Going to try something we've never done here on Mack's Mets.
I'm going to have an 'open thread' on certain subjects during the off-season, rather than just asking the writers here to participate to a 'Q and A' weekly post. This way we can all discuss the matters at hand.
Today's is our new General Manager.
Any thoughts?
28 comments:
I don't know what to take with this move.
This guy represented 25% of the current contracts of Mets players. Is he supposed to just cross the street and look at things 180 out?
I really want to hear the Wilpons explain their thoughts and reasoning for Brodie Van Wagenen.
How does this square itself with the organization's past practices.
Does this signify a change in the Wilpon approach for the organization?
How significant of an organizational philosophy and operation?
Soo much unknown. Uncharted territory.
Pioneering a new approach?
At this point, just as it is hard to argue this just signifies Met business as usual, it is equally difficult to argue this as a sign of moving away from all the repeated poor Met decisions.
I am very interested to see where this leads.
I hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't strike that an agent's and a gm's skill sets overlap very much. There have only been a few agents who have become gm's, and I'm not aware of any who have gone on to great success. The only hope I see is that at least Van Wagenen has the trust of ownership; he's also had a very successful and lucrative career. Why would he leave that and allow Jeffy to push him around? Perhaps he said he'd only come if he was allowed to actually run the club. Hopefully being allowed to use the money that a big market club should be investing, and if he can work with a good scouts such as Omar Minaya, and build upon the good young talent coming up, then maybe we won't be depressed about the Mets for the rest of our lives. Maybe.
Bob -
Do you really think that all of a sudden the Wilpons will start talking to the press and fans?
Jon -
Warm thoughts.
I will say this... 25% of the these players LOVE him. He was the agent that made them rich.
I am going to judge him on what he does with the troika. Keep Omar and have him take the position left open when Chris Becerra left. Dump J.P. and the Wilpon shill.
I know. I know
But what and how they state their case during the press conference could give some insight.
I’m with Mack concerning dropping the others, but I always have a heavy heart and it’s isnt easy to say openly that people should lose their jobs. Wilpon said that they aren’t going to offer Bloom a position, but I’d like to see him be president of Baseball Ops and oversee a farm system that lacks skill and good baseball approach.
Remember, deGrom will be 31 yrs old next summer. Even with hais late career start as a pitcher, his interests are with the Mets being in a win-now mode
One aspect that hasn't been talked about much is Van's relationship with JW. From what I have read, the two of them are very good friends and play golf together.
Given all the reports of previous GMs not being happy with the input or "interference" by the owners, IMO it's a plus to have this kind of relationship.
They have negotiated before on opposing sides, and I can't picture Van giving up his lucrative agency unless he is confident about having autonomy.
This is an utterly fascinating decision, in that for perhaps the first time in my adult life, I have no idea what to think about a baseball-related outcome. I have no idea why they hired this guy, no idea what skills he brings to the table that makes him the right decision, no idea what the Wilpons hope to accomplish here. I have no idea if this was a brilliant decision or a heinous decision.
Maybe that is why the Wilpons chose him.
Maybe they just wanted to make it more difficult for criticism in the short term.
Every time you think the Mets cannot get worse by making yet another stupid move, they do.
Redefining new lows on a yearly basis is now the trend with these imbeciles in charge.
The candidate with the least experience, who has done the least, who has conflict of interests with players he represents, who demanded that deGrom be extended or traded is the Mets pick for GM.
If the Wilpons ever enter a STUPID contest, they would lose because they would be too stupid to claim the price.
Allegedly BVD insisted that the Mets greatly expand their analytics department if he was going to take the jobb
According to Andy Martino last night, BVW felt the Mets were close to competing and they didn’t need to re-tool, just add. Bloom felt they needed to rebuild some aspect of the team, but they were on their way. It seems Freddie Coupon wants to win this year, thus BVW got the job. Retooling means waiting for contracts to expire in order to get new players. Thus, BVW will be able to keep JDG and the other pitchers but just add to the mix.
I don’t have a problem with that, if they know what it is they need to add. A starting catcher for two years, two high-end bullpen pieces, and a jack of all trades guy that is insurance against Frazier sucking again.
Everyone is clamoring for Ramos or Grandal. Well, I do too, but I don’t trust either one with my money. I’d go Brian McCann had a bad year, but is usually in the mid-.260s and can be an amazing leader this team needs badly. In the bullpen, I’d be open to Familia and Herrera and possibly, or possibly, Britton. The lefty would be nice. The utility guy could play everywhere and if Frazier still sucks by Memorial Day, take his place. That player can be Josh Harrison, or a similar player whose. Aloe will be way down. Lastly, I’d like to get Lance Lynn on a greatly reduced deal.
