Recently, New York sports have become the laughingstock of national coverage, the joke in the modern résumé of a top-tier national city. With the Knicks and Giants seemingly committed to losing when they traded away Kristaps Porzingis and Odell Beckham Jr. respectively, and the St. John’s basketball team, the Rangers, and the Yankees not living up to their traditional standards of success, the fate of New York sports has fallen more or less into the hands of the Amazins’.

The Mets hired a new General Manager, Brodie van Wagenen. With his new position, van Wagenen is hoping to revitalize and bring a fresh image to a franchise endlessly mocked and satirized for its previously poor management and fickle owners. He has made bold moves in the offseason, drastically improving the team’s productivity. Whether or not success shines upon BVW’s strategy and team, he definitely claimed a place as the new face of change. In interviews, BVW has discussed removing “as many ifs as possible” for creating a legitimate contender out of his team, and being “fearless and relentless” in mortgaging the Mets’ long-term future for immediate results.

Van Wagenen’s words have not been for naught, either. Almost immediately following his signing as General Manager, he dealt away two first-round draft pick prospects, outfielder Jarred Kelenic and pitcher Justin Dunn, to the Mariners, for two potentially electrifying players: Edwin Diaz, or Sugar, coming off one of the best seasons by a reliever in history, and former Yankees’ second baseman Robinson Cano, who has developed into his own renaissance story with his second stand in New York. The new GM has also called up first base prospect Pete Alonso at the start of the season instead of keeping him in the minor leagues long enough to manipulate his service time requirements so that the Mets would have control over him for an extra season. Additionally, he resigned the offensively talented catcher Wilson Ramos, and utility infielder Jed Lowrie, coming off a career year, and resigned former closer Jeurys Familia. These moves, along with the return of an elite rotation including reigning Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Zack Wheeler, and full, healthy seasons of outfielders Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo, further cement his desire to take a no-nonsense, all-in approach in achieving the Mets’ success in the 2019 season.

The Mets hired a new General Manager, Brodie van Wagenen. With his new position, van Wagenen is hoping to revitalize and bring a fresh image to a franchise endlessly mocked and satirized for its previously poor management and fickle owners.

Whether or not van Wagenen’s long-term sacrifices are worth the immediate bolstering of the roster is debatable, but the Mets becoming more competitive in 2019—on paper—is undeniable. Yet, Mets fans are seasoned veterans in the face of shattered high hopes and aspirations, so regardless of any outstanding moves made by a new GM, they cling to a cynical, prevailing narrative: that the Mets are an endlessly mismanaged team with all the odds against them. Beattie Bernfield ’19, elaborates on this sentiment.

“Brodie’s moves make me more proud to be a Mets fan, but not enough to be hopeful. The Mets have made too many stupid mistakes in the past—from the Bobby Bonilla contract to batting in the wrong order and not even knowing who the GM was for half a season before Brodie. Besides, someone is going to get hurt, and the Mets might start out well, but collapse even faster,” Bernfield said.

Maybe Bernfield is right. The Mets busted out of the gate and played to 5 games over 500 by April 12th, 2019, but have already squandered that, falling to 3 games under by May 8th. Team owners called an emergency meeting as of May 7th. The season’s end result could not be more variant based on the team’s initial play in the 2019 season. One definite outcome from the discussion of the Mets’ new moves, however, is that despite the dispute over the positivity of the Mets’ narratives, the narratives themselves will be abundant and prevailing throughout the season. Brodie van Wagenen has cemented himself as a New York sports centerpiece.