According to a report, New York Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen has dictated in-game decisions for Mickey Callaway.
Just when New York Mets fans thought there couldn’t be more dysfunction within the organization, a report from Tim Ehalt of Yahoo! Sports hit the baseball world.
Sources confirms that Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen has acted during games, texting to staffers, including to remove Jacob deGrom during that Arizona start earlier this year in which he left early.
It's happened more than once.
— Matt Ehalt (@MattEhalt) June 25, 2019
Mike Puma of the New York Post confirmed the report later the same night. According to the sources, Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen once dictated an in-game decision for Mickey Callaway.
Van Wagenen made this decision from his phone while watching the game from home. The general manager ultimately wanted pitcher Jacob deGrom taken out of an early June game in Arizona due to a hip cramp, per the report.
Puma writes, “According to an industry source, it was the rookie GM who instructed Mickey Callaway to remove Jacob deGrom from a game in Arizona earlier this month in which the Mets ace sustained a hip cramp. After deGrom was removed from the game in the seventh inning, the bullpen imploded in a loss that added to the frustration of a 2-5 road trip.
“The source said Van Wagenen, who was watching the game at home on TV, communicated with a member of the Mets support staff with an order to remove deGrom from the game. Callaway complied with the order, and deGrom was visibly upset as he departed the field, certain he could continue pitching. The manager was grilled for the move, but at the time insisted the decision was his.”
After Monday’s 13-7 loss to the Phillies, Van Wagenen denied the report to the media.
From everything I hear, a front office is not allowed to communicate with its coaching staff during a game. That would be illegal.
(Brodie is slated to be available for comment postgame)
— Matt Ehalt (@MattEhalt) June 25, 2019
Van Wagenen stated, “I am not going to get into the specifics of one game or another, but I can tell you that we do communicate with the training staff in the training room when there is a player that suffers an injury. Anything that is health-related to a player’s status, we do communicate with that, but as far as performance-driven decisions in game, that is Mickey’s call and the coaching staff’s call.”
This comes just a day after an incident that occurred in the clubhouse with Callaway, pitcher Jason Vargas and beat writer Tim Healey of Newsday. To say the least, it’s been a dramatic day for the organization as a whole.
