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We can start with the elephant in the room as well:
You are a fan of the Mets so you probably do not know how to feel about Brodie Van Wagenen because you know what you think about the men who hired him. You want to believe that Van Wagenen's huge success as an agent at CAA will result in similar results in the east of the NL, but the Wilpons have tarnished your confidence in too many bad seasons, too many many departures and many stops.
It will always be the biggest challenge of the Wilpons until it is not the case. The credibility gap between owners and fans is real, and it is well deserved. That's why there are many reasons to stay on the cynicism side the day the Mets introduced their 13th CEO, and if it's not quite right for Van Wagenen, it's absolutely just for the Wilpons.
That said?
At its unveiling Tuesday afternoon, Van Wagenen had uttered a phrase that reflected above all optimism and happy discussions in the Foxwoods Club, located on the fifth floor of Citi Field.
"I recognize that I am not the path of least resistance," joked Van Wagenen, and although this is also a reason to adopt his selection for the job, it is not the most relevant.
C & # 39; s:
"I believe, he said, in a culture of positivity."
And here's the bottom line: if it's about the fundamental value he's infusing this franchise from his first day at work, the Mets are heading in a positive direction. They might not be directed to a series of championships – which Van Wagenen has cleverly avoided predicting. This mantra may not guarantee the goal that Van Wagenen has set forth for the record: "We will win now, and in the future we will develop a culture and a state of affairs". winning minds. "
But Van Wagenen is right: before he can accomplish all of this, he must first eradicate the dark clouds that seem too often to stroll and loom over and around the Mets.
This is no secret to anyone in baseball. And if we assume that one of the controversial topics of this hiring is Van Wagenen's intimate knowledge of the players he represented and the inner workings of other organizations forced to show more of their hands than they would have loved because he was an agent of great power, this must also be supposed:
He did not choose these words randomly. He has enough clients who have worked for the Mets to have a complete picture of what has continually confused them for years. It is a negativism and a pessimism and a cynicism born at the top of the organization, and it bleeds necessarily everywhere. You can say a lot about Van Wagenen, but that's one thing you can not: he does not walk blind without a cane here. He has been dealing with Jeff Wilpon directly for years. He has an intimate knowledge of what players think of Flushing.
And he did not need work. He could have lived a successful career at CAA. He chose to join Mets when many of the best and brightest in the industry took the test. Call him fooled if you must, but a dupe is not likely to build the CV he has built over the past two decades.
The Wilpons?
Look, they won your disdain. They won your distrust. It is common knowledge that many big names in the industry did not even want to think about working under Jeff Wilpon. But they also thwarted the prophets at every turn in this process, turning away from the alleged old-school suitors, Gary LaRocque and Doug Melvin, opting not to become young (and, incidentally, cheap) with Chaim Bloom , and wandering outside the box with their last call.
Is this the right call?
Only a fool would think he knew this answer less than 24 hours after the start of his term. But it's an indisputable intriguing location. Whenever you hire a general manager, no matter what your sport, you start with smart, and Van Wagenen is undeniably the same. Sandy Alderson too. Intelligent and successful are not always the same thing. But we will learn later.
"I told them what they needed to hear," Van Wagenen said of Jeff and Fred Wilpon. "Not what they wanted to hear."
That's what Mets fans want to hear and see: a dissolution of dark clouds. A permanent plan. A fertile future. If this happens, it does not matter if the guy who named them was an agent, an actuary, or an astronaut (as were Van Wagenen's late father-in-law, Neil Armstrong). And it will be more than a small step. For change.
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