New York Mets: Steve Cohen cleans house immediately
It did not take long for Steve Cohen to clean house after he purchased the New York Mets.
The baseball world was rattled and confused by the New York Mets signing of CAA super-agent Brodie Van Wagenen to replace Sandy Alderson as General Manager. Nobody expected this and the Mets were in the need of someone to run the organization. And owners, at the time , Fred and Jeff Wilpon thought somebody with no front office experience would be a good fit.
In 2019, the Mets fell just short of the playoffs. In 2020’s shortened season, even with eight National League teams making the postseason, they missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.
About two years later, the Wilpons have sold the New York Mets to billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen. Cohen hired Sandy Alderson to be the President of the team’s baseball operations. Just hours after they gained control, Cohen and Alderson cleared house, firing Van Wagenen and the rest of the Mets’ front office.
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Alderson is in charge. Cohen is the new owner, and the most lucrative one in all of baseball. The Wilpons are no longer affiliated with baseball in Flushing. Free agency is amongst us and this time; the New York Mets have money to spend.
When a person with no former front office experience takes control of a major league baseball team, mistakes will be made.
In December 2018, Van Wagenen traded Jay Bruce, Anthony Swarzak, Gerson Bautista, and two of their top prospect in Jared Kelenic and Justin Dunn to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for 36-year-old Robinson Cano and young closer All-Star closer Edwin Diaz. Robinson Cano was formerly a client of Van Wagenen’s.
Cano was 36 and coming off a year where he was suspended for PEDS. He was already losing his range and had five years and $120 million left on his contract. Diaz was an elite receiver at the time but has underperformed immensely in New York.
Cano has three years left with the Mets and Diaz is trying to become New York’s closer after losing the job in 2020.
He wasted two years and $24 million on Jed Lowrie, who barely played for the Mets due to his deteriorating health. The same contract that the Mets gave Lowrie was the same the New York Yankees gave DJ LeMahieu, who was a stud for two years as a Yankee.
Todd Frazier was a poor signing. Billy Hamilton and Jake Marisnick were both useless trades that costed prospects. Jeurys Familia was overpaid and has been a disaster since he has returned to the Mets.
His main good trade was acquiring J.D. Davis from the Houston Astros.
Van Wagenen will be remembered for poor transactions and treating players like property, not people. A final determination on Van Wagenen will be made when we see how his 2019 and 2020 MLB draft classes turs out. They are his last hope to leave any type of a good legacy with the Mets.
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Cohen and Alderson are ready to spend and improve the quality of the front office. By investing in analytics and improving the quality of the members of the New York Mets’ front office, the team will improve and head towards a winning direction. The two need to find a general manager to put together the best possible team and make another run at the National League pennant and hopefully the World Series.