A recent article from the New York Post‘s Mike Puma reveals that after the Mets’ most recent loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night, team general manager Brodie Van Wagenen held an animated meeting with the coaching staff.
According to a club source, Van Wagenen (accompanied by assistant general manager Allard Baird) berated the coaches over the team’s continued inability to support team ace and former CAA Sports client Jacob deGrom. DeGrom, despite notching his seventh consecutive quality start, again took a no-decision after Edwin Diaz allowed four earned runs in the ninth.
With the 7-2 loss, New York fell to a humiliating ten games below .500 while Diaz, one of Van Wagenen’s most vaunted offseason acquisitions, was handed his sixth loss of the season. Following the end of his tirade, Van Wagenen reportedly hurled a chair across the room and ordered manager Mickey Callaway to go to “[his] f**king press conference.”
Van Wagenen was contacted by the New York Post the next day, though he essentially declined to confirm, deny, and/or get into any specifics:
“We as a staff often meet with coaches and players throughout the course of the season,” he said. “I am not going to give the specifics to any of those meetings.”
Callaway took a similar approach in the press conference following the Mets’ 6-5 win last night. Of the confrontation, which went public minutes before first-pitch, Callaway opted to “keep all that content in that room, and for good reason.”
He went on to describe his relationship with Van Wagenen as “fantastic,” adding that “we’re both passionate guys that wanna win.”
The press has not been particularly kind to the organization across the past two weeks, with rumblings of dysfunction ranging from a clubhouse brawl involving a beat reporter and Jason Vargas to a leaked story of Van Wagenen texting mid-game directives to Callaway from afar. Though Callaway has taken his lumps near and far amidst the team’s struggles, an equally questionable job by the team’s own GM hasn’t been as transparently unpacked.
Van Wagenen, who paid a visit to and enjoyed a warm reception from The 7 Line earlier in the week, has been unavailable to address the state of the team in front of the media during the Mets’ current home stand. To this point in the year, his winter additions have combined for an abysmal -2.8 bWAR, with his crew of midseason relief reinforcements (headlined by Brooks Pounders and Wilmer Font) not inspiring much confidence, either.
His most recent outburst, though embarrassing in itself, presents especially bad optics in light of what has been a disheartening first half. After pressing the bell in December and challenging the rest of the National League East to “come get us,” the former sports agent has seemingly gone quiet. Hopefully yesterday’s development will open a forum of some kind.