Texas -
For the record, Martino is least respected Mets reporter on the beat.
Logical thinking.
(Not guaranteed by Mets history of course)
Considering deGrom's age, the rest of the pitching staff being closer and closer to free agency, and Senior Wilpon's age.....
Winning now strategy makes a high degree of reasonable sense.
That means adding reliably high and consistent offense
(Average and run production).
Machado and Realmuto fits that best (I know broken record- but it is the change with the highest probability of improving the Mets the most.
Of course the bullpen would still need to be addressed.
When Arizona went with agent Dave Stewart as a GM it wasn't a success. Different people could mean different results, but it's like taking someone who has one particular skill set and does it exceptionally well, but then expecting him to carry over in untested waters while delivering at the same level. High risk move as compared to Bloom, but we shall see what we shall see.
Van has some advantages over Bloom, who has no NL background, is not familiar with the Mets roster, and does not know the Wilpons.
Van is close friends with JW, and knows many of our key players.And he has the 3 assistants who have knowledge of the team and the support of the owners.
Two of the 3 also have experience as GMs, which certainly can't hurt.
Will it all work? Who knows? But the foundation is there. Let's hope for the best
I own two VWs, so having one as a GM might be great...or a disaster. Time will tell.
First move should be to give Jeff McNeil a TEN year deal :)
Love the hire
I'm cautiously optimistic about this move. I would've preferred Bloom but I like that they went outside the box. BVW definitely has to work through the conflicts of interest and apparently the MLBPA doesn't feel too comfortable with this hire but we'll have to wait and see. I think any move the Mets make to contend next year should be a short term commitment. Mets have a lot of $ coming off the books after 2020 at a time when some of their best prospects will either be on the MLB team or close to the majors
Pablo makes a fabulous point.
One reason we can guess about the BVW hire, is in free agent signings Sandy Alderson was always seemed to get jobbed. Whether it was too many years or too much money, whether it was promising Chris Young he would be the CFer when he hadn’t played full time in several years, promising, AGone X amount of atbats, or it was picking up a dead fish like Rick Ankiel when the worst team in baseball released him then putting him in your lineup, Alderson continuously made transactions that put his team in a handicapped position and worst, not let your youth grow.
While Bloom would have made the AGM’s obsolete, the Coupons were able to keep their henchmen in place with this move. Granted, Bloom would have brought new AGM’s with him, but I have no problem with the growth of the farm system as long as they learn fundamentals (I think that’s Riccardi’s area). I don’t know why the Coupons like Ricco so much but that’s their privilege, and Minaya has done a good job infusing talent in the organization, so I can be patient about this move without being upset yet. Besides, there’s always a new hot shot AGM out there...
I dont believe anything has been verified one way or another when it comes to Ricco, Ricciardi, and Minaya continuing in the positions with the Mets
It’s sad to see that this was probably the only candidate who believes this team can contend in 2019, everyone else was in favor of some sort of rebuild.
Very well stated. I agree.
Anthony, I read this somewhere last week and it made sense. Any candidate that comes in and says we can win right now is shooting themselves in the foot. If they don’t win, then they failed. By saying we need to rebuild, they buy time. Further, BVW said they can win if they add some pieces. He’s right.
I'm not totally against this, bc Im pretty sure this is an incredibly smart man with a lot of knowledge about baseball. Does he have any functional experience, no, but it will all depend on who he surrounds himself with.
Unlike Dave Stweart who was atrocious, he is not a former ballplayer. Stewart got worked, bc he prioritized veterans and over paid for them. He consistently paid players on past performance vs future value and for too long of a term. He then neglected to make financial investments in player development and drafting. One of the reasons great players of any sport tend to be terrible at being gm/managers is they dont understand why everyone cant be like them.
what worries me about this hire is the Wilpons were not interested in anyone who suggested that they maybe ought to rebuild. Maybe the Wilpon's dont know it, but their records suggest they are in year 2 of a refurbish job. The Mets certainly have assets and tbh and with some smart investments and divestitures arent that far away from being contenders, but health is always important and is moving on from non performers.
The Mets have realistically 4-6 (Thor, Degrom, Rosario, Conforto, Nimmo, Matz) long term (at least 2 years of control) assets at the ML level and a few more around the edges with some value. Now it up to him to figure out what gets you to the playoffs and ws.
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