New York Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen covered for Rob Manfred and instead said his boss was to blame for the idea he criticized.
The Mets were trying to decide how to handle Thursday’s game against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field. According to what was shown in a leaked video, Van Wagenen said that Manfred suggested having players come out for symbolic gestures and then return to the field an hour later. Van Wagenen was critical of the suggestion and said that Manfred just didn’t get it.
After the video was leaked online, Van Wagenen issued a statement to clarify things. Van Wagenen said that he misunderstood and that it was Mets owner Jeff Wilpon who made the suggestion, not Manfred. Van Wagenen also apologized in the statement.
“Jeff Wilpon called Commissioner Manfred this afternoon to notify him that our players voted not to play. They discussed the challenges of rescheduling the game. Jeff proposed an idea of playing the game an hour later. I misunderstood that this was the Commissioner’s idea. In actuality, this was Jeff’s suggestion. The players had already made their decision so I felt the suggestion was not helpful. My frustration with the Commissioner was wrong and unfounded. I apologize to the Commissioner for my disrespectful comments and poor judgement in inaccurately describing the contents of his private conversation with Jeff Wilpon,” Van Wagenen said in a statement.
If you watched the video, it’s very hard to think that Van Wagenen got his facts wrong. He was very much speaking with certainty about events that had unfolded that day.
The Mets owners are selling the team, while Manfred remains the league’s commissioner. All parties probably agreed to try cleaning up the situation by dumping it onto the person selling the team.
