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.

3) The Jake Marisnick trade

Van Wagenen had an obsession with trading players for fifth outfielders. For the 2020 season, it was Jake Marisnick who would fight for that role. Unfortunately, the shortened season and an injury to Marisnick limited him to only 16 games. He did hit well, slashing .333/.353/.606 for the Mets in limited action. Unfortunately, he was only a rental. Marisnick was gone before we even realized he was here. 

Now a journeyman outfielder who has played for six different teams post-Mets and appeared in only 176 games over those three seasons with a batting average under .230, we know things would’ve gone worse with more games.

The Mets gave up two players in this trade. The first, lefty reliever Blake Taylor, managed to piece together two very productive years out of the Houston Astros bullpen. A 2.18 ERA in the shortened 2020 season proved to be more than a fluke when he had a 3.16 ERA in 2021. He did struggle in 2022 and spent all of last year in Triple-A. Now a member of the Texas Rangers, we’ll have to see how much more this loss continues to hurt.

Not finished yet, the Met also surrendered Kenedy Corona in the deal. An outfielder who’ll turn 24 later this month, he’s a rising prospect in the Houston system. He hit 22 home runs and stole 32 bases in the minors last season with a .251/.331/.458 slash line. 

Corona was just a pup at the time of the trade with one year of professional experience. Do we hold it against Van Wagenen? Someone needs to be blamed. Corona finished last year as the 11th ranked prospect in the Astros’ system. Ouch!

Blame Level for BVW: 6 out of 10 – Who knew Blake Taylor would be so effective so quickly and Kenedy Corona would turn into a legitimate prospect? Apparently, the Astros and not Van Wagenen.