Part 28 in a series analyzing the New York Mets

The Mets should be two months into the regular season, which may have provided some clarity about how Brodie Van Wagenen’s tenure as general manager was going.

After being hired away from Creative Artists Agency prior to last season, Van Wagenen said, “I recognize I am not the path of least resistance.’’

In that regard, Van Wagenen will likely be measured against some of his contemporaries — especially Chaim Bloom, who was also up for the Mets’ job.

At the time, Bloom was the Rays’ senior vice president of baseball operations.

Considered a rising star with Tampa Bay because of a deep background in analytics and having played a part in keeping the Rays competitive despite a limited budget, Bloom had already been up for GM jobs in Philadelphia and Minnesota before interviewing with the Mets.

Last offseason, he became the chief baseball officer for the Red Sox, taking over for Dave Dombrowski.

The Mets also considered Doug Melvin to take over for Sandy Alderson, but went with Van Wagenen.

Van Wagenen had never interviewed for a GM job. As the co-head of CAA’s baseball’s division, he had clients on the Mets such as Jacob deGrom, Yoenis Cespedes, Noah Syndergaard, Brandon Nimmo and Tim Tebow.

So far, both Bloom and Van Wagenen have shown a willingness to make bold moves — Van Wagenen tried to rebuild the Mets on the fly with his trade for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz from Seattle that cost them two of their top prospects, Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn.

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Bloom, hired by Boston in October, decided to go a different route, trading two of the Red Sox’s best and most notable players — Mookie Betts and David Price — to the Dodgers for a trio of young players, as Bloom looks to the future.

The stoppage of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic puts more pressure on Van Wagenen, in the second year of a four-year deal, and may help Bloom, since Boston likely wasn’t going to contend in the AL East.

Ultimately, though, they will long be judged on those two deals, with the Mets hoping Cano and Diaz get them to the postseason and Kelenic and Dunn don’t turn into stars in Seattle. And if Betts, who will be a free agent following this season, continues to be an MVP candidate, Bloom will need to see results from Jeter Downs, Alex Verdugo and Connor Wong.

In his second offseason, Van Wagenen took a more measured approach — signing Dellin Betances, Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha to short-term deals without much risk.

And it was his lower-profile moves initially that paid bigger dividends, from trading for J.D. Davis to signing Justin Wilson — as opposed to his major acquisitions, like Diaz and Cano, as well as Jeurys Familia and Jed Lowrie, all of whom struggled last season in Queens.

Much remains unclear about this season. There’s movement toward a restart of spring training perhaps as soon as mid-June, with an Opening Day in early July.

The Mets were counting on Syndergaard as part of a strong top-three in the rotation, along with Jacob deGrom and Marcus Stroman, but Syndergaard is out until next season following Tommy John surgery, and Zack Wheeler is in Philadelphia after signing a five-year, $118 million deal.

They were also counting on having Carlos Beltran as their manager, replacing Mickey Callaway. But they parted ways with Beltran in the wake of MLB’s investigation into Houston’s sign-stealing scandal from 2017, in which Beltran was the lone player mentioned.

Van Wagenen then turned to Luis Rojas, who will enter his first season as a major league manager, another risky move. He could have gone with the vastly experienced Dusty Baker, who ended up replacing A.J. Hinch with the Astros.