Steve Cohen Addresses Winning Now, Payroll in Recent Interview

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen was a guest on the latest episode of The Show – A NY Post Baseball Podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman – on Wednesday and there were a lot of interesting nuggets to take from the interview.

Cohen has been basking in plenty of praise from Mets fans as of late having successfully brought Old Timer’s Day back to Queens, culminating in a truly special day at Citi Field on Saturday, and his team are in the midst of a great season under manager Buck Showalter.

It was perhaps the perfect time, then, to go on a podcast with two of the biggest baseball writers around and discuss a whole bunch of topics in relation to the Mets. After all, Cohen’s team is locked in an intense pennant race with the Atlanta Braves and hopes are high in Queens that a deep postseason run all the way to the World Series could actually be a realistic goal.

There were a number of interesting nuggets to emerge from the podcast, including the future of closer Edwin Diaz, competing with the Yankees and blowing through the luxury tax threshold. Here’s perhaps some of the biggest takeaways from Cohen’s conversation with Sherman and Heyman…

Winning a Ring

When Steve Cohen took ownership of the New York Mets around two years ago, he said right off the bat that his goal was to win a championship within his first five years. Two years in and that dream is looking very achievable, with the Mets well positioned to make a deep run this October.

“We’ve made a lot of progress,” Cohen said. “I would love to win the World Series – that would be fantastic. Only one team wins the World Series every year and, if I remember correctly, the Dodgers won seven or eight division titles before they actually won a World Series so it is hard to win. The only thing you do is put yourself in position where things can happen and hopefully that’s the case for us. I like this team, I like what they do, they are tenacious, they never give up and that is a pretty good character trait once you get into the playoffs.

“I like to set high goals and try to achieve them. There’s no guarantees we’ll get there. Like I said, only one team can win every year but you have to set high goals otherwise you just aren’t going to stretch and try and achieve things that others may think are difficult or impossible. That’s what I like to do and that is the type of thing I do in everything I do. I think that’s the right approach.”

Ballpark Experience

Citi Field has been a fun place to be this year from Edwin Diaz’s walk out song that’s now become a whole show to jersey retirements and other little additions that have made a big difference. Having a winning product on the field helps too, of course, and Cohen shed some light on what ownership have done to improve the overall ballpark experience for Mets fans this year.

“We’re always experimenting,” Cohen said. “We have DJ nights on Friday night and we’re always thinking of new ways to enhance the experience for our fans and we’re always trying new ideas. It is at the forefront of our minds and if we can get the young fans involved, then even better.”

There is no doubt that the overall fan experience has been so much better at Citi Field this year. And, again, while winning helps, it is clear that Cohen has made it his mission to ensure the fans leave the ballpark happy and eager to come back no matter the outcome on the field. And that’s important.

Competing with Yankees

The Mets will always be compared with the New York Yankees given that they share the same city, that’s just a fact of life. And, for decades, the Mets have been the little brother while the Yankees have won World Series after World Series and made yearly trips to the postseason. Cohen’s arrival changed the dynamic instantly and, with the Mets now a legit championship contender, Cohen was asked about competing to be the kings of New York with the Yankees.

“Do I want to kick their butt? I don’t need to kick their butt,” Cohen said in response to a question from Sherman. “They’re the Yankees, we’re the Mets, we’re going to do our thing and they are going to do their thing. Wherever it falls it falls and I really believe there is room for both of us in the city. It is a big city and I just don’t worry about the Yankees. I don’t feel like we’re competing with them. I feel like we’re trying to establish our own identity, our own brand, so I don’t really think about them.”

Given that the Wilpons had a long-standing obsession with the Yankees, an obsession that no doubt hindered what they were trying to do, it is refreshing to hear Cohen make it clear that he’s only worried about what the Mets do. After all, the Yankees are always going to be a huge brand so it makes perfect sense just to focus on making the Mets their own unique thing.

Sandy Alderson

One of the biggest storylines involving the Mets throughout Cohen’s ownership has been the presence of Sandy Alderson, who is currently the president of the Mets. There was a narrative back in the winter that Alderson’s heavy presence in the front office was off-putting to a lot of potential GM candidates, especially with Alderson’s son also involved with the organization.

There are some who believed that with general manager Billy Eppler in place, Alderson could eventually move on but Cohen made it clear that the long-time baseball executive still has a big role to play with the Mets.

“Listen, Sandy is going to continue to be a part of this,” Cohen said. “He’s been invaluable to me and he will continue to help me in any way that he can.”

Keeping the Band Together

Cohen was asked about the large number of key free agents the Mets will have to deal with after this season, including the likes of Jacob deGrom and Edwin Diaz. While revealing that contract discussions have not yet really begun with any of their players, Cohen did stress that those decisions will be made when the time is right and that the Mets will be competitive in trying to keep the players they want to.

