New York Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen spoke to the team’s media corps following manager Luis Rojas‘ introductory press conference on Friday afternoon (video via SNY).
With trade rumors centered around 31-year-old Pirates centerfielder Starling Marte reportedly gaining momentum in Flushing over the last week, Van Wagenen doubled down on his current roster.
“At this point, we feel very confident in the group we have. We are excited about the guys we invited to camp, we’re excited about the returning players that we’ll have back on the roster, and we think we’ve added some key pieces from the outside that will help us this year.”
There’s no question the Mets have a solid core in place. The studs atop the rotation in Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Marcus Stroman, the positional core of Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, Robinson Cano, and Amed Rosario, as well as arguably the strongest bullpen in the league following the addition of Dellin Betances — all of it should excite this fan base.
Bringing Michael Wacha, Rick Porcello, Brad Brach, and Jake Marisnick on board, as well as the perpetual hope that Jed Lowrie and Yoenis Cespedes will contribute in 2020 certainly deepened the roster, and that’s great. But another piece could always help.
“We don’t want to disrupt what we have. We do have the chemistry that I spoke of. We have a culture where people buy into one another and that they believe they can pick each other up.”
That’s a terrific quality for any team, especially a roster as talented as this one. But when presented with the opportunity to land a player of Marte’s caliber, if the price is right, it feels like a move the Mets should be trying to make if they want to contend in what figures to be one of the toughest divisions in baseball.
As for where Van Wagenen’s focus lies as the trade winds swirl, the second-year GM was a bit vague. Whether that’s a byproduct of ongoing trade discussions or simply fuel for stories like these will be determined in all good time.
“I don’t see a deal that’s going to disrupt that environment and if there’s an opportunity to continue to improve our roster we’ll explore it, but our aggressiveness right now is focused on getting ready for Spring Training with the players we have.”
Brodie Van Leverage is at it again.
