Reese Kaplan -- Is The Steve Cohen Era What You Expected?

So how do we rate the Steve Cohen era Mets thus far?  It’s a might early to ask this question considering that Spring Training games don’t count in the regular standings and it’s not yet April for the real season to have commenced. 

However, there are a great many issues both pro and con that have occurred already and people have formed opinions.

Let’s start with the obvious one.  The Wilpons are gone.  The Wilpon approach of doing just enough to stay out of last place (most of the time) is no longer here.  The half-efforts towards prime free agents, however, are not gone. 

Most folks were clamoring for the Mets to make efforts toward George Springer, J.T. Realmuto and players of that ilk, but the Mets went for the mid-tier folks like James McCann.  I’m not saying it’s wrong, but it was not what many folks expected with Cohen’s deep pockets.

Then there are trades.  Yes, people are still reeling and screaming about the last trade made during the Wilpon era when unproven Jarred Kelenic, Gerson Bautista and Justin Dunn who may or may not have been part of the future, as well as salary dumps of Jay Bruce and Anthony Swarzak.  

Cano bounced back big time (with the aid of PEDs) in 2020 and Diaz was dominant.  Everyone felt they gave up too much and received too little.  

Based upon 2019 performances from both, that reaction back then was understandable but since then it seemed no one gave the two players received any credit.

This year the Mets did a blockbuster type of trade that brought now-injured Carlos Carrasco and now-negotiating Francisco Lindor to the Mets.  In return they gave up two players with major league experience in Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez, as well as unproven prospects in Josh Wolf and Isaiah Greene. 

Everyone, even the most ardent Gimenez supporters, were doing cartwheels over this transaction, conveniently forgetting there is no guarantee that Lindor would be here in his final season before free agency eligibility.

Don’t get me wrong.  I was among the on-the-floor calisthenic types when the trade was announced.  It was clear that the acquisitions were just what the Mets needed to make a splash and despite the Mike Hampton potential for losing out on the key name in the deal, it signaled a new approach for the Mets.  

In addition, the Mets were fortifying their roster with some other significant if not spectacular names like former Twin Trevor May, former many-team option Jonathan Villar, most recently former Rays Aaron Loup, former Rockie Kevin Pillar, former Cub Albert Almora, former Marlin Jordan Yamamoto, a trade that landed them former Padre Joey Lucchesi and the still head-scratching major league deal for former Rays Sam McWilliams.  

Now no one is complaining about these additions.  They surely are improvements over the likes of the pretenders the Mets trotted out there in the recent past.  However, they weren’t the All Star caliber players everyone assumed were automatically going to become Mets now that they had an owner unafraid of spending. 

 

The early months have not been totally a party for the Mets.  There was their GM Jared Porter shown the door prematurely due to inappropriate social media activities and then another employee terminated for similar reasons. 

Owner Steve Cohen had some securities sideline interests that may have taken him away from focus on the team for a short period of time and a great many higher profile player acquisitions did not take place.

On the whole, the fan base is seemingly much more optimistic than they had been when Fred and Jeff were the driving forces behind the club.  Everyone is minimizing the long term impact both of the starting pitcher injuries will have on the standings. 

No one seems overly concerned about J.D. Davis’ defensive woes, focusing more on the fact his bat is not reminiscent of Nolan Arenado.  Most are pushing hard for the team to sign both Francisco Lindor and Michael Conforto to long term deals.  You still hear worries about Seth Lugo and very little positive feedback about Edwin Diaz.  Robinson Cano is mostly out of sight, out of mind.  

My conclusion about the new era is that it’s a work in progress.  I’ll embrace a lot of the positives and hope for the best.  I am anxious to see how manager Luis Rojas does with a more-or-less regular season.  I am anxious to see how they develop a Lugo-less pen.  I want to see hot hands get chances and high paid players benched or cut loose if they’re not doing it anymore.  

What do you all think?