5 Takeaways from Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen, including Robinson Cano's absence and potential team sale

Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen met with members of the media on Friday morning via a video call to discuss a number of different topics surrounding the team, including Robinson’s Cano recent absence from Citi Field, how the team has adapted to new health and safety protocols, and the potential sale of the club.

Here are five takeaways from what the Mets GM had to say …

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On Cano’s absence

“It’s important to remember, and I ask all of you to do the same, that we’re adapting, adapting to a new world in which we live and anew world in which we work. That’s true for players, coaches, staff, even you members of the media. In doing so, we’re needing to find new ways to communicate and new ways to operate, both inside the bubble and outside the bubble. As it relates to player communication and daily updates, you can count on us to continue to provide daily updates on all players and their on-field activities, all players on any health-related issue from an on-field activity, but once players leave the ballpark, we’re not going to provide updates there. There’s a variety of reasons why players are or aren’t here on a given day and we’re going to protect the players’ rights to keep those reasons quiet.

“Cano was not onsite here the last few days.”

On health and safety protocols in place and his confidence in playing a season

“We see playing baseball as an opportunity. This is a moment where I think every one of our players is excited to be back at work, and it’s our job to try to put them in a situation, create an environment for them where they’re safe, where they feel safe and they’re comfortable showing up every day. It takes a lot of people to keep people safe, and it’s a commitment we all share … It’s a conversation that will continue every day.

“We’ve been given good guidelines on how to create a floor plan, and now we’re kind of taking it to the extreme and making sure we all abide by it, but we’re also having fun with it. I think the guys appreciate that while we’re acknowledging the seriousness of the behavior, we’re also being lighthearted and having fun with it so that people aren’t offended if we help remind them or help correct them on how they’re performing.

“I can speak to Mets camp, and I can speak to the way our players have communicated to me and each other. I think our players have a lot of confidence that we are doing things right, and that they are taking ownership and accountability of their season, and that we have a great deal of confidence that we’re going to be able to do our part to have a season, and we expect to do so.

“As it relates to other clubs, I can’t speculate that, but I know that within this house we’re committed to playing and I have confidence that we can.”

On Mets players potentially opting out of season

“We’ve had dialogue with players all during the shutdown, for the three months leading up to this point and we’re able to hear questions, concerns, desires from our players as it relates to their willingness to play this season, and to a man then and so far since, every player has expressed a desire to play and we haven’t had any players express the potential of opting out. Obviously, things can change down the road, but at this point our players have made it clear to us that they want to be here and want to play.

On opening MCU Park in Brooklyn for additional workouts

“We’re planning on opening Brooklyn here within the coming days, hopefully as early as next week. So, the plan would be to bring up an additional group of players, add them to the pool, and again, I’m expecting us to be able to do that at some point next week.”

On the potential sale of the team

“I’m not able to provide info on the groups, and truthfully it’s not a process that I’m involved in. For me and that the baseball operations department, it continues to be business as usual, and I anticipate it being that way until there is or if there is a change.

“Jeff (Wilpon) and I are still in constant communication on every aspect of the day-to-day operations. Fred (Wilpon) and I are in regular communication about our team and the decision-making. We’re collaborating in the same way we always have.

“We aren’t talking about it as a baseball operations group. Our focus is … to win and try to win going forward. There are no distractions. … It’s just not a conversation we’re having internally because we’re keeping our eye on the prize, and we’re having a lot of fun doing it.”