Phil Regan has filed a lawsuit against claiming age discrimination the New York Mets, according to TMZ.

Regan was the interim pitching coach for the Mets in 2019, taking over for the fired Dave Eiland on June 20, 2019. Under Regan, the Mets’ pitching staff blossomed, improving their team ERA to 3.48 after recording a 4.88 ERA in the first half. Jacob deGrom won the Cy Young Award that season, too.

Regan claimed that he was not retained only because he was 82 at the time. He also alleged former general manager Brodie Van Waganen called him “too old” and said the team would hire him back in 2020 “if we don’t find the young pitching coach we are looking for.” The Mets hired Jeremy Hefner that offseason.

Since the Mets chose not to retain him, Regan has not been hired by another MLB team, though he served as a pitching coach in the Domincan Winter League during the following offseason.

Matthew Bilt, Regan’s attorney, spoke with TMZ about Regan and his ongoing situation. “Phil is the first to crack jokes about his age,” Blit said, “however there is nothing funny about a person being told that they are being passed over because their employer wants someone younger. That’s discrimination, plain and simple.”

“Phil debated doing this for many years,” Bilt added. “But the hurt from the conversation that he had with Mr. Van Wagenen continues to haunt him to this day. He can hear the exact words playing in his head over and over. Phil knew this had to be done.”

The 2019 season marked the end of a long career in the Mets organization for Regan. He was first employed by the Mets in 2009 as the St. Lucie Mets’ pitching coach and stayed there until 2015. From 2016-2019, Regan was the Mets’ minor league assistant pitching coach and interim Mets pitching coach. However, in 2021 (under new ownership and front office), the team’s media guide listed Regan as a “senior advisor of pitching development.” As of publishing, though, Regan is not listed on the team’s front office directory.Once Regan took over as pitching coach in 2019, he received high praise from the Mets starters.

In an interview with MMO in 2019, Noah Syndergaard spoke about the impact Regan had on the staff: “Phil does a great job of implementing new school methodologies with old school tendencies. … He’s really good mechanically, but he’s also embracing the analytics part of the game, like the hop measurement, and the spin rate, and all that.”

As of publishing, the Mets have not released a statement regarding Regan’s lawsuit.