Brodie Van Wagenen heads to first GM meetings with Mets
Mets new general manager Brodie Van Wagenen looks on from the field after a press conference at Citi Field on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
In some ways, this offseason was a convenient one for a change at the top of the Mets’ baseball-operations hierarchy.
The Mets didn’t have any decisions to make on options on players’ contracts, and they didn’t have any free agents worthy of a qualifying offer. Outside of a bit of housekeeping on the 40-man roster Friday, which included Rafael Montero and Phillip Evans becoming free agents, the quietest part of the baseball calendar has been particularly low-key for the Mets’ front office while ownership looked for a new general manager.
That ends Monday.
New general manager Brodie Van Wagenen and other Mets executives are headed to Carlsbad, California, for the GM meetings through Thursday. It’s baseball’s annual and unofficial hot-stove kickoff, helping to set the stage — and teams’ agendas — for the far busier weeks to come.
Van Wagenen’s first days as GM included plenty of getting-to-know-you meetings with his employees, including manager Mickey Callaway, who will be back in 2019. Now he’ll see his new peers (other heads of baseball operations) and old peers (agents) for the first time in his new role.
The GM meetings also should bring clarity on what Van Wagenen believes are the Mets’ greatest needs and where he stands regarding several other issues, including further changes to the front office, the Mets’ payroll neighborhood and prospect Peter Alonso’s status/the first-base situation for 2019.
“The need is to try and get the 25 best players on the field that work together and complement each other,” Van Wagenen said Tuesday at his introductory news conference. “We have a foundation of starting pitching. We’ve got some good young players on the corners and in the outfield. We’ve got some guys who have performed well in the bullpen that had a little more workload put on them than they needed to, so we need to balance that out. We have to try and get better up the middle in terms of offense and defense.”
Free agent Craig Kimbrel could bg a bullpen option for the Mets. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
On the eve of the GM meetings, here are three areas of emphasis for Van Wagenen & Co.:
Catcher: The Mets have Kevin Plawecki and Tomas Nido in-house, which is to say they could stand to upgrade at least the top spot on the depth chart. Miami’s J.T. Realmuto, who is available via trade at a steep cost, is an unlikely option, but the Dodgers’ Yasmani Grandal and the Phillies’ Wilson Ramos are free agents. Among the top offensive backstops in the game, Grandal comes with a qualifying offer attached, which means penalties for the team that signs him. Ramos has a lengthy injury history but had a strong year (.306/.358/.487) for the Rays and Phillies in 2018.
Centerfield: Van Wagenen’s declaration that the Mets need to get better defensively up the middle includes center and coincides with the late-season sentiment expressed by Callaway. Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto are options in center, but only if the Mets land a big-time bat for a corner spot. Arizona’s A.J. Pollock, who also has a long history of injuries, is the top centerfielder on the free-agent market and would help the Mets on both sides of the ball.
Bullpen: The Mets’ relief needs are deep; fortunately for them, so is the list of free agents. Among them: Craig Kimbrel, Zach Britton, Adam Ottavino, David Robertson and Andrew Miller. A reunion with Jeurys Familia, also a free agent, is very much a possibility. As the Mets’ two-year deal with Anthony Swarzak last offseason shows, however, it can be awfully difficult to find reliable relief help in the free-agent pool. A safe bet: The Mets will bring in several bullpen arms by the time spring training starts.
