Showing Zack Wheeler the door and 3 other Brodie Van Wagenen decisions continuing to age poorly

When the name Brodie Van Wagenen hits the eyes of New York Mets fans, there’s a certain sting. The pain level varies. Some feel like a bright light gently hit them a little too strongly after a nap. Others will insist the initials BVW stir a sense of battery acid washing over their retinas.

Wherever you fall, you probably thought about him on Monday.

Three full Mets seasons have gone by since Van Wagenen was employed by the team. Several of his decisions have actually turned out better than anticipated, but a few more, some by no fault of his own, continue to age poorly. Let’s look at those ones continuing to haunt the Mets and award each with a number as to how much blame he should get.

1) Letting Zack Wheeler walk in free agency

The obvious lingering mistake by BVW and inspiration is the decision to let Zack Wheeler leave after the 2019 season. The longtime Mets pitcher dealt with injuries in 2015 and 2016 which took him completely out of action. Finally returning to the mound healthy in 2018, he showed a ton of promise following a miserable 2017 campaign where even Jacob deGrom looked human.

Wheeler was 12-7 with a 3.31 ERA in 2018 and followed it up with an 11-8 and 3.96 ERA showing the year after. The talent outweighed the results at times. When it came to deciding on his future, the Mets didn’t see enough to even compete to re-sign him.

The Philadelphia Phillies thought differently of him. A five-year deal worth $118 million turned out to reward them with an ace. Wheeler has helped the Phillies get to a World Series and NLCS in back-to-back seasons now. The runner-up for the Cy Young in 2021, this is an elite Mets mistake mostly because of how out-of-his-way BVW seemed to go to assure everyone Wheeler wasn’t as good as his contract said.

With Wheeler getting a three-year deal worth $126 million this week to stay with Philly, Van Wagenen’s infamous quote returned.

Blame Level for BVW: 8 out of 10 – The contract the Phillies gave him was ridiculously high at the time and there was never a chance the Wilpons would’ve paid him. The dismissiveness of this quote was the Scarlet Letter BVW will have to wear.

2) Non-tendering Wilmer Flores

Knee issues for Wilmer Flores had the Mets thinking twice about tendering him a contract for the 2019 season. Perhaps the most beloved player in Mets history who was never a regular player, Flores has continued to prove those injury concerns false.

Once a free agent, Flores signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks. In a part-time role, he batted .317/.361/.487. Only the slugging percentage, which was a point shy, didn’t end up as the best of his career at the time.

Flores has aged quite gracefully. Long gone are his days at shortstop. However, in his last four years with the San Francisco Giants, Flores has played plenty of second base and third base in addition to first base. His bat has remained very much alive. In 2023, Flores batted .284/.355/.509 with 23 home runs and 60 RBI in 454 trips to the plate.

By the time the 2024 season is through, Flores may be thought of as more of a Giants player than a Mets one. He’s only 110 games shy.

It’s hard to tell how Flores could’ve fit in with the Mets over all of these years. Chances are he might have left at some point, but the decision to non-tender him over injury concerns is laughable especially when we consider Van Wagenen would end up paying Jed Lowrie $20 million for two years to do nothing but pinch hit a few times and strike out in the majority of them.

Blame Level for BW: 10 out of 10 – Going from Wilmer Flores to Jed Lowrie is the icing on the cake and for the reason to be injuries, we get a cherry on top.

4) Focusing the entire 2019 MLB Draft on Matt Allan

This is going to be a low score but it still needs mentioning. The Mets focused their entire 2019 MLB Draft on having enough bonus slot money to take high school pitcher Matt Allan. Something out of everyone’s control, Allan has been perpetually hurt throughout his professional career.

The bold strategy has been a major bust thus far. Brett Baty in the first round has potential. Second-rounder Josh Wolf at least helped the Mets get Francisco Lindor. The rest of the draft didn’t even include any surprise hits along the way. Although some of the players taken remain with the organization, there is no diamond in the rough about to emerge.

Allan has appeared in only 10.1 innings since getting selected by the Mets. These unforeseen injuries don’t fall solely on the lap of Van Wagenen. What it does do is provide a little bit of irony considering the two players he did let leave, Wheeler and Flores, weren’t invited back in part because of their health.

Blame Level for BVW: 2 out of 10 – Something about putting all of your eggs into one basket and the handle of said basket breaking.

A bonus wag of the finger at Brodie Van Wagenen

What about Travis d’Arnaud? Non-tendered by the Mets early in 2019, he has proudly worn a chip on his shoulder ever since. The blame level here is non-existent. d’Arnaud had years to prove himself and never could stay on the field or productive enough to satisfy the need behind the plate. In this instance, we can really only throw our arms up and wonder whose amulet Van Wagenen broke to get cursed for that move.