All Talk And Chair Throws, Brodie Van Wagenen Era A Disaster For Mets

Come get him, Sandy. 

The time has come for Brodie Van Wagenen’s tire-fire of a tenure as Mets GM to end. 

Van Wagenen has been all talk and chair throws, failing to make the playoffs the past two seasons despite mortgaging the future to get there. On the NYC executive list, he’s in the same category with Billy King, Steve Mills and John Idzik. Idzik may be the best comparison — also miscast as a GM, also a two-year bust. 

As one MLB executive put it, Van Wagenen, the successful longtime MLB agent, was “in over his head.” 

Van Wagenen and soon-to-be former owner Jeff Wilpon failed to surround Jacob deGrom with enough talent to qualify for the postseason despite the ace righty nearly going back-to-back-to-back as NL Cy Young.   

This year, the Mets had a 53 percent chance of reaching October yet couldn’t get the job done. 

BVW’s biggest disaster — as has been well-documented — is the Robinson Cano (who still has three more years left on his deal) and Edwin Diaz for Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn deal. It was supposed to get them over the top, but the 2019 Mets missed out on the playoffs because of it.

The Marcus Stroman for Simeon Woods-Richardson and Anthony Kay trade didn’t pay dividends either. 

There was J.D. Davis, but not much else. Just a lot of minor-leaguers dealt and prime years of guys like deGrom, Pete Alonso and Michael Conforto wasted. 

Van Wagenen had his empty quotes, of course. 

“Come get us.” “Two good half-seasons.” “We will win now, we will win in the future.”  

And then there were plenty of Seinfeld-worthy moments. 

The chair throw. The dugout text. The hot mic. The wild boar. 

Incoming team president Sandy Alderson — assuming new owner Steve Cohen receives the necessary votes from his peers — is expected to hire his own GM, with Van Wagenen expected to be on the outs.

Remember, many of Alderson’s baseball staffers who didn’t think BVW should trade for Cano didn’t last with the organization. Those guys gave BVW a solid foundation. It didn’t matter. 

The next time Brodie and the Mets see one another will probably be at the bargaining table for one of his clients — assuming he goes back into the agent business. 

In the end, one good half-season simply wasn’t good enough.