According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, former New York Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen has been hired as Roc Nation Sports’ chief operating officer, rejoining the athlete representation industry following his unfruitful two-year stay on the other side of the negotiating desk.
Van Wagenen, 46, was formerly the co-head of the baseball division at Creative Artists Agency — who took up a partnership with a then-budding Roc Nation Sports from 2013 to 2015 — before being hired as the Mets’ GM in October 2018.
Per Roc Nation founder Jay-Z (Shawn Carter), “Brodie’s knowledge of the business is indisputable and unparalleled. Since we first worked with Brodie, we realized the shared commitment to athletes on and off the field. He’s always been extended family and now it’s official.”
The Stanford grad’s time in Queens was marred by underperformance at many levels of the organization. On-field, the team struggled under then-manager Mickey Callaway before putting together a terrific second half in 2019. Van Wagenen’s chair-throwing incident in July of that season is a moment of note.
Van Wagenen’s December 2018 trade of top prospect Jarred Kelenic to the Seattle Mariners for a highly-paid but aging Robinson Cano and talented but volatile reliever Edwin Diaz cast an “in over his head” cloud over the remaining time in New York.
Once incoming Mets owner Steve Cohen took the reins in November 2020, Van Wagenen and most of the staff he assembled was fired.
New York hired former Mets GM and baseball lifer Sandy Alderson as team president days later and replaced Van Wagenen with Jared Porter, who was removed from the position after just 37 days following ESPN’s report detailing his sexual misconduct while a member of the Cubs’ front office.
