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LOS ANGELES – It was a mess. Former managing director Gene Michael participated in the selection of his successor (does this sound familiar to you with Omar Minaya and John Ricco?). Legitimate candidates such as Tom Grieve, Bill Lajoie and Jerry Walker did not even want to be interviewed because they thought the owner was too involved and would never let them do it (this sounds familiar to Ben Cherington, Mike Chernoff and Thad Levine?). ).
There is not enough space in this newspaper to do justice to the loss of dishonor and unprofessional research by the Yankees of a general manager and a director after the 1995 season. Joe Torre was essentially hired as a manager because he was the itinerant secretary of the Mets, which he liked very much and was part of George Steinbrenner's delirious kitchen cabinet.
Oddly, the Yanks ended up going 1-in-2: Torre was a fantastic job while Bob Watson for GM was not.
Torre, however, is at least a reminder that imperfection, something positive could happen – heck, a dynasty came afterwards.
Yes, the Mets let Minaya and Ricco have a decisive influence on the choice of a GM, believing that Minaya was feeding candidates who would keep him in the foreground. Yes, many, like Cherington, Chernoff and Levine, were worried enough that the Wilpons would stay on the spot rather than risk convincing Mets owners to change their behavior.
The Mets did not set up a process that will be taught at the Wharton School of Business, but they ended up with two interesting candidates on the Tampa management team, Chaim Bloom, and the powerful CAA agent , Brodie Van Wagenen. finalize an agreement with Van Wagenen. Because of his status at the CAA, Mr. Van Wagenen would need a much higher salary than Bloom, which appeared as the last hurdle.
But the Mets have come right up here and Van Wagenen has so much to lose to return to CAA that it would be a shock now if the man who negotiated the contracts of Yoenis Cespedes and Todd Frazier and many other contracts ongoing with Sandy Alderson and Jeff Wilpon not now succeeding Alderson to work for Wilpon.
If the contract is finalized, will Van Wagenen become Torre or Watson for the Mets – a choice inspired by disarray or someone who is not prepared and surpare?
What Van Wagenen tries to do is rare, but not unique. Joe Garagiola Jr. and Dave Stewart both became agents to become Diamondbacks General Managers, and Jeff Moorad became one of the most powerful baseball agents, owning Diamondbacks and Padres. Bob Myers went from agent to general manager of the Warriors, and Rob Pelinka followed the same path to the Lakers.
This is more common in entertainment. Two of CAA's founders, Mike Ovitz and Ron Meyer, went to Disney and Universal. Maybe, along with Van Wagenen, CAO's chief executive, David O'Connor, left to run Madison Square Garden for James Dolan, an owner whose representative in New York, like the Wilpons, was negative. This marriage lasted only two years without success.
If Van Wagenen joins the Mets, his strength will obviously be contract negotiation. But there will be complications. The CAA is a cooperative in which several agents are involved in the process for the clients. But Van Wagenen, Jeff Berry and Nez Balelo are the three leaders of the baseball division.
Thus, Van Wagenen – based in New York – has been a major element in negotiating agreements and sharing information with Cespedes, Frazier, Jacob de Grom, Noah Syndergaard, Jason Vargas and several other people currently members of the organization Mets. How will these players think that an agent knowing their secrets will be paid by the team? In addition, the world of agents is cranked with constant poaching of customers from each other. Now, Van Wagenen should sit in front of Scott Boras or Seth Levinson. In particular, Casey Close's split between Van Wagenen and CAA was unpleasant and he remains a powerful force within his company, Excel.
With the money involved, everyone can play the big boy and overwhelm their mistrust and aversion, but do not pretend that this would not be part of Met's life now.
Van Wagenen has negotiated a lot with Jeff Wilpon over the years. Between that and the Connecticut golf course, Van Wagenen has been offering his opinion for the Mets property for years. But now the dynamics are changing. Watson was among the many people who thought they could manage George Steinbrenner on the basis of a relationship prior to obtaining GM status and who discovered how stupid this notion was. Van Wagenen should be ready to see a different aspect of the property as soon as the GM responds to the Wilpons rather than decide whether to take their money or not.
Van Wagenen is brilliant and energetic. Those who know him say that he has a strong spirit of cooperation and will recognize what he does not know and will listen to the experts. He was a player at Stanford University. He maintains close relations with the 30 teams. But it is actually a riskier choice than Bloom, who is only 35 years old and has worked for the small market rays. But Bloom has risen through the ranks within an MLB organization and is well regarded by other sports leaders.
Van Wagenen is the biggest bet. But these owners surprised us with this process. Cardinals 'executive, Gary Larocque, was initially considered the favorite, then the Brewers' director, Doug Melvin. It turns out that Fred Wilpon was not married to an older and enlightened person. From a barely manageable search, the Mets are off the beaten track.
Are they about to have a Torre or Watson result?
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