A video emerged Thursday of New York Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen appearing to speak candidly about MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s leadership as several teams refuse to play games in protest of Jacob Blake’s shooting.
posted via Twitter on Thursday afternoon
. It shows a 59-second segment of a conversation between Van Wagenen and two unknown people, none of whom seem to know that their words are being streamed. “Data-reactid =” 17 “> The video, apparently recorded on a live stream of a Mets pregame press conference that was never disabled, was posted via Twitter on Thursday afternoon. It shows a 59-second segment of a conversation between Van Wagenen and two unknown people, no one of whom seems to know that her words are being streamed.While Van Wagenen seemed critical of a commissioner’s reported report that players were simply playing games instead of refusing to play, he was apparently not right.
Brodie Van Wagenen apologizes, says that was idea from Mets COO
Hours later, the director apologized to him for what he said was a miscommunication.
Van Wagenen said he had misunderstood a previous conversation and an idea he disagreed with attributed to Manfred that he was actually presented by Mets COO Jeff Wilpon. He stressed that his frustration with the commissioner was “wrong and unfounded”, and apologized for his “disrespectful remarks.”
Manfred later issued his own statement, saying he had made no attempt to prevent players from protesting, nor suggested an alternative protest.
“Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong,” Manfred said.
What the Mets GM said about Rob Manfred
In the video, Van Wagenen talks about Manfred and Wilpon talking about how you can touch protesting players, then criticizes the commissioner’s leadership in the midst of the situation. He seems to have a plan to pass on and shoot where the players would leave the field in protest, and then return an hour later to play the game.
Van Wagenen later said he was waiting for word from the Miami Marlins, the Mets ‘planned opponent on Thursday, about the players’ decision to protest, with Mets outfielder Michael Conforto acting as a representative of the Mets. Mets.
A transcript of the clip:
Van Wagenen: “Baseball is trying to come up with a solution, say ‘No, do you know what would be super powerful?’ Three of us here can not leave this room. They say ‘You know what would be really great? If you just have them all take the field, then they leave the field, and then they come back and play at 8: 10. ‘And I like,’ What? ‘ “
Unknown speaker: “Who said that?”
Van Wagenen: “Rob. Jeff, ‘Planning will be a nightmare, there’s so much at stake.’ I said ‘Jeff, that’s not happening. These guys are not playing. ‘”
Unknown speaker: “They have nothing to do with reality.”
Van Wagenen: “They do not play. But that’s Rob’s instinct and Rob, just what you and talk, at leadership level, he does not understand. He just does not understand it.
‘We’re waiting. Jeff wants to hear as soon as we hear from the Marlins. What we do, we need to coordinate with the Marlins. As soon as Rojas hears Conforto. No, Miguel Rojas? Let me know, because Jeff stands for that call. ”
another video posted on Twitter that the rest of the conversation turns out to be, Van Wagenen discusses the politics that play out between Manfred, Wilpon and himself: “data-reactid =” 38 “> In another video posted on Twitter that seems to show the rest of the conversation, Van Wagenen discusses the politics that play out between Manfred, Wilpon and himself:
“Jeff wants to support the players first and foremost … but he has to be the messenger for Rob, to at least throw that to us, and I said to Jeff ‘That’s not happening. These guys are not playing.’ I’m just there. “I would not even take that to Mike.”
Van Wagenen has been the GM of the Mets since 2018. Prior to that, he worked as a gaming agent for mega-agency CAA Sports, representing some players he would later oversee with the Mets.
A seemingly hot microphone seemed to capture the true thoughts of Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen about Rob Manfred. (AP Photo / Kathy Willens)
Mets owners spell GM’s name in statement
Yet another statement was released hours after the video of Van Wagenen was posted, this time of Wilpon and his father Mets owner Fred Wilpon. In both statements, the duo condemned Van Wagenen’s slip-up.
They also wrote Van Wagenen’s first name, Brodie, as “Brody.”
Mets players followed with protest through
Because their GM had to deal with the fallout from his comments, the Mets players followed their plan to protest. After taking the field, both the Mets and Marlins saw an extended moment of silence, and then ran away. Marlins leadoff hitter Lewis Brinson wore a “Black Lives Matter” T-shirt on home plate as the left.
They did not return one hour later.
