Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen, Front Office Team Out After Steve Cohen Purchase

General manager and executive vice president Brodie Van Wagenen is leaving the Mets just hours after Steve Cohen officially became the owner of the team.

"Congratulations to Steve Cohen on the purchase of your home-town team," Van Wagenen said in a statement. "I hope that your energy, competitiveness and resources will be welcomed by Major League Baseball. The sport can benefit from your fearlessness and aggressiveness." 

The move was announced by new Mets president Sandy Alderson.

Special assistant Omar Minaya, assistant general managers Allard Baird and Adam Guttridge and executive director of player development Jared Banner are also departing, MLB's Mets beat writer Anthony DiComo reported.  

“I want to thank Brodie, Allard, Adam and Jared for their contributions over the last two years,” Alderson said in a statement. “I especially want to thank Omar for his long and distinguished service to the Mets in many important capacities.”

Cohen, a billionaire hedge fund manager, officially became the new majority owner of the Mets early Friday afternoon, closing on the $2.4 billion deal to buy the team a week after the league announced that MLB owners approved the sale. He is now the wealthiest owner in the MLB, estimated to have a net worth of $14 billion. 

His wife, Alexandra, also has a small ownership stake in the Mets, NY Daily News' Deesha Thosar reported. 

Cohen ended the Wilpon family's 34-year long control of the franchise. One of his first moves was hiring former Mets general manager Alderson as team president and ended Jeff Wilpon's time as COO.

According to the AP, an entity controlled by Cohen owns 95% of the franchise and the Wilpon and Katz families retain 5% of the team.

Before Wilpon hired Van Wagenen to replace Alderson after the 2018 season, he was was a player agent and co-head of CAA Baseball. The franchise went 86-76 the next year, finishing third in the NL East. Van Wagenen replaced manager Mickey Callaway with Carlos Beltran.

However, Beltran was quickly replaced by quality control coach Luis Rojas after he was implicated in January by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred in the Astros sign-stealing scandal during Beltran's final season. 

After Friday's moves, Rojas' future is uncertain. 

Several of Van Wagenen's moves as general manager failed to work out, including signing free agents Todd Frazier and Jed Lowrie and acquiring second baseman Robinson Canó. 

The Mets went 26-34 this season, missing the expanded playoffs.

"We took a team that had suffered losing seasons in 2017 and 2018 to contention in 2019 and onto a chance for real success in 2020 prior to the pandemic," Van Wagenen said in a statement. "The energy and excitement of the fans in 2019 will stay in our minds forever."