has formally interviewed for the job, the Mets have held internal discussions about his candidacy, according to an industry source.

Owens, who played minor league ball for seven years after the Orioles selected him in the third round of the 1992 amateur draft, has spent 22 years in the A’s organization and became assistant general manager/director of player personnel in 2016. He is highly regarded throughout the industry for having a keen scouting eye — he pushed Oakland to commit $36 million to a Cuban free agent named Yoenis Cespedes in 2012 — as well as strong people skills.

Alderson, the Mets president, has played his search for a GM (a shift in gears after the Mets couldn’t find a more experienced official to become president of baseball operations) very close to the vest.

The only known people he has interviewed are former Marlins president of baseball ops Michael Hill and Chris Young, the former pitcher turned Major League Baseball executive who became the Rangers’ GM on Friday. Young had withdrawn from the Mets’ search because he wanted to keep his family in the Dallas area, where the Rangers play. Alderson said on Nov. 23 that he had interviewed about six people for the position.

Former Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi, who worked for the Mets during Alderson’s 2011-18 run as Mets GM (and worked with Alderson in Oakland in the 1990s), also stands as a possibility to rejoin the Mets in a baseball operations capacity.

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