“To be perfectly honest, we haven’t really sat down and we’ve been so busy thinking about what is going on in the present,” Cohen said. “We will sit down at the appropriate time and go over what our needs are for the next season and who we want to bring back. We’ve got a lot of great ballplayers here, they are doing extraordinary things, they are all free agents and they’ve earned that right. That is part of the deal and this is a big moment for them. I’m sure they will entertain offers and they should. Hopefully we will be more competitive and we will make those decisions when the time comes. We’ll see what happens.

“No one has an unlimited budget. The numbers can get extraordinary. We’ll have to figure it out and we will, we just haven’t got there yet.”

Cohen was then asked to dive a bit deeper on the futures of deGrom and Diaz, with the latter recently going over to the Cohen house for dinner.

“I haven’t had a direct conversation with Jacob on this,” Cohen said. “Obviously he’s been a great Met and he’s somebody that I would love to have back, but it is appropriate to have that conversation after the season. He’s been very clear that he wants to opt-out and he’s earned that right. At the appropriate time we’ll sit down and talk. I said it the other day and I’ll say it again; he’s the best pitcher in baseball and we’ll do whatever it takes to bring him back.

“I had Diaz out for dinner a couple of weeks ago. Terrific guy and he’s just had an extraordinary season. He’s just a great person and he’s got a great demeanor for the role, so calm, just comes in and does his thing, very likeable and I would love to have him back. They are people and they are not just employees. This isn’t just an impersonal relationship. They are important to me and I want them to know that they are important to me. It is not just you give me performance and I pay you, I think it should be beyond that. It is a great opportunity to get to know them, get to know what makes them tick and it is my style. It is what I do in my Hedge Fund. I always use the opportunity to get to know people on a personal level. It has worked for me and it is the proper thing to do. I’ll continue to do it.”

The fact that Cohen has built personal relationships with his players can only be a good thing when it comes to free agency, and it is also another clear-fire sign that the Mets owner is determined to do things the right way and make the organization one current and potential future ballplayers want to play for long-term.

Being Disciplined Financially

When it was announced that Cohen would become the new owner of the Mets, one of the biggest topics of conversation was just how much money he would spend given that he automatically became the richest owner in all of baseball. That naturally concerned a few of the other owners in MLB, and it has been a narrative that has stuck throughout Cohen’s tenure.

However, while Cohen has flashed the dollars in terms of bringing the likes of Max Scherzer and Starling Marte to Queens, he’s been pretty consistent in being sensible and not completely blowing through the luxury tax threshold. And, after being asked about the payroll in particular, Cohen addressed what the payroll may look like next season.

“We’ve been very disciplined this year,” Cohen said. “You’ve got to remember that we had a bad contract with Robinson Canó and we eat that contract, so I think we’ve been pretty disciplined in that regard. You’ve got to remember that we’ll be paying Canó next year as well. We’ll see what happens but I haven’t really even thought about what we’re going to do next year as far as the budget. I haven’t sat down with Billy (Eppler) and the rest of the team but that’s going to happen after the season. We can figure this out pretty quickly so I’m not worried about it. These decisions aren’t that hard. It really depends on who we want to bring back, what the other opportunities are out there and we’ll figure it out. That’s part of the process.

“I’m part of a community and I don’t want to just be flippant about what I want to do relative to what is going on in the rest of the baseball community – I’ve got to live in this world. I can’t just act like it doesn’t exist. We’re almost at $300 million – you should be able to build a pretty good team at $300 million dollars. If you can’t do that then that’s a problem.”

Old Timers’ Day

It took over two decades for the Mets to bring Old Timers’ Day back and Cohen was at the forefront of those efforts, culminating in a very special day at Citi Field a couple of weeks ago. Cohen also sprung a major surprise during the celebrations in retiring Willie Mays‘ No. 24 jersey, and Cohen finished his interview by explaining the decision behind that.

“It was really my decision,” Cohen said. “When I heard there was a promise made to Willie by Joan Payson and there was no follow through on that, I just felt there was an obligation by an owner that needed to be kept. I was going to follow through on that and I just felt that was the right thing to do. I had spoken to Willie, he had confirmed that and I’m glad I followed through on that. We want celebrate our history, I was very clear on that from day one and there will be others.”

All in all, it was a really insightful conversation with Cohen who hit all the right notes on a number of important issues. He gave some really honest answers on things like payroll and the crop of free agents the Mets will have to deal with very soon, and it is refreshing to here the owner of the New York Mets speak so in-depth and so candidly on a public forum.

Mets fans can listen to the full interview with Steve Cohen on The Show – A NY Post Baseball Podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman – by clicking here.