Jul 10, 2019

NY METS GM MIGHT CONSIDER DELETING HIS TWITTER ACCOUNT

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On January 16, 2019, rookie New York Mets General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen told the gathered New York media, “I look forward to showing people that we’re a team to be reckoned with. Let’s not be shy about wanting to be the best. I fully expect us to be a competitive and winning team and our goal is to win a championship and it starts with the division so come get us.”

Seven months later the Mets are National League East roadkill, fourth out of five teams and 13 1/2 games behind Atlanta. But as bad as Van Wagenen’s Mets have been on the field in the season’s first half, somehow, they may have actually been worse off it. 

After a 5-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs on June 23, an unhinged Mets Manager Mickey Callaway subjected NEWSDAY Mets beat writer Tim Healey to a wholly unprovoked, vicious verbal attack that was followed up by a bizarre demand to the Mets public relations staff that Healey be removed from the Mets Clubhouse. Moments after Callaway’s disgraceful display, Mets Pitcher Jason Vargas took after his manager by profanely threatening to physically attack Healey.

The next day Van Wagenen called a press conference to address the matter – and failed to apologize. Taking after his boss, Callaway soon followed up Van Wagenen’s bloodless, tone deaf handling of the matter by also failing to apologize to Healey. (Callaway, to his credit and unlike Van Wagenen, later did publicly apologize to Healey.)

Following the Van Wagenen-sanctioned attacks on the credentialed New York press corps, the Mets organization not-so-coincidentally began to spring leaks to the media and it was soon reported in press that Van Wagenen was managing Mets games from his home via electronic communiques sent to Mets staffers which were then relayed to Callaway – an egregious abuse of well-established Major League Baseball rules.

Then – via “club sources” – the NEW YORK POST’s Mike Puma broke the story that Van Wagenen had thrown a chair as part of a profane verbal display directed at the Mets coaching staff after yet another New York loss -this time to the Phillies on July 5.

So that brings us to last night, when Van Wagenen decided it was a good idea to send out the following Tweet from his personal @GMBVW Twitter account congratulating Mets All-Star Game participants: “A big congrats once again to @JdeGrom19, @Pete_Alonso20 and @JeffMcNeil805 for representing the @Mets at the @AllStarGame. Look forward to getting the second half of the season started on Friday. #LGM”

The Tweet – despite the innocuous nature of its contents – did not go over well with Mets fans.

Below is a very small sampling of replies to Van Wagenen’s Tweet.

Amazingly, the aforementioned Tweet by Van Wagenen – and subsequent volcanic reaction by Mets fans – is nothing new. 

Despite the obvious, oft-obscene angst that his apparently blissfully unaware Tweets are greeted with by Mets fans, Van Wagenen has been a semi-regular Tweeter since his account was created in October 2018 – with no signs of slowing down.

If that isn’t a sign that Van Wagenen, deep down in his bones, is completely disconnected emotionally from the long-suffering Mets fanbase, nothing is.