The Mets have a GM with an oversized ego bent on building an empire for himself. Maybe it’s time we should let him self-destruct…
Generally, Mets fans have nothing good to say about Brodie Van Wagenen. He is seen as an ill-prepared and out of his bailiwick imposter – a Mickey Callaway – with a different title.
Van Wagenen (A.K.A. Czar Brodie) operates in the light of day, unabashedly seizing the reigns of power betrothed to him by the Wilpons. He grabbed the moment when it came to him gift-wrapped with a call from the Mets universe to dump Callaway. He will choose the next manager of the New York Mets – the team’s third in the last three years.
Van Wagenen, for reasons yet to be explained, will also fire on unexpecting “clients” at will, dismissing the manager of the New York-Penn Class-A champions, Edgardo Alfonzo, or “Fonzie” as Mets fans affectionately call him.
Others in the Mets family, like Tony DeFrancesco, the manager of the Mets Triple-A team in Syracuse, wonder when the ax is due to fall on them. Most likely, current Mets coaches don’t even bother waiting and are already out looking for another job.
Meanwhile, a plan to counteract Czar Brodie’s power grab, if there is one, has yet to unveil itself, which is why my idea is as good as any to stop him in his tracks.
It will take time and a wealth of patience on the part of Mets fans, though, for the plan to develop and work its magic. But if I sense anything about Czar Brodie, my plan is foolproof.
Mets: A Plan To Save The Team
The strategy begins with the notion that Brodie Van Wagenen is the only General Manager we have. He has the favor of Mets ownership, and he is going nowhere soon.
Thus, nothing we do or say is going to stop him from hiring Tim Bogar over Joe Girardi. So, as they say, why fight City Hall?
Let the man hang himself. After all, if all these things we allude to Van Wagenen are correct – that he’s a neophyte, a gambler, and a narcissist – his die is cast, and we have nothing to worry about. Czar Brodie will self-destruct.
Brodie’s manager will prove to be the lackey he was hired to be, and fans and media will ridicule the poor soul until he surrenders, leaving Van Wagenen high and dry, desperate to find a replacement.
But the best part of my plan is that Czar Brodie can’t touch the Mets players who demonstrated their will over adversity last season. Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil will swing their bats unencumbered, and Jacob deGrom will continue to defy National League hitters en route to another Cy Young campaign.
And the Mets will win, despite Czar Brodie.
Foolproof Even If It Backfires
On the flip side and though it’s unlikely, maybe Van Wagen will strike the right chords, and it becomes a win-win situation for everyone. And we’ll stand in honor of the man who transformed the Mets culture forever, while Yoenis Cespedes bats cleanup for the Mets, appearing in 155 games with no time on the IL.
So, does everyone understand what we’re doing here? We can’t shout it from rooftops, but we’re going to let Czar Brodie have his way. We won’t applaud what he does, nor will we criticize Joe Schmo when he’s appointed as the new manager.
We’ll let it play out until even the Wilpons see through the fog.
Except that then it’s back to square one, and we’ll need to launch a new crusade to prevent the Wilpons from naming Jim Gosger as the new GM. I mean, how can we kick around a man who was thought by the Mets to be dead…
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
