A Brief History of Mets General Managers

As Brodie Van Wagenen approaches the end of his first season as the general manager of the New York Mets, it will be interesting to see how he stacks up against some our past general managers. To that end, a look at the other 12 general managers in the 57 year history of the Mets. I also included some notables from each of their tenures.

George Weiss 1962-1966

First ever Mets general manager.
During Weiss’ 13 seasons as Yankees general manager from 1947 to 1960, his team won ten AL pennants and seven World Series titles.
Hired Yankees Hall of Famer Casey Stengel as the Mets’ first manager.
The Met farm system was slow to contribute useful players but eventually produced Cleon Jones, Ed Kranepool, Tug McGraw, Ron Swoboda and Bud Harrelson.
Weiss also passed on drafting Reggie Jackson in the 1966 Major League Baseball Draft, instead selecting Steve Chilcott.

Bing Devine 1967

Signed Tom Seaver as an amateur free agent after the Mets had the highest bid in a special lottery.
Drafted and signed Jerry Koosman and Nolan Ryan.
Lost 101 games and finished dead last in his only season.
Devine was a major architect of four National League pennants and three World Series champions in the six years from 1964 through 1969.
Returned to St. Louis as executive vice president and general manager.

Johnny Murphy 1968-1969

Named former Dodgers great and original Met Gil Hodges as manager.
Traded Bob Johnson to the Cincinnati Reds for Art Shamsky.
Traded Jay Carden, David Colon, Kevin Collins and Steve Renko to the Montreal Expos for Donn Clendenon.
Traded Buddy Booker, Tommy Davis, Jack Fisher and Billy Wynne to the Chicago White Sox for Tommie Agee and Al Weis.
Led the Miracle Mets to their first World Series title in 1969, beating the powerhouse Baltimore Orioles in five games.
Sadly, he did not live to see Mets defend their title and died less than three months later at 61, succumbing to a heart attack.

Bob Scheffing 1970-1974

Became general manager following the sudden passing of Johnny Murphy.
Mets won the 1973 National League pennant, but lost the World Series to the Oakland Athletics.
Traded Nolan Ryan to the California Angels for third baseman Jim Fregosi.

Joe McDonald 1975-1979

Hired Joe Torre as Mets player-manager.
Presided over the trade that sent Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds, though it was mostly M. Donald Grant’s doing.
Mets finished in last place two years in a row in 1977 and 1978.
His son Jody McDonald is a sports talk radio host who has worked in Philadelphia and New York City.
McDonald has earned six World Series rings: 1969 with the Mets, 1982 with the Cardinals, and 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018 with the Red Sox.

Frank Cashen 1980-1991

Drafted and signed Mets right fielder Darryl Strawberry and starting pitcher Dwight Gooden.
Acquired former MVP Keith Hernandez from St. Louis for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey.
Hired former Oriole second baseman Davey Johnson to be Mets manager.
Traded Hubie Brooks and three others to Montreal Expos for All Star catcher, Gary Carter.
Trade fan favorite Lee Mazzilli for Ron Darling, who became an All-Star, and Walt Terrell, who was later traded for All Star Howard Johnson.
Won the 1986 World Series with the best record of any team during the 1980s; 108 Wins and 54 Losses.
Cashen was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame on August 1, 2010 alongside Davey Johnson, Dwight Gooden, and Darryl Strawberry.

Al Harazin 1992-1993

Built the worst team money can buy.
Signed Bobby Bonilla and Eddie Murray as free agents.
There weren’t many positives.

Joe McIlvaine 1994-1997

Generation K – Pulsipher, Wilson, Isringhausen, never met expectations.
Hired Steve Phillips as his Assistant General Manager.
Developed Todd Hundley, Edgardo Alfonzo and Rey Ordonez.
Traded All Star second baseman Jeff Kent and Jose Vizcaino to Cleveland for Carlos Baerga and Alvaro Espinoza.
Traded Vince Coleman and cash to the Kansas City Royals for Kevin McReynolds.

Steve Phillips 1997-2003

Traded for Al Leiter, Mike Hampton, and All Star catcher Mike Piazza.
Was forced to step down temporarilly due to a sex scandal.
Won 2000 NL Championship but lost the World Series to the Yankees.
Drafted third baseman David Wright, pitcher Scott Kazmir, and signed international free agent Jose Reyes.
Fired manager and fan favorite Bobby Valentine, the two never got along.
In 2009 Phillips revealed he had been involved in an affair with a 22-year-old ESPN intern and was fired by the company two weeks later.

Jim Duquette 2003-2004

Replaced Steve Phillips as Interim GM
Traded Mets top prospect Scott Kazmir to Tampa Bay for Victor Zambrano.
That very same day, Duquette also traded away future All-Star Jose Bautista.

Omar Minaya 2005-2010

Minaya became the first Hispanic to hold a general manager position in Major League Baseball when he left the Mets in early 2002 to accept the general manager position with the Montreal Expos.
Ushered in “Los Mets” era with signings of Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran.
Drafted Daniel Murphy, Mike Pelfrey, Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Bobby Parnell, Jon Niese and Steven Matz.
Signed closer Billy Wagner and setup reliever Pedro Feliciano to free agent contracts.
Traded for All Star left-handed starter Johan Santana who would go on to pitch the first no-hitter in franchise history.
Won the 2006 NL East Title, but then lost to the Cardinals in the NLCS.
Involved in several team controversies including Bernazard/Rubin incident, firing Willie Randolph, Beltran surgery fiasco.
Omar is now back in the Mets front office as an assistant to GM Brodie Van Wagenen and is one the team’s chief talent evaluators.

Sandy Alderson 2011-2018

The Mets named Sandy Alderson GM after the 2010 season and after he hired former associates Paul DePodesta and J.P. Ricciardi to the front office, the team was jokingly referred to as the “Moneyball Mets”
Signed David Wright to a franchise record 7-year contract extension worth $138 million dollars.
From 2012 to 2014, Alderson reduced Mets payroll to under $100 million, but traded veterans to acquire prospects Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud.
Drafted first rounders Brandon Nimmo, Kevin Plawecki, Dominic Smith, Michael Conforto, and Jared Kelenic. Also selected Pete Alonso in the second round and Jeff McNeil in the 13th round.
Hired manager Terry Collins who eventually guided the Mets to a National League pennant in 2015, and made their first World Series appearance since 2000.
Trades for Yoenis Cespedes, Addison Reed and Kelly Johnson helped propel the Mets to the post season in 2015.
Free Agent signings included Frank Francisco, Michael Cuddyer, Curtis Granderson, Jason Vargas and Todd Frazier.
Alderson took a leave of absence from the Mets in July 2018 due to a recurrence of cancer and eventually decided not to return to the position. He is now a senior adviser for the Oakland A’s who he once guided to a World Series.

Brodie Van Wagenen 2019 to Present

His first significant move was trading first round prospects Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn for Robinson Cano and $100 million left on his deal, and All Star closer Edwin Diaz.
Signed former All-Stars Jeurys Familia and Jed Lowrie to multi-year deals.
Fired pitching coach Dave Eiland three months into the 2019 season after the team fell five games under .500.
Dared the NL East to “come get us” during spring training when he assured reporters the Mets would be in the post season. However, three months later in a press conference, he began by saying “they got us.”