By Scott Ferguson December 6. 2020
Steve Cohen is a breath of fresh air. He also has a lot of money. Since officially becoming the Mets new owner, Cohen has made statements about how he’s “doing this for the fans”, “makes my money elsewhere” and “we’ll spend like a big market team”. It’s refreshing after years and years of the Wilpon Family’s at best frugal, at worst unbearably cheap treatment of a team in the largest sports market in the world. For the Wilpons, the Mets were not a team. The Mets were a significant part of their investment portfolio, one that needed to be protected for the day that the family could sell it for top dollar and slink back with the profits to their Sterling Equities offices in Great Neck.
Replacing the Wilpons thrifty ways with Cohen’s multi-billion dollar bank account has made Mets fans into giddy children again, pulling out our baseball cards, looking at the stats on the back and putting them all on our team. We’re getting J.T. Realmuto, Brad Hand, Trevor Bauer, George Springer, Marcel Ozuna and trading for Francisco Lindor. It’s in the bank!
Look, it’s great to be excited and Mets fans deserve it. Except for a short time in the mid-eighties and that one magical season in 1969, the Mets have always been the second team in town and part of that has been about ownership. The Wilpons weren’t the first cheap owners in Mets history. M. Donald Grant, who was named chairman of the team after The Mets first owner Joan Payson’s death, didn’t want to pay Tom Seaver, leading to one of the worst trades in Mets history. He also actively opposed free agency and refused to engage in acquiring players that way, all while George Steinbrenner and the Yankees created a super team in the late 1970’s in the Bronx. This team’s inability to maintain long term viability created an environment in which a man like Cohen, who is doing this as a fan, has created a level of excitement in this team that has so rarely happened in it’s nearly 60 year history.
Yet let’s also be realistic. This is still about building a team and Cohen is a smart businessman. He might be doing this because he loves the Mets and has been a fan since the team’s inception, but if we think he’s going to spend money without regard for the resulting product, we’re letting our exuberance get the best of us.
Currently the Mets are pursuing James McCann instead of Realmuto. That’s an example of a smart decision. McCann was a backup catcher early in his career and doesn’t have Realmuto’s injury history. With less injuries and less mileage on his body, McCann, who might cost half as much as Realmuto, makes a lot more sense, from an on the field, team building and financial perspective.
On the other side of that coin is Hand. Hand is a terrific left handed reliever. The Mets need a lefty in the bullpen, but this really isn’t a viable plan. The Mets just signed Trevor May, a flame throwing righty who seems to slot perfectly into the 7th or 8th inning and could potentially put together an intimidating back end of the bullpen alongside closer Edwin Diaz and Seth Lugo. Hand is not coming to the Mets to be the eighth inning guy that gives the glory to Diaz in the 9th and Cohen’s money isn’t going to change that. Additionally, just how much money are we expecting the Mets to spend in the bullpen, a place where dollars notoriously do not always generate productivity. Jeurys Familia anyone? With May on board, the Mets really just need to resign someone like Justin Wilson, who can probably be had for something akin to the 5 million a year he’s made with the club the last two years. Such a move would again be both smart short term and long term, while allowing the Mets to maintain liquidity.
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