We didn’t need more proof of how bad the Wilpons are when it comes to running a Major League Baseball team. The organization’s recent search for a general manager reiterated that point for the umpteenth time, though.

All signs are pointing to current (and soon-to-be former) agent Brodie Van Wagenen taking the place of Sandy Alderson. However, let’s not forget all the weird (and mostly negative) twists and turns this process has taken since Alderson stepped down from his post towards the end of June.

Here are some of the “highlights,” if you will:

  • Instead of designating one person to take over in the interim, the Mets picked three, because why not?
  • As the season grew to a close, COO Jeff Wilpon basically blamed Alderson for everything that went wrong with the Mets.
  • The actual search for a new head of baseball operations didn’t get underway as quickly as it probably should’ve because Jeff and Fred couldn’t agree on what they were looking for.
  • Interest in what should be a dream destination — a roster with some intriguing young talent in baseball’s biggest media market — was very low.
  • John Ricco originally appeared to be a legitimate candidate, but instead of getting interviewed, he was one of the interviewers.
  • The whole Doug Melvin situation.
  • Ultimately going with Van Wagenen despite the terrific track record Chaim Bloom has put together.

For me, the problem isn’t necessarily the ultimate decisions made by ownership (although most of them make me shake my head in disbelief). The biggest problem is that they literally make everything as excruciating as possible.

Aside from the unfortunate circumstances in which Alderson had to step down, this is supposed to be an exciting process. After all, the decisions made at this juncture in time will impact the Mets for at least the next decade or so. There’s always a potential for it to bust, but the last time the Wilpons decided on a general manager, it eventually led to two consecutive postseason berths and a National League pennant.

There was a lot of moaning and groaning during the last near-decade of Mets baseball, too, but those two years were pretty fun.

The very brief, yet incredibly intense circus that followed Doug Melvin as he went through the interview process with New York was also ridiculous. Virtually everyone was stunned when he didn’t move on to the final round, mostly because he’s the kind of more traditional baseball mind Fred was looking for. Plus, there was that report floating around saying he was adverse to “thinking outside the box” again because things didn’t work out well during Mickey Callaway’s first year as manager.

Did Callaway have a tough rookie year at the helm? Yes, but jeez, that’s certainly jumping to an unnecessary conclusion. The real kicker at the end of this entire ordeal, though, is that ownership went with the ultimate outside-the-box decision by spurning Bloom for Van Wagenen.

This is not to say Van Wagenen has no shot at eventually being a success — while I disagree with the decision, I’m hoping this is the case for the sake of my fandom — but it actually sums up the Wilpons perfectly. They had some internal waffling that ended up being very public (like it almost always does), and just when you think they won’t screw up a decision, they do.

ESPN’s Buster Olney couldn’t have said it any better:

My non-Mets fan friends reach out every time the Mets do something like this, but my reaction is usually the same — this is just a day in the life. A process that could’ve been exciting from start to finish while imagining about the team’s immediate and long-term future became so excruciating that I couldn’t wait until it was over. And even though I would’ve rather seen Bloom get to this point in the process, I’m just glad we don’t have to keep seeing these reports of “Will they or won’t they?” anymore.

Most fans likely had a gut feeling ownership would do the opposite of what made the most sense. At least it’s on the verge of being in the rearview mirror so the front office can focus on this whole competing for the playoffs next year, because the roster needs quite a bit of help.

But just in case you needed a reminder since it’s been more than five minutes, the Wilpons are still the worst. If the Mets are fortunate enough to experience success with their current core, it’ll likely be in spite of the Wilpons.