New York Mets look more like a disaster than a championship team
By Joe Noa
When hired last fall, new GM Brodie Van Wagenen declared the New York Mets as the team to beat in the NL East. So far the team isn’t living up to the proclamation.
A major disaster is brewing with every defeat the New York Mets suffer. With each loss, they are further away from Brodie Van Wagenen’s proclamation that the Mets are in a win-now mode. If it wasn’t for Pete Alonso, this team would be battling the Marlins for the 2020 MLB number one draft pick. Should the Mets admit this Brodie Van Wagenen experiment is a failure or is there another way to turn this season around?
There were such high expectations and hope that the first year of former player agent Brodie Van Wagenen’s regime was going to be a memorable one. The moves he made, some controversial were going to change the dynamic about how a baseball organization would be run. He made it clear changes in how the players would be treated as associates and important members of the greater good of the organization rather than merchandise in a Wal-mart.
More offense was needed. BVW traded for future Hall of Famer and previous client, Robinson Cano. He signed catcher Wilson Ramos away from Philadelphia and signed another former client Jeb Lowrie as free agents. The latter has yet to see a major league pitcher due to various injuries. Van Wagenen also traded with Houston and acquired J.D. Davis.
He addressed 2018’s lack of depth when injuries left the Mets with inexperienced minor league replacements. that resulted in the signings of former major leaguers Rajai Davis, Gregor Blanco, Danny Espinosa, Adeiny Hechavarria, Carlos Gomez, Ruben Tejada, and Rene Rivera to name a few.
The bullpen was a disaster in 2018. To shore it up he brought back Jeurys Familia, signed Justin Wilson, Hector Santiago, Luis Avilan, and the acquired super stopper, Edwin Diaz, from Seattle in the Cano trade.
With all the positive momentum how are the Mets a sub .500 team?