Shortly after he was hired, a photo was taken of Brodie Van Wagenen sitting on a couch with then-manager Mickey Callaway. This was obviously a staged photo, one with Van Wagenen seemingly speaking or just having made a point. Meanwhile, Callaway is on the other end of the couch, dressed nowhere near as nice as Van Wagenen, and seemingly hanging on every word. In the middle of the two men is what seems like an uncomfortable throw pillow, with a Mets logo superimposed on a blue and orange baseball.
It felt weird at the time and now it seems to have a quid pro quo harassment about it. “I’ll keep you as manager but I’ll need you to pose for this ridiculous picture.” Is it rude to hope that when Steve Cohen takes control of the Mets, he makes Van Wagenen pose for a similarly degrading photo to keep his job? Maybe we can have a staged shot of the two men at a cocktail party, with Van Wagenen handing Cohen a drink, while Cohen playfully roughs up his hair? Just have to figure out a way to get something Mets-related in there. We know Cohen’s an art collector, maybe the scene can be posed in front of a Leroy Nieman Mets-themed work.
Few would argue that Callaway was a good manager in his brief tenure with the Mets. But it seemed that Van Wagenen did his best to undermine his inherited manager whenever possible. Is Van Wagenen a good GM? Perhaps it’s too soon to tell. But how much more difficult would it be for Van Wagenen to get good marks in his job performance if word leaked out on a regular basis about how Cohen felt the need to micromanage his subordinate?
If you were to make up a list of pros and cons for Van Wagenen, there are clearly marks in the good column after his first year on the job. The trade for J.D. Davis, the signing of Justin Wilson and the execution of the 2019 Draft all leap immediately to mind. Yet, when asked to assess his positives, it still takes on the feeling of the old joke – “Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”
If you had Cohen’s billions and you were the new owner in charge of hiring and firing the GM, would you keep the guy who so recklessly traded away a prime talent to get an old middle infielder with a bloated contract?
It’s an old philosophical question. Which one do you regret more – the things you did or the things you didn’t do? On an individual level, most of us pick the latter. Of course, most of us don’t have a truly horrible thing we did hanging over our heads. Do you believe that Bernie Madoff regrets not asking out that girl in ninth grade more than he regrets running a Ponzi scheme that bilked millions from innocent people and got him thrown in jail?
For a GM, which is worse: omission or commission?
Is it worse to be Sandy Alderson and sit on your hands and do nothing when a team overachieves or is it more of a sin to be Van Wagenen and overestimate your team’s position and your former client’s ability? Perhaps that’s an impossible question to answer. Or maybe the guy who has a history of insider trading will have a soft spot for a guy who values his personal connections to his former clients.
My guess is that Cohen will at first look more favorably upon Van Wagenen than Van Wagenen did upon Callaway. And maybe there’s a good reason for things to play out that way – if indeed that’s how it happens. So, those of us who are fans of karma may have to play the long game here. And while we’re doing that, Van Wagenen might display growth that Callaway seemingly did not, making his removal no longer necessary.
Or maybe Cohen never takes control at all.
What I understand about Mr Cohen is his theory of a decentralized management structure. He ran his hedge fund by feeding his units cash, then expecting a very positive return. If the results were not to his expectations the person was immediately terminated.
On the flip side the previous described management theory could have been to shield himself from the potential criminal behavior his staff engaged in. No matter. It looks like the boring drama of the present ownership should evolve into another sort of drama altogether.
Nice piece Brian. A few more off the top of my head in both columns.
Pros: Letting Alonso start the year in the majors; hiring Baird and the Boston boys to infuse some brains into our processes; keeping his word about sitting with the 7 Line the day after the shitstorm about calling the dugout to remove JDG came out; and letting Callaway finish the year when everyone wanted to hang him, even though Callaway was trying to balance orders with his own opinions.
Cons: Calling the dugout to remove JDG, Girardi would have hung up on him; you mentioned the Cano trade, but the Stroman trade was not necessary; about as necessary as signing Lowrie for no reason; and of course: “Come get us”.
