ballnine - NY, NY

 

By Kevin Kernan August 21, 2021 

Even billionaires must have a learning curve when it comes to baseball. Money cannot solve all problems.

Steve Cohen or @StevenACohen2 as he is known on Twitter is learning some hard lessons lately.

Learn is the key word. Will he learn? He had better learn from his mistakes in 2021 or Mets life isn’t going to be as special as all the Mets fans thought it would be when Cohen purchased the team from the Wilpons.

While the 61-63 Mets have fallen off the face of the NL East earth, the Yankees have found the secret sauce to winning and it involves a balanced baseball approach as they have won nine straight. Imagine that a baseball approach.

More on the Yankees later in The Story.

This should have been a cakewalk of a season for the Mets to win the mediocre NL East. It should have been a breeze. Nobody was really any good in the division, and the Mets had a straight shot to the playoffs.

Instead, the Mets have again fallen on their face and to make matters worse, Cohen sent out a tweet last week that did not go over well in the clubhouse – you can be sure of that – and it should not go over with the fans as well because it really indicates a lack of baseball knowledge from on high.

Here is what Cohen wrote, criticizing the Mets hitters.

“IT’S HARD TO UNDERSTAND HOW PROFESSIONAL HITTERS CAN BE THIS UNPRODUCTIVE. THE BEST TEAMS HAVE A MORE DISCIPLINED APPROACH. THE SLUGGING AND OPS NUMBERS DON’T LIE.’’

He is the owner. He is entitled to his opinion. Numbers don’t lie, but this is more than numbers.

Hall of Famer Jim Palmer is entitled to his opinion, too. And he immediately responded to Cohen’s tweet with a tweet of his own. Here is what Palmer tweeted.

“U let “your’’ Gm fire Chili Davis, Tom Slater in May. And then I had to read the nonsense about the new hitting coaches were going to tell your underperforming hitters to be more selective. Like Chili didn’t tell them that. Only perpetuates lack of accountability for the hitters.’’

God bless Jim Palmer.

I wrote it at the time that the Mets made a big mistake firing Chili Davis and Tom Slater. Dealing with both men through the years, I was extremely impressed with their no agenda approach to help their hitters. It wasn’t about them, it was about helping their hitters. The first week of May the two coaches were fired.

The acting GM Zack Scott was pushed up the ladder when the other GM Jared Porter had to be fired before the season started. Scott hasn’t exactly overwhelmed me so far, and the fact that he did not go heavy on acquiring pitching at the trade deadline was another bit of underwhelming maneuvers by Scott.

The Mets knew at the time that Jacob deGrom was having arm issues. The Mets were so spoiled by deGrom’s greatness that they assumed he would bounce right back and carry the freight as they say on the MLB website.

DeGrom is still out.

Welcome to The Show, Steve Cohen.

Then Scott made a rookie mistake, criticizing Mets players for not being compliant with the medical staff’s recommendations. “In some cases you can have the best plan and if the plan’s not followed, that’s not going to necessarily yield a good result,’’ Scott said.

I’ve been around ballplayers long enough to know that if there is pushback on a medical or rehab plan it’s because the players are suspicious of the plan. Jim Cavallini is the director of the performance and sports science for the Mets so perhaps some Mets aren’t as gung-ho on the plan. Either way, the bottom line is the Mets have had a lot of injuries and of course, their ace, deGrom will be out until mid-September with forearm tightness. 

Mets hitters have not come out of their funk. Scott went to Hugh Quattlebaum for hitting answers because he is friends with his brother Gus Quattlebaum – VP of pro scouting with the Red Sox. Scott came from the Red Sox. Quattlebaum is an analytics-based hitting coach. 

Going back to June 20th, the Mets are 23-34 as they have let the division slip away to the Braves. Mets hitters are in a collective funk as the Mets are 1-8 on this current West Coast swing. Over the last eight games the Mets are 9-for-72 with RISP.

To continue reading click here.