Steve Cohen has succeeded in creating a buzz within the Mets fan base. But the honeymoon is over, and your constituents want action – now!
Steve Cohen is entitled to take a victory lap throughout Metland, if only for rescuing the beleaguered but always promising Mets franchise from the Wilpons and Saul Katz.
Cohen is also entitled, and to some extent even to be commended, for using social media to rally the troops under the pretense that every team’s everyday fans have a “vote” in the decision-making process.
That is nonsense, of course, and though the gesture is refreshing, it has the life-span of a moth among the savvy customers Steve Cohen is trying to win over.
An article that was written and published earlier today touched the surface on a problem that is bubbling and ready to erupt among Mets fans who are beginning to scream – “Steve Cohen, cut the BS and let’s see some action.”
Among the comments received, this one is typical from a reader who is a member of Facebook’s “The Shea Faithful” group.
“Fans are going to grow tired of these antics quickly if he doesn’t sign a few blue-chip free agents soon. I’m already growing weary.”
Part of the communication problem between Steve Cohen and a large portion of the Mets fan base can be traced to a significant but largely ignored comment Cohen made during his introductory press conference.
The trouble, of course, is that as the creator and developer of a wildly successful hedge fund business (Point72), Steve Cohen knows full well that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same is going to be true for the Mets.
Suffice to say, Mets fans will be more than “slightly disappointed” if there isn’t a parade down Hero’s Canyon even as soon as this year, and not within Steve Cohen’s practical assessment of three-five years.
Consider this as an example of the very thing Steve Cohen does not want to see happening to the Mets.
In 2009, George Steinbrenner went all-out raiding the free-agent market in anticipation of opening the new Yankee Stadium and his own failing health.
CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixeira were all inked to contracts that guaranteed nearly half a billion dollars in total. Yankee fans celebrated, while fans elsewhere cursed the evil empire.
History recalls the Yankees indeed took the World Series title home that year. But visions of another Yankees dynasty dissipated as Burnett flopped in New York and Teixeira labored through a series of injuries, rendering him virtually useless at the end of his contract.
In the next five years, the Core Five would all be retired while Brian Cashman desperately looked to his depleted farm system to find replacements.
Eleven years later, the Yankees are still in search of a World Championship.
While there is no guarantee the Mets’ fortune will follow a similar pattern, there is at least a reason for Steve Cohen to be mindful of the Yankees’ faulty experiment.
Adding Trevor Bauer, J.T. Realmuto or James McCann, George Springer, Sandy Koufax, and Ted Williams to the Mets roster will suffice in registering them odds-on favorite to win it all this year.
But how will that contribute to the overall restructuring and strengthening of the Mets organization as a whole?
Steve Cohen: The Right Thing To Do
For instance, where is the next Jacob deGrom or Michael Conforto coming from, if not from a Mets farm system that has been largely ignored during the Wilpon era?
Of course, the answer rests in trading for or signing more expensive free agents year after year – just like the Yankees have been forced to do.
With Steve Cohen at the helm, it isn’t and will never be a matter of money. But throwing money at a problem is never the solution. As Steve Cohen knows and has said, you need people!
Finding the right coaches, instructors, and managers for placement at the Mets farm system’s right level cannot happen overnight.
Similarly, introducing higher impacting analytics personnel to the Mets organization, another stated goal of Steve Cohen takes time and patience for the program to filter from the top, through the scouts and analysts down to the players.
Nevertheless, Steve Cohen is the one who lit the fire among the Mets fan base, doing little to douse the flames.
Thus, he should not be surprised if the troops are becoming a bit restless and weary of all the talk – with little or no action.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
