Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen seems to be confident in the team’s roster for the 2020 season, as detailed in interviews with SNY and MLB Network Radio on Monday night at the Winter Meetings in San Diego.
“We’re in it to win it. There’s no question about that,” said Van Wagenen.
The Mets GM said the roster was mainly built around the ability to keep Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom in the starting rotation.
We also learned on Monday that Van Wagenen envisioned Marcus Stroman as a replacement for Zack Wheeler, who recently signed a five-year, $118 million deal with the Phillies. Van Wagenen identified this move as the kickoff of the team’s trade activity.
With this in mind, and the addition of center fielder Jake Marisnick, who ranked as a top-10 outfielder by OAA (8) in 2019, Van Wagenen thinks the team will be in a good position to succeed in 2020.
According to Van Wagenen, the trade “helped address one specific need that we outlined at the beginning of the offseason, which was improve our outfield defense, particularly in center field.”
He believes infield concerns have been addressed internally, mentioning Robinson Cano, Pete Alonso, and Amed Rosario, as well as Jeff McNeil shifting to third base. He also noted that he envisions outfielder Brandon Nimmo coming into the 2020 season as “the Nimmo of ‘18.”
Time will tell whether or not more moves will be made for the team in the trade market, but Van Wagenen believes conversations will continue to be had regarding the state of the team.
Regardless, he demonstrated unwavering confidence for the future of the team, although he did say that he’d “hold back on making bold proclamations,” likely referring to the “come and get us” mantra he established prior to the start of the 2019 season.
“We have a lot more answers than we do questions,” said Van Wagenen. “Our intent hasn’t changed, we’re gonna go after it.”
