The New York Times
confirms, Brodie Van Wagenen will be the new General Manager for the New York
Mets. Van Wagenen is moving from Los Angeles and will call Citi Field his new
home. Van Wagenen was introduced by the Mets and interviewed at Citi Field and
humbly stated, “I recognize I am not the path of least resistance.” He also
further explained, “but I’m confident that Mets fans will understand and
believe this will be a great partnership going forward, and we can bring a
championship not only now but in years to come.” After structuring a marquee
$100+ million contract for Ryan Zimmerman, Van Wagenen could not have been at a
better point in his career. Ken Rosenthal called Van Wagenen the “best in the
business.” He is often touted for his creativity and ability to present deals
with the best of them. Ken has been following Van Wagenen for 10+ years and has
seen him structure a lot of deals. When all is said and done, it makes sense
why the New York Mets wanted Van Wagenen. He has honed his skills and has an
ability of making things happen. A native of the Los Angeles area, Van Wagenen
has lived in California most of his life. He played baseball on a full
scholarship at Stanford University. He started at right field his final two
years and is best remembered as a culture carrier for the team. Van Wagenen
went straight from university to working with the Chicago Bulls during Michael
Jordan’s years. Brodie has an ability of being in the right place at the right
time. He then went into the agency business and excelled at negotiating and
building relationships with the players and also the teams.
After a few years in the
business, an opportunity arose for Van Wagenen to move home to the Los Angeles
area and work with CAA. Over a few years he would end up being promoted to
co-head the baseball division of the firm. Van Wagenen’s first big time
contract was with Ryan Zimmerman. Ryan and Van Wagenen worked together closely
for years and structured a six year $100+ million contract. Van Wagenen spent
years on Ryan’s deal and later revealed having thousand of calls of hundreds of
proposals to structure the deal. The deal was structured and agreed upon before
the last day of the year thanks to Van Wagenen. Ryan has publically spoken very
highly of Van Wagenen and the work he did for him. From there came Robinson
Cano’s $260 million contract and many more. This led to Van Wagenen being
recognized by Forbes as a member of the “40 under 40.” One of the defining
moments of Van Wagenen was the chance he took on Tim Tebow. He brought Mr.
Tebow from a starting quarterback role in the NFL to the New York Mets. Tebow
has been getting better each game and taking strides toward his goal of being
brought up onto an MLB team. The Mets are getting a real winner in Brodie Van
Wagenen. The man is well tested and knows what it takes to succeed in business.
Many, including Ken described Van Wagenen as a detail-oriented individual that
will do whatever it takes to get the job done. Although Van Wagenen lacks the
experience of the front office of a MLB baseball team, his ability to develop
relationships and structure deals will come in handy when he’s doing his
day-to-day work.
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