My Thoughts On Steven Cohen’s Recent Comments

 

Photo Taken By SNY

In an attempt for the MLB to grow their international audience. The New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies traveled to London this week to play a two-game series. In between games 1 and 2, reporters had the opportunity to chat with New York Mets Owner, Steve Cohen, about the current state of the Mets.

Since Cohen became majority Owner of the Mets in August of 2020, he has been one of the most vocal Owners in any professional sport. Cohen seems to feel the need to speak out anytime a media outlet criticizes the Mets. While I can appreciate his effort to defend his team, I think he often avoids the reality of this organization.

Cohen began by telling reporters: "I'm focused on winning games right now, we can worry about the trade deadline later. That's seven weeks away. How many games is that? That's 45, maybe 50 games. A lot can happen. So I'm focused right now on the season, winning games, and we'll worry about that when the time comes."

While I can appreciate the optimism, as a lifelong New York Mets fan this is not what I want to hear when we have the highest payroll in baseball this year and have the 3rd worst record in the National League. As per FanGraphs, the Mets currently have a 13% chance of making the playoffs.

Cohen went on to say, “It's a variability of human performance, right?" You can write it down on paper, but then you've got to play the games. You know, frankly, we haven't really put it all together for a consistent period of time. And so I still think that can happen. There (are) a lot of good ball players on this club, and it's just a question of getting a little confidence, getting on a run.”

To me, this is stating the obvious. The Mets are 8 games under .500, the record alone reflects inconsistency. Also, Cohen constantly speaks on how many quality players are on the Mets roster. What he fails to mention is how badly some of these “quality” players are underperforming. Francisco Lindor is getting paid $27 million dollars this season and is batting .235, which is tied for 100th among all MLB players. Fans and experts of the game expected Brett Baty to have a breakout season, Baty has struggled immensely, batting only .229 in 153 plate appearances this season.

Cohen added, “The fans have been through much worse”

As a fan, I find that to be insulting. Cohen is the richest owner in sports and in his initial press conference once becoming majority owner, Cohen stated, “I expect a World Series within 3-5 years”. Do not set incredibly high expectations and then compare the Mets current struggles to Mets teams of the past.

The icing on the cake for me is Cohen’s comments about first year Manager Carlos Mendoza. "I'm impressed by Carlos. He's got incredible rapport with the team, he's thoughtful. He's very capable of relating to the players, delivering hard messages when he has to, I'm impressed by how he conducts himself."

While I can appreciate showing support to your leaders, what has Mendoza done to deserve this praise? I get it, he is a first year manager and it is far too early to criticize him harshly. However, he has not really shown any signs yet that he is the right fit for the team and many fans and experts are beginning to question if he was the right hire.

Listen, it is not like I want Cohen to publicly bash the team, but when he himself set these high expectations, I think he needs to address criticism more realistically than he has. Cohen constantly trying to reassure fans that the season is not lost becomes increasingly frustrating to hear when the problems facing the team are ignored and replaced with blind optimism and blank statements.

What's your take on Steven Cohen's comments? Share them below.