Steve Cohen becomes Mets' majority owner and Brodie Van Wagenen is out as GM

It took Steve Cohen at least 338 days to buy the Mets — and two hours to make massive changes.

Cohen, a Long Island native and hedge-fund boss, became the majority owner of the Mets on Friday when he closed on the $2.475 billion transaction with the Wilpon and Katz families. That was procedural, as all the other steps and approvals and technicalities were done with.

Shortly thereafter, the big news came down: General manager Brodie Van Wagenen and most of his inner circle, including assistant GMs Allard Baird and Adam Guttridge, were leaving the organization.

Also gone are special assistant to the GM Omar Minaya and executive director of player development Jared Banner.

"This is a significant milestone in the history of this storied franchise. I want to thank everybody who helped make this happen," Cohen said in a statement after the closing and before the front-office house-cleaning. "The 2021 season is right around the corner and we’ve got a lot of work to do, so I’m excited to get started. Let’s go Mets!"

Former Mets GM Sandy Alderson, who is back as team president, already has started the search for new baseball operations leaders, the Mets announced. They have not addressed manager Luis Rojas’ status but have a news conference planned for Tuesday.

Chosen by deposed chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon to replace Alderson in 2018, Van Wagenen was the team's GM for two years. He came to the Mets after establishing himself as one of baseball’s top agents — his clients included Jacob deGrom, Yoenis Cespedes and other Mets — which made his hiring controversial and highly unusual.

Among the moves and themes marking Van Wagenen’s tenure: a brash and win-now tone, including challenging the NL East to "come get us" that was never backed up on or off the field; the acquisition of Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano from the Mariners for a package of players highlighted by prospect Jarred Kelenic; deGrom’s five-year, $137.5 million extension; the firing of manager Mickey Callaway; the hiring of Carlos Beltran and then Rojas to replace Callaway; two drafts perceived as successful; a willingness to trade plenty of prospects, and a series of underwhelming short-term free-agent signings.

The Mets went 112-110 under Van Wagenen and missed the playoffs both years.

"We took a team that had suffered losing seasons in 2017 and 2018 to contention in 2019 and on to a chance for real success in 2020 prior to the pandemic," a long statement from Van Wagenen read in part.

He also referred to Wilpon as "the day-to-day leader of the Mets" who has an "unrivaled work ethic."

"I am grateful to Jeff for both the incredible opportunity and the unwavering support that he gave to me while in my role of GM," Van Wagenen wrote.

Van Wagenen brought in Baird, Guttridge and Banner during his first offseason. Minaya, also a former Mets GM, rejoined the organization in December 2017, overlapping with Alderson for several months. He is friendly with Cohen, who had been a minority owner since 2012, but also is very close with the Wilpons.

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

The rapidity of the front-office changes stood in stark contrast with the public portion of the sale process, which had dragged on since Dec. 4, when the Mets first said Cohen was in talks to buy the team.

Now Cohen can get to work implementing whatever additional changes he pleases — hirings and firings, signings and trades, and other organizational moves that won’t get as much attention.

The first of those was the return of Alderson, who in effect replaces Wilpon. With Van Wagenen and Wilpon gone, Alderson temporarily can run the day-to-day activities of the baseball side while searching for a new department head.

He is only two-plus years removed from being GM, and much of the core of the major-league roster — Michael Conforto, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith, Brandon Nimmo, Seth Lugo, David Peterson, Amed Rosario, Andres Gimenez — came into the organization under his watch.

In addition to front-office reshaping, Cohen and Alderson will have plenty to do with the major-league roster. Catcher, the starting rotation and perhaps centerfield are all significant needs. They’ll also need to figure out how to improve a bullpen that ranked 18th with a 4.60 ERA last season, and they might want to upgrade the defense — a problem throughout Alderson’s first go with the Mets — along the way.

Cohen, who is taking on the titles of chairman and chief executive officer, owns nearly 95% of the team, up from his previous 8%. His wife, Alexandra Cohen, and his business partner, Andrew Cohen (no relation), also have small ownership stakes, a source said. The Wilpons and Katzes retain the other 5%.

He will continue to run his hedge fund, Point72 Asset Management, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut.

Alexandra Cohen, who is Puerto Rican and from Washington Heights, lives with Steve Cohen in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is the president of the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, a nonprofit the couple founded in 2001.

Andrew Cohen will take on the title of vice chairman and keep his seat on the Mets’ board of directors, which he held as a representative for Steve Cohen when he was a minority owner. Andrew Cohen, the co-founder of Cohen Private Ventures, will continue to manage the family office on Steve Cohen’s behalf.

Including their passive minority stake, the Wilpons will remain tangentially involved with the club but won’t have any actual decision-making power. They still have a controlling interest in SportsNet New York, which they reportedly are open to selling, and own the rights to develop some of the land around Citi Field.

The Wilpons have owned a piece of the Mets since 1980, when patriarch Fred Wilpon bought 5%, and the Cohen deal allows them to keep a piece indefinitely.

Fred Wilpon upped his ownership to 50% in November 1986, weeks after the Mets won their most recent World Series championship, and bought out Nelson Doubleday Jr.’s half in August 2002. In the more than 18 years since, the team had a 1,400-1,456 record, three playoff berths, seven winning seasons, eight managers and five GMs.

All that is history now.

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