Yahoo Sports Jacob deGrom's agent is a finalist to be the next general manager of the Mets
The New York Mets are no strangers to making unusual decisions. Given that, it should come as no surprise that the team’s three finalists for their vacant general manager position are an odd trio.
Doug Melvin, Chaim Bloom and Brodie Van Wagenen are the most likely candidates to be the Mets’ next general manager, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
Source: Chaim Bloom, Doug Melvin and Brodie Van Wagenen are the Mets' three GM finalists. They will conduct call-back interviews beginning tomorrow. All other candidates are out.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) October 22, 2018
Melvin is a long-time baseball executive who has been a general manager with both the Texas Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers. He’s already considered the favorite for the role. Bloom is a new-school thinker who has climbed the baseball ops ladder at the Tampa Bay Rays. Van Wagenen is Jacob deGrom’s agent.
Yes, the Mets are considering deGrom’s agent as one of their finalists for the general manager position.
It’s an odd move, though not unprecedented. Prior to becoming the general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Dave Stewart was working as an agent. Stewart could not continue running his agency, of course, because that would present a massive conflict of interest.
Over in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers infamously hired Kobe Bryant’s agent as their GM in 2017.
If Van Wagenen were to get the job, he would have to give up his position at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). He can’t be an agent and a general manager at the same time.
He seems to be taking that seriously. Van Wagenen even went so far as to delete a tweet suggesting the players should boycott after last winter’s free-agent freeze.
Brodie Van Wagenen, the agent who suggested a player boycott might be in order last spring, is a candidate for the Mets GM job, per @Joelsherman1.
The tweet in which Van Wagenen made that proposal since has been deleted. Background: https://t.co/VkNnKoOpVK
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) October 19, 2018
Given his relationship with deGrom, Van Wagenen could have an easier job negotiating a contract extension with the pitcher. The 30-year-old deGrom will be a free agent following the 2020 season, and Van Wagenen is on the record saying he believes deGrom deserves an extension. That could change once Wagenen is negotiating for the team, though. CAA also represents Noah Syndergaard and Yoenis Cespedes.
While that could be an interesting perk of hiring Van Wagenen, he comes in with the least amount of experience in a front office. Melvin is a known commodity who has been in the game for a long time. Bloom has been a rising star in the industry, and has been a popular general manager candidate for some time now.
Melvin and Bloom are the more traditional candidates for the position, but when has that ever stopped the Mets? The team has never shied away from making head-scratching decisions in the past, so all bets are off here.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
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