Van Wagenen Admits Mets 2019 Season is a Failure

As I wrote on Mets 24/7 

Scuffling Mets rookie General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen faced the music Friday, admitting that his boastful deceleration to the National League to "come and get us" last winter has artfully blown up in his face as the Mets fell to 11 games under .500 at 40-51 on the season. Of all the GMs who burned out in New York from Isiah Thomas and Phil Jackson with the Knicks to Billy King with the Nets and John Idzik with the Jets, Van Wagenen has faced the brunt of criticism faster than anyone before him. 

In short take Rex Ryan's rise and fall in New York over six years, that is what has happened to Van Wagenen in just six months. 

his season has been spiraling out of control since the word go, and has hit peak levels of absurdity in the last month, culminating in Van Wagenen tossing a chair during an argument with Manager Mickey Callaway last week. 

On Friday in South Beach, Van Wagenen met with the New York media for a 23-minute confessional, which was soon followed by an equally uncomfortable interview with Mike Francesa on WFAN. 

"I think new we view ourselves as the underdogs," Van Wagenen said. "I think we have low expectations for what we can be and I think now we'll take the underdog role and run with it and try to prove some people wrong this year." 

When given the opportunity to admit he miscalculated on his acquisition of Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz last winter and admit that this 2019 disaster of a season is on him, Van Wagenen wouldn't take the bait. 

"You have to look at where we were and where we are now," he said. "Bolstering our bullpen was a priority. Bolstering our run production was a priority. We acquired the best closer in the American League last year, we acquired a three-hole hitter that was coming off years of production. I think we have to acknowledge those two players have not performed up to what our expectations were and the onus is on us now to do everything we can do to support them to be better."

How about we start with the simple fact that when the Seattle Mariners willingly packaged Diaz in the Cano deal as a throw-in as a red flag that was virtually ignored by all, especially those by the Mets and Van Wagenen himself.  Diaz is  1-6 with a 5.50 ERA and four blown saves in 23 opportunities. 

As for Cano he was coming off a year where he spent half the year suspended for steroid use. And if you look at his production, it has been pointing downward since 2016. This year, Cano is hitting only .240 with four homers and 18 RBI. He's on pace to hit nine homers and drive in 36 by season's end.

Then there is Jed Lowrie, a Van Wagenen client, who still can't get onto the field after one nagging injury after another. As Kevin Kernan wrote in the New York Post, "He should know his client better than anyone." 

When asked about the chair flinging incident, Van Wagenen admitted he was "frustrated" and that his "emotions" got the better of him. He didn't criticize Callaway in the presser, saying he has kept the clubhouse together. 

And questioned again about about taking responsibility, he said, "I wouldn't want to put the blame on players or coaches or scouts or anybody of that matter. This team we built was one of a unified vision and it hasn't worked, so I accept my responsibility in that capacity as well." 

Van Wagenen did make a couple of interesting points. He said the team would be open for business on the trade front, but doesn't expect the team to trade its top two starting pitchers, Jacob deGromand Noah Syndergaard. deGrom has a full no-trade clause built into his five-year contract, and Syndergaard is under control for two more years. The Mets really should rebuild the staff around the two of them. 

As for the likes of Zack Wheeler, Todd Fraizer and Jason Vargas -- it is open season. "We have some expiring contracts that are attractive to people and we have had a number of incoming calls about a number of players that we have control over beyond this year," Van Wagenen stated. 

Perhaps the most honest critique by anyone of Van Wagenen's performance this season was Francesa, who has been more than fair to the Mets general manager when interviewing him this season. However on Friday, Big Mike dropped the bomb on Van Wagenen by telling him outright that he has done a horrible job this year. 

Mets fans absolutely don't trust Van Wagenen, and if things don't change for the better the legitimate question will be asked if the Mets can trust him beyond this year.