Photo: Steve Marcus
It’s not a popularity contest.
But even if it was, Mets’ majority owner Steve Cohen wouldn’t care. He just wants to make smart decisions.
When Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported on Monday that the Mets were not in on Japanese pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano, some Mets fans reached for the panic button on Twitter.
That’s the spirit , just give up and go to sleep
— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) January 4, 2021
Responding to another fan, Cohen said, “I don’t need to be popular. I just need to make good decisions.”
In response to the notion that the signings of Trevor May and James McCann were it for the winter, Cohen stuck to his guns and preached refusing to act in a reactionary manner.
Let me put it differently,” Cohen said. “Don’t you think someone will take our money? It just has to make sense.”
MLB free agency has moved at a snail pace thus far as a whole, but the Mets have been on the more active side.
Cohen, after taking the reigns of the team in November, has already built his own front office, the Mets have signed a slew of players to minor league deals, starter Marcus Stroman accepted the qualifying offer and the team has inked the aforementioned May and McCann.
With a majority of the top free agents still on the board, the team will likely still add several pieces, and the Opening Day roster will presumably look different than it does at the current moment.
However, the uneasiness of the fans can be chalked up to the previous regime and its ways of operating.
Those concerns are valid, as owner Jeff Wilpon rarely addressed the fanbase, public relations fiascos were a regular occurrence, