Photo: Mets.com
When Brodie Van Wagenen was introduced as the New York Mets new general manager in late October, he made some rejuvenating remarks that set the course for his first offseason at the helm of a major league ballclub.
“We will win now. We will win the future,” Van Wagenen told the media. “We’re going to develop a winning culture and a winning mindset, and we will deliver this city and this fanbase a team they can be proud of.”
Big words for a long-beleaguered organization who, time after time, can’t seem to get much right when they attempt to field a winning team.
After a 2017 offseason that saw then-GM Sandy Alderson add Jay Bruce and Jason Vargas to mostly underwhelming results, Van Wagenen had his work cut out for him as he slipped into the driver’s seat after the 2018 season.
While there’s a big fish lurking out there in Bryce Harper, there’s been no indication that the Mets will be dropping a line into those waters. But so far, every move — on-field and off — that Van Wagenen has made — or not made — has been with the best interests of the New York Mets in mind.
He revamped the front office, brought in an elite-level closer in Edwin Diaz and a solid second baseman in Robinson Cano via a trade with Seattle, and added one of the top free-agent catching options in Wilson Ramos for a more than reasonable $19 million over two years with a team option for a third year at $10 million.
At the press conference introducing Cano and Diaz, Van Wagenen foretold the Ramos deal — and hopefully anything else that’s coming down the turnpike for the Mets this offseason.
“We have a winning mindset and collectively we believe that anything is possible,” Van Wagenen said, as per Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post. “It goes without saying we did not make this move to be our last move.”
We learned on Friday that Van Wagenen had offered arguably the top backstop on the market, Yasmani Grandal, a four-year, $60 million deal that the 30-year-old Cuban native declined to accept, presumably before he turned his attention to Ramos.
That’s a high-profile, win-now type of attempt for a first-time general manager with supposed budget restraints in place via ownership, and a terrific sign for the future of this organization, in this writer’s opinion.
Whether you interpret the disparity in what the Mets offered Grandal and signed Ramos for as an apparent $41 million “surplus” in funds that the Wilpons have allocated for Van Wagenen to improve this team, Brodie certainly appears to be sticking to his plan of contention in 2019 and beyond.
With players like Marwin Gonzalez, Josh Harrison, Nick Markakis, Adam Ottavino, the aforementioned Bryce Harper, among many other viable depth options for this roster still available, Brodie Van Wagenen could transform this offseason from promising to culture-changing.
