New York Mets: Jacob deGrom negotiation must occur without the GM

Before the negotiations with Jacob deGrom become out of control, New York Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen must step aside.

The New York Mets could be headed down a path of no return with the Jacob deGrom negotiations. This has to be cleaned up now and it could be done so very easily.

We talked about this the other day but it deserves repeating.

When you listen to the team talk, it’s not hard to wonder how much they really want it. Here is a quote from general manager Brodie Van Wagenen:

"“Everybody knows that Jacob deGrom is great,” Van Wagenen said. “Everybody knows that Jacob deGrom deserves to be handsomely rewarded for his performance. We need to make sure that the contract and what we’re willing to do is something he’s willing to do, and it makes sense for this organization short-term and long-term. And that’s what we’re trying to work through right now.”"

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That in and of itself is a pretty normal comment for a general manager. deGrom, however, had this to say when talking about moving forward, and talking about possibly reducing his workload:

"“I’m going to have to sit down with them and really see what they think is best for me moving forward,” deGrom said. “You play this game because you love it, and then you have an opportunity to look out for your family and your future, so I think just you have to see what’s right for you to do.”"

Uh oh. This is not what we want to hear from the ace pitcher, especially when the franchise believes they can contend this year.

This could all be just posturing that works itself out in good time. But what if it isn’t? What if there really is animosity building here?

The Mets could solve this very simply. It would take one simple change in the situation.

Just remove Brodie Van Wagenen from the negotiation process.

Think about it for a minute. Van Wagenen is in an impossible position on this to begin with.

He was deGrom’s agent. There you have the conflict of interest. He worked for the player and now he works for the team. By nature, he will compensate to one side or the other. There is no way he can be down the middle on this.

Now Brodie is expected to negotiate this contract with his former colleagues. They might resent him, he might resent them. We don’t know. The problem could be very real, and the Mets would be the losers in the end.

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You know how you fix it? Let Omar Minaya, for example, negotiate the contract. He’s done it before. He was the general manager.

That would put someone without a conflict of interest in charge of this one deal.

Come on Mets, it’s not that hard. Let someone else do this one. Do it before the Mets lose their first Cy Young award winner in quite some time.

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