The Mets formally introduced former CAA super-agent Brodie Van Wagenen as General Manager on Tuesday at Citi Field. Van Wagenen, 44, was hired to a four-year contract earlier in the week, and the press was ready to hit him with all the hard-hitting questions as the Mets prepare to enter their biggest off-season in quite some time. So what exactly did we learn from the 13th General Manager of the Mets on Tuesday?
1.The Mets Will Be Active On The Free Agent Market
Despite being called the “Moneyball Mets” for the beginning of Sandy Alderson’s reign as Mets chief executive, ownership still took a lot of bad press for the lack of spending on the free agent market. Van Wagenen said on Tuesday that the Mets expect to talk to the best free agents available, the ones coming off “not so good years”, and ones who may have missed 2018 due to injury. Jeff Wilpon also commented on the state of the teams impending spending, saying “We haven’t talked about a specific number yet, as you know we don’t usually, but he knows he has got latitude to make moves and be aggressive.” Take that as you will, but that seems to say nothing more than their intent to be very active on the open market
2. Jacob deGrom is a Long-Term Priority
The Mets and Jacob deGrom have reached a point where the Mets should do anything in their power to keep him happy. Regardless of deGrom, Van Wagenen was a smart hire, but it looks even better when you’re all-world starter that is facing 2020 free agency square in the eyes has a great relationship with the man whose job it is to keep him in town. Van Wagenen once openly told the Mets to either pay deGrom or trade him, and now he has no choice but to see deGrom staying in New York for the foreseeable future. Andy Martino of SNY reported a week ago that a friend of deGrom says that he “loves the guy”, which certainly points in the right direction for the Mets. It is also worth noting that Jeff Wilpon said Brodie would have to “recuse” himself from any deGrom talks and appoint others within the organization to carry out extension talks, and have them carry out his wishes, in an effort to avoid conflicts of interests.
3. Van Wagenen Supports Mickey Callaway
Mickey Callaway was said to be a hot topic within the Mets front office this fall, with there being a split down the middle of supporters and nay-sayers. None of that seems to matter anymore as Van Wagenen said that he fully supports Mickey Callaway. On WFAN with Mike Francesca, Brodie said that he believes he has the leverage to make decisions as drastic as managerial, and that he chose to keep Callaway on the staff, meaning he wasn’t forced to. This all but guarantees that Mickey Callaway will return for his second season as Mets manager, which is obviously a plus considering how late-in-the-game the Mets would be if they had to start a managerial search now.
4. Brodie Believes The Mets Need to Expand Their Analytics
Brodie Van Wagenen also commented on his background in analytics, a department that the Mets have mostly ignored over the past half-decade, and spoke from experience using analytics as an agent and how he’s worked with them before, saying “you have to have analytics to get your players fair compensation.” He then continued on addressing a major and pressing matter within the organization saying “I look forward to working with the analytics team here and building it out.” The Mets analytics department is the smallest in baseball at only three full-time employees. The department is headed by TJ Berra, the head of Baseball Research and Development.
5. Oh Yeah, He Approves of The Mets Farm System
Its no secret that the Mets farm system had a major year in 2018, seeing many guys take steps forward, bringing in more young talent, and top-tier prospects continue to develop. When talking of young talent on the Mets, he specifically mentioned Peter Alonso as a first base candidate, citing how he had a monster year and was performing very well in the Arizona Fall League. He mentioned how successful the last 2 first round picks of the Mets have been, and how they’ve drafted smartly and effectively elsewhere in the draft. Van Wagenen also mentioned Andres Gimenez as a piece of the future for them, and the college arms they’ve selected in the first rounds lately, i.e. Justin Dunn, David Peterson, and Anthony Kay. Van Wagenen sounded energized, excited and ready to continue work on a budding Mets farm system.
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): He seems to have the trust of Fred and Jeff Wilpon; Collins, Ricco, Ricciardi, and Minaya are not guaranteed to all remain in their current roles or even in the organization; Yoenis Cespedes approves of the new General Manager.
