Brodie

Van Wagenen

Van Wagenen was a well-respected player agent before his short turn as the Mets’ general manager, so he’s a natural fit for this role at the sports management company founded by Jay-Z. As Joel Sherman of the New York Post points out, Van Wagenen actually worked with Roc Nation Sports once before when he co-represented Yoenis Cespedes alongside Roc Nation agent Kyle Thousand. The Mets are currently operating without a GM after the Jared Porter debacle and might wait until next offseason to make a new hire for that gig.

It was widely expected that new owner Steve Cohen would clean house and that’s exactly what happened. In addition to Van Wagenen, the team will not bring back special assistant to the GM Omar Minaya, VP and assistant GM Allard Baird, assistant GM Adam Guttridge and executive VP of player development Jared Banner. Cohen and new team president Sandy Alderson will now get to work on finding replacements.

Cohen shelled out $2.475 billion, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network, to go from minority to majority owner of the club. The hedge fund manager has an estimated net worth of about $14.5 billion, which makes him the richest owner in baseball. While it is expected to be a slow market this winter in terms of free agency spending, all signs point to the Mets being one of the exceptions. Cohen has installed Sandy Alderson as team president and is poised to make several other changes.

Reports surfaced of New York major Bill de Blasio trying to put the kibosh on the deal, but de Blasio has since tweeted out that he has no objections. Cohen paid $2.475 billion for controlling interest of the Mets and becomes the richest owner in baseball with an estimated net worth of about $14.5 billion. Obviously, the expectation is that he will be ready to spend much more willingly than the Wilpons were, even as we enter an uncertain offseason.

Things are moving along smoothly here, but it’s important to note that this doesn’t mean that Cohen is officially the new owners. Up next is a review by the commissioner’s Executive Council followed by a vote by MLB owners, likely shortly after the World Series. He needs to 23 votes to be approved, which is expected to go down without much in the way of trouble, especially after the recent announcement that Sandy Alderson has been tapped to return should the sale be completed. Cohen has agreed to pay a record $2.42 billion to the Wilpon and Katz families to purchase the Mets. His influence should be felt swiftly in all areas.