Change agent: Van Wagenen swears winning culture with the Mets
Change agent: Van Wagenen swears winning culture with the Mets
At first, the New York Mets approached Brodie Van Wagenen simply for recommendations.
Preparing to start a general manager search last summer, Mets operations director Jeff Wilpon already had a long relationship with Van Wagenen and thought that the powerful player agent could offer some quality candidates thanks to his vast network of contacts developed during almost two decades of negotiations.
It turned out that the more they talked, Wilpon began to think that Van Wagenen himself was the right man for the job, despite his unorthodox origins.
And when Wilpon at the end of the season suggested that Van Wagenen switch sides at the negotiating table to take over the Mets' baseball operations, Van Wagenen was intrigued. They discussed all the parameters in a private breakfast, and an atypical idea soon became a reality.
"I recognize that I am not the path of least resistance," Van Wagenen said Tuesday.
At a busy press conference in a large club area on the fifth floor of Citi Field, Van Wagenen, 44, was introduced as the 13th general manager in the history of the Mets. Given a four-year contract, he committed to providing a culture of winning positivity to an organization that stumbles after consecutive losing seasons.
"I intend for players to be the priority of this franchise in the future," said Van Wagenen, wearing a blue and orange tie from the Mets. "We have a lot of work to do in the coming days and weeks to build a championship list and establish a good decision-making process, but I want to assure all Mets fans that every person in this organization will be fearless and relentless. in our search for greatness, everyone will work together in this effort. "
Wilpon called the search for exhausting GM. He said he started with a list of about 40 names that was reduced to 10-12 candidates and then to three finalists. And he explained why he and his father, the owner of the Mets, Fred Wilpon, chose Van Wagenen to replace Sandy Alderson and build a "sustainable" winner.
"He is a leader, he is organized, he will collaborate with all our staff," said Jeff Wilpon. "He has a plan, he has deep analytical knowledge, he has a deep history of scouting, he finds players even before we can see them in the minor leagues and their things, their development and scouting will be tremendously important for the entire organization."
"It's going to bring some emotion, it's going to bring a different aspect to the things that we've had from the traditional general managers," added the director of operations. "We are really energized by this."
Van Wagenen represented great names in all races, including Mets stars Jacob deGrom, Yoenis Cespedes and Todd Frazier. Seven players on the current list of 40 team players are customers of CAA Baseball, where Van Wagenen was co-director after co-founding the division in 2006.
And that number does not even include another former Van Wagenen client, Mets minor league player Tim Tebow, winner of the 2007 Heisman Trophy and former NFL quarterback.
Jeff Wilpon said he talked to the commissioner's office and the players' union boss, Tony Clark, about the hiring, and that there are provisions in Van Wagenen's contract "to deal with any conflict of interest."
Van Wagenen, who had to give up his career as an agent to take on the Mets' job, said he has given up his interests in CAA. He said he kept clients informed of his plans throughout the process, and many were sympathetic and enthusiastic about the "new perspectives" he could bring to the main office of the big leagues.
But when rumors began to emerge that Van Wagenen was changing job relations roles, some players and rival agents expressed concern.
"Some decide to use situations as a platform for their own benefit, but I do not care about those people," he said.
Its change is not unprecedented.
Dennis Gilbert, Rick Hahn, Jeff Moorad and former Major League pitcher Dave Stewart made the switch from baseball agent to front-runner. The general managers of the NBA have done the same. NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum, vice president of soccer operations for Miami, worked as an agent between the Jets and the Dolphins.
"Tony Clark and I have been in constant communication throughout this process," said Van Wagenen. "I am very confident that I will be able to work with everyone on both sides of the aisle."
Van Wagenen insisted that his new job will not really be so different from the previous one. He said he already has a scout network since he was 18 as an agent, when his mission was to acquire talent, just like with the Mets.
"I think this team needs to build, not rebuild," he said.
Van Wagenen expressed his support for Mickey Callaway, who went 77-85 this year in his rookie season as manager of the Mets. The new general manager also noticed the valuable experience of assistant general manager John Ricco and special assistants Omar Minaya and J. P. Ricciardi, the trio that runs baseball operations since Alderson resigned in late June after a recurrence of cancer.
Jeff Wilpon said he would like the three of them to return, although that did not guarantee that they would remain. Ricco, Minaya and Ricciardi attended the press conference, but Van Wagenen said he had not made any final decisions about his staff.
"We will invest in our exploration department, invest in the development of our players, our health and well-being and our analyzes," he said. "All will be priorities." Throughout my career, I have come to understand that character and composition are fundamental keys to success, I intend character to be the backdrop for this organization. and we will develop it. " that."
He does not anticipate an unusual level of owner participation.
"They gave me full autonomy to build the systems, hire the people I love, put together a list of major leagues," said Van Wagenen. "There is not a general manager, there is not a president of baseball operations in the game who has the ability to write checks, so I will work with them to determine the correct price for all those investments."
Large markers and smaller television screens around the baseball stadium showed a welcome message to Van Wagenen, with a picture of him smiling. He opened his formal comments by paying tribute to the man he replaces, and said that Alderson was an example to him from his days at Stanford University and that he hopes to lean on him to move forward.
"It's humiliating to stand here today as I try to follow in his footsteps," said Van Wagenen.
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Baseball writer AP Ronald Blum contributed.
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More MLB AP: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports
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