When billionaire New York Mets owner Steve Cohen bought the team for a whopping $2.4 billion in 2020, Mets fans everywhere, myself included, rejoiced. We were elated at the thought of an actual fan running the team with deep pockets in the biggest American market. Boy, were we wrong.
Cohen, by far the MLB’s richest owner with an estimated net worth of $14 billion, made big promises early on. To his credit, he spent big money immediately, signing shortstop Francisco Lindor to a $341 million deal (the club’s biggest single free agent contract in history). He also went out and acquired big name arms like Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, offering both aging veterans short term deals that were, based on average annual value, the most expensive contracts in history at the time. So credit where credit is due.
While Cohen did reportedly offer prized Japanese starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto a similarly lucrative deal to the massive contract he ended up accepting from the Los Angeles Dodgers, he seems to have pivoted since being rejected.
Since he brought in David Stearns, former top executive for the Milwaukee Brewers, to be the club’s president of baseball operations in October, the pair have been operating the franchise like they don’t have money to blow. (RELATED: New York Mets Make Shocking Managerial Hire)
The Mets, who shipped off a bevy of assets in the previous year’s trade deadline (outfielders Mark Canha and Tommy Pham, as well as Scherzer and Verlander) have hardly made a single splash move to replace them. Instead, Cohen’s ballclub has opted to build the team through minor league deals and small-time acquisitions.
As I watch rumored Mets targets go off the board one by one, I can’t help but think: what the heck Steve? Aren’t you supposed to be THE guy? Cohen was supposed to be our savior and now reports are coming out that he isn’t even willing to shell a few million for a reliever.
This is a man who pissed off other MLB owners with his insane spending when he first broke into the league and now he’s pinching pennies? (RELATED: ‘I’m Going To Do It My Way’: New York Mets Owner Steve Cohen Doesn’t Care What Anybody Thinks Of His Madman Spending)
Obviously, Stearns has to get the majority of the blame here. Mets insiders report that Cohen is not “micro-managing” Stearns and is allowing him to operate the franchise as his own — which is fair enough. You brought in the guy to run your team and you’re letting him do it, which I respect.
Unsure who needs to hear this but Steve Cohen is not micromanaging his staff, forcing or denying any particular player to be signed/not signed. It’s delegated out to his staff headed by Stearns, who arrived 2 seconds ago & is in process of reorganizing everything up/down system.
— Ernest Dove (@ernestdove) January 31, 2024
But you gotta show me A LITTLE something here, Uncle Stevie. Justin Turner, Teoscar Hernandez, Marcus Stroman, Robert Stephenson are all Mets-linked free agent targets who signed reasonably priced deals with other teams.
Meme C/O Imgflip.com Cohen stock photo C/O Shutterstock
Cohen gets a long leash from the fanbase considering how atrocious the previous ownership regime was — I won’t even mention them by name, that’s how traumatized I am. But we won’t stay patient forever. This is New York and you are judged solely for the results you deliver. If Cohen doesn’t bring in a Snell or a Bellinger-type soon, he better be ready to hear the boos.