One thing we can say about this Met franchise nowadays is that if nothing else, there is plenty of intrigue for the foreseeable future. Most every fan will hope the deal is finalized, and the Cohen influence is immediate. We are all anticipating a spending influx, but who really knows. We all know that Brosie was Jeff’s guy, from day 1, and it’s never good to be a guy hired by the prior regime, so Brodie better have sharpened all his pencils. Whether he is up to the task is yet to be determined, but that Cano deal will be tough to live down. In the near term, I just hope that he is afforded the opportunity (read: given the budget) to properly replace Wheeler, add a couple of quality arms to the pen mix, and upgrade the backup catcher in an adequate manner. Adequate can be via trade or free agency. It does not require hugh long term commitments, but diluting the talent pool by marrying assets to bad contracts, or signing strictly off the scrap heap is not adequate. This should provide a reasonable opportunity to compete in 2020, and the current management can be judged more fairly by Cohen with a solid roster.
The future sure looks interesting if nothing else. This must have (at least partly) caught Brodie on his heels. He gave up a lucrative high visibility position a tth etop of CAA for the Mets sh!tstorm and now, after a year, is clearly “dead man walking” just like Callaway (who must be laughing…).
But I maintain who knows whats really going on with ownership. I dont see any chance Cohen makes any difference for this FA season.
I can’t quite guess your opinion Brian, but the phrasing of “sit on your hands and do nothing” versus Brodie’s overconfidence seems to imply there is still some bitterness from the offseasons after 2015 and 2016. While I think Alderson was a better GM (moneyball logic, great drafting, and found some diamonds in the rough) I do believe that the sin of omission is worse than commission as you put it. I still feel the pain of adding no major league talent a year after making the playoffs was worse than the Cano/Diaz trade since, while flawed, the trade at least fit in line with the win-now goals of the team.
That being said, Brodie’s flaws are unforgettable and Cohen would most likely replace him just as Brodie replaced Callaway. The only way Brodie stays long term is if he pulls off a few more good moves and Kelenic turns into a bust.
Actually the do nothing comment was in regards to earlier times when they got off to good starts and nothing was done to help out. In ’12 they were 46-40 at the break and in desperate need of bullpen arms.
We seem to focus entirely on the roster, but where Cohen can most help is in places that aren’t covered by luxury tax figures. Where the Mets are behind the teams they are chasing is more in scouting, coaching, analytical department, and development. Before Glenn Sherlock was the catching coach, Tim Tuefel was the catching coach for a couple of years. As we learned from Adam Fisher, the Mets analytical staff was 3 people trying to keep up with staffs of up to 30 people and being underpaid to do so. As we see from other teams, they will use their international signing money and try to get more, the Mets usually leave some on the table – or they will sign Gregory Guerrero when another team blew their whole budget on Vladimir Guerrero. That may be seen as a low blow, but the Yankees did the same with Jasson Dominguez. Once in a while, you’ll get the big fish if you at least try… And I’m not going to bring up development at all, because Terry Collins himself told us that players were coming to the majors unprepared, not knowing fundamentals. At least Callaway tried to address that, having Ruben Amaro give base running practice on the road in 2018; unheard of during the season and especially on the road.
When BVW was hired, we were excited that he’d bring his knowledge from the CAA analytical department, since it was better than our’s. We all hate the Kelenic trade and it was stupid, but I went to see Kelenic play against Forrest Whitley and Kelenic is nowhere near ready for MLB, or Forest Whitley is the best pitcher ever (and he looked good that night, really good). I can’t understand how he’s #10 in MLB already, but I still wish we had him. I saved the videos of the at bats and will have them be one of my monthly pieces but I can tell you that Kelenic struck out his first two at bats on curveballs he couldn’t even swing at, and the fast balls he barely foul tipped. His third at bat was a pop up to second base, but by then we saw enough. He homered off a Hooks reliever late in the game, but those are the pitchers he hits: the hard, straight stuff. Still, BVW got fleeced and also traded away a useful Anthony Swarzak (like many fans are viewing Familia now) when he only had one year left on his deal only to look for another reliever. Bad planning, bad information, bad results.
I want to know what the Mets are going to do this week in San Diego. It doesnt feel like any big moves. Marisnick is a good role player, but not a starting center fielder.
I guess with Stroman replacing Wheeler, we are back to April of last year, where the 5th starter will be a Vargas type. Id rather see them trade for decent reliever and put Lugo into the rotation.
They should leverage Davis and Smith, while they have value. Sell high, fill a need.
I will be disappointed if all they do is Marisnick and Brach and a bunch of junk. Not really interested in Porcello either. The Mets need to look at had teams with a low budget who could really benefit from a Davis or Smith who have a semi decent pitcher to give up such as Matthew Boyd. Or even a deal for Robbie Ray.