Is the Mets GM hire crazy enough that it could work?

Before the New York Mets could embark upon improving a team that finished 77-85 and in fourth place in the NL East in 2018, their first order of business had to be determining the individual who would replace Sandy Alderson as the club's general manager. Alderson had led New York's front office for eight seasons before stepping down last summer when his previously in-remission cancer unfortunately returned. He had overseen two postseason appearances and a 2015 National League pennant. The veteran GM's style of not overspending on splashy free agents, building through the minor leagues and attempting to hit on low-budget lottery ticket types of veterans was well documented. 

While it remains to be seen what kind of approach his replacement will take, that has more to do with who the new hire is than anything else.

For the past 18 years, Brodie Van Wagenen has been arguably the most prominent agent in the sport aside from Scott Boras, and while he's clearly an incredibly shrewd and knowledgeable baseball man, his hire may just be the "strangest in baseball history." Van Wagenen has no front office experience in any capacity, and being hired over the likes of Doug Melvin and Chaim Bloom certainly raised eyebrows around the game. The most noteworthy external concern is, without question, the all-encompassing conflict of interest Van Wagenen switching sides at the negotiating table represents. 

As the now former co-head of the baseball division of CAA (Creative Arts Agency), Van Wagenen clearly has intimate knowledge about countless players throughout the league. He knows of any nagging injuries some of his former clients may have, even if they were never made public. He knows on which coast some players prefer to live or which players are likely to sacrifice a massive contract down the line for instant security. Players union chief Tony Clark has already acknowledged several players have reached out to express concern over this very issue. 

Other organizations are also undoubtedly upset over the potential competitive advantage the Mets could now possess. Van Wagenen is familiar with the front office structures of all 29 of the other teams in the game, has relationships within every club and understands the goals and strategies those clubs have. This could eliminate steps and legwork in potential trade discussions and allow him to close deals faster than other teams. 

But from New York's side of things, not everything about this hire is without questions. For starters, Van Wagenen represented Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Yoenis Cespedes, Brandon Nimmo, Todd Frazier, Robert Gsellman, Jason Vargas, Anthony Kay, Justin Dunn, David Peterson and Tim Tebow. Just last July at the All-Star break he publicly threatened the Mets, saying they need to either sign deGrom to the long-term extension he deserves or trade him to a team that will. How exactly does that correlate now? 

If he suddenly realizes that from an organizational standpoint having the best pitcher in the game under reasonable team control for two more seasons is a luxury, and doesn't necessitate a contractual move, he risks fracturing his own personal relationship with the player as well as the team's partnership with him. But from a club standpoint, throwing a blank check at a pitcher north of 30 is a proposition that has rarely worked in this sport. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, it is almost an unanswerable question and an unwinnable situation. 

Yet another strange aspect in all this is that Van Wagenen is not exactly bringing in his own staff. Sure he's vowed to invest more resources into the club's analytics department, but in Omar Minaya, J.P. Ricciardi, and John Ricco, the Mets already have three men who have served as GMs in the past, two of whom with this very team. While you'd like to believe this collaborative approach is a good thing, and the more experienced voices in the room the merrier, it's hard to deny the potential power struggle when the guy making the final decision is the only one of the group who hasn't done this before. It's also worth noting that Van Wagenen is not going to be bringing in his own manager. He'll inherit Mickey Callaway, who went through a plethora of growing pains in his rookie season as a skipper, none more troublesome than actually batting out of order in a game. It's rare for a new GM to not hire his own manager, and that is yet another relationship that bears attention. 

Perhaps most alarming to me was when Mets COO Jeff Wilpon broadly stated at Van Wagenen's introductory press conference on Tuesday that provisions had to be included in his contract to prevent him from negotiating directly with deGrom and other former clients. I'm sorry, what? The team's general manager may not be permitted to negotiate what could potentially be franchise-defining contracts? To say that would be unprecedented would be like saying a Category 5 hurricane is a light rain storm. It's unfathomable. 

While there are obviously immense pros and cons to this hire, some of which I've just outlined, there is also another element at play here that should at least have Mets fans hopeful. For years New York's ownership, led by Fred Wilpon and his son, Jeff, have been accused of meddling far too much in the organization's baseball operations. Media has portrayed the man sitting in the GM chair as nothing more than a puppet for the Wilpons and somebody whose power is far more limited than that of any other team. This perception led high-profile front office executives like Ben Cherington, Dan Duquette and Mike Chernoff to turn down interviews. With that being said, Van Wagenen in some ways may seem like the perfect hire for the Wilpons: an inexperienced guy whom they could conceivably control. 

But I don't see it that way. 

The 44-year-old made an estimated $25 million in contract commissions last season and is undoubtedly taking a massive pay cut to radically change his career path. He is incredibly well spoken, bright and has no trepidations about dealing with the New York media, which may have been what ultimately tipped the race in his favor over Bloom, the current vice president of the Rays baseball operations — the point being that this is a guy who is very confident, very proud and the alpha in every room he walks into. I just can't see him leaving a remarkably profitable job, risking fractured relationships with his clients and public embarrassment and sacrificing long-developed trust with former colleagues to be nothing more than a Wilpon front man. I hope I'm not wrong, but I think those days are over.

Van Wagenen neglected to discuss payroll during his press conference but did indicate he's been given autonomy to do whatever necessary to win and also hinted he'd like to at least be in the discussion on every free agent this winter. In a late afternoon interview with WFAN's Mike Francesca, he answered the question "Who is even your cleanup hitter?" with "You'll have to wait and see," implying he intends to bring in an external power bat. How much of what he'd like to do actually comes to fruition remains to be seen, but it's easy to get excited listening to his positivity and optimism. 

If you asked 10 different baseball executives what they thought of this development, you may get 10 different answers. What that basically amounts to is that nobody knows what to expect. Every aspect of Van Wagenen's hire is going to be wait and see, but it has suddenly transformed the Mets into one of the more interesting teams in the league again, despite back-to-back subpar performances on the field. 

Van Wagenen's new gig will officially begin in earnest at next week's GM meetings, and the baseball world will not so subtly be watching how he interacts with his peers and observing if his own ownership will allow him to be as aggressive as he's stated he'd like to be. Obviously these are questions we can't answer right now, but we will soon enough.

Can't wait.