Brodie Van Wagenen was introduced as the Mets new GM yesterday, as we all know, but afterward spent about 20 minutes getting interviewed by Mike Francesa of WFAN.

That interview did not go nearly as well, but to no fault of Van Wagenen as Francesa went on a full-blown, uncalled for attack on him and the organization.

Francesa set up an absolutely tense interview environment right from the get-go as he started it off asking Van Wagenen about autonomy, or his expectation of one lacking in the Mets organization for decades. Van Wagenen’s response was exactly what Mets fans wanted to hear, though, despite Francesa contention.

“I was given a lot of support and some free-will from Jeff and Fred to do what I feel is right and, you know, some of the people that are here, I’ve had a long working relationship with that have real capabilities that I’d like to take advantage of.”

When it went further down the line to specifically referencing Mickey Callaway‘s job status, Van Wagenen expressed his full-fledged support for the Mets’ skipper, despite Francesa’s doubts on whether the new GM really made the decision.

“I believe I have total autonomy in regards to decision making in regards to the front office and coaching staff. I’m accepting him. I support Mickey and I think there were a lot of questions about what was required or mandated, but Fred has said to me on many occasions that, ‘Look, we’re going to do this together and we’re going to treat people right. But, we want to have the right in the right spots at the right time,’ and I think I have the flexibility to do that.”

As the interview progressed, they got into deeper issues, particularly in relation to the roster, in which Van Wagenen surprising mentioned one of the Mets’ top prospects as a potential cog in next year’s lineup.

“I mean, clearly we want to add some pieces. If we can get better up the middle of the diamond, then we’ll try to do so. Hopefully, Peter Alonso can come in and make an impact and we’re going to explore all options, but I want to be able to create balance in the lineup and run production.”

When Francesa responded with surprise and asked if he would actually get to earn the job, Van Wagenen responded by saying it wouldn’t just be handed to him, but that he is going to legitimately look into the idea of having the first baseman on the team, come Opening Day.

“He’s going to have to earn the job. I’m actually going to head down to Arizona this weekend to see him and have a conversation with him to see what his head is saying to me right now and, hopefully, we’re going to get those answers on day two, three, four of the job, not on day one.”

Things got somewhat heated later on in the discussion with Francesa playing hard-ball on literally any topic being discussed telling Van Wagenen in a condescending manner that he “didn’t inherit the Yankees, [he] inherited the Mets.”

Van Wagenen expressed confidence in his team, though, as he intimated that this team already has talent in place, albeit, that needs some more pieces for next year that he believes he’ll have the ability to acquire.

“Yeah, I know, and if you look at some of the names in that clubhouse, they’ve had performance track records in the past and there is a future ahead for us. I wouldn’t have taken this job if I didn’t think there was an opportunity to win and build around this thing.”

When Francesa responded negatively to that, Van Wagenen took an interesting approach and asked the host a question of his own regarding who in the NL East is actually going to beat the Mets in the NL East.

Francesa responded with the Braves as his answer and said that he’d take their everyday players and so would Van Wagenen. However, 44-year-old GM would not agree with the 64-year-old radio host.

“Look, I think that the Braves are a good young team, but I don’t believe that they have won any World Series either. I think the Phillies are a good young team, but I think there are questions on everybody’s roster in baseball right now.”

Of course, yet again, Francesa took another uncalled for dig at Van Wagenen and the Mets’ organization by asking who would be batting cleanup on Opening Day, laughing at the GM when he responded that we’ll see on Opening Day.

This interview lasted almost 20 minutes, as previously mentioned, but Francesa’s last six minutes of the interview completely overshadowed any positive tidbits that came out of it.

For some reason, he decided to use the anti-Mets bias that he’s had throughout his career in radio and television, and took it all out on Van Wagenen just a few hours after being introduced to his new job.

Van Wagenen actually went as far as to say that he wasn’t “trying to be combative” with his answers, with Francesa, of course, not giving him any leeway for trying to maintain a cordial relationship during the interview.

Yesterday was a chance to legitimately learn about the newest member of the front office, which Van Wagenen at least tried to give his fans, but instead, Francesa preferred to turn it into an attempted roast session of the first-day executive and his organization.