Phil Regan, the interim pitching coach for the New York Mets in 2019, is suing the organization and former general manager Brodie Van Wagenen for alleged age discrimination. He filed the complaint on Monday in the New York Supreme Court in Queens and is suing for unspecified damages.
The Mets gave Regan the pitching coach job in June 2019 after the firing of Dave Eiland. When Regan took over, the Mets had a 4.67 ERA that improved to 4.24 by the end of the season. Regan claims in the lawsuit that even though the team saw immediate results when he took the job, he was not retained because he was 82 years old at the time. Regan -- who was listed last season as senior adviser of pitching development -- also said the organization offered him a minor league contract at reduced terms.
"Phil came into an underperforming pitching staff and immediately righted the ship," his lawyer, Matthew J. Blit, said in a statement published by the AP on Tuesday. "He helped lower the team ERA and brought the staff back to where it was supposed to be. Instead of rewarding him for his masterful performance he was tossed aside because of his age."
In the lawsuit, Regan alleges Van Wagenen was straight forward about the reason why he didn't get to keep his job.
"BVW specifically informed Mr. Regan that he wasn't being retained because of his age," reads the lawsuit.
According to TMZ, Regan also said in the lawsuit that Van Wagenen told him that if they couldn't find "the young pitching coach" they were looking for, they would hire him back. In December 2019, the Mets hired Jeremy Hefner, then 33, and he remains the team's pitching coach.
Van Wagenen was fired in November 2020, shortly after Steve Cohen officially took over as the franchise's new owner. Neither Van Wagenen nor the Mets organization have publicly commented on the lawsuit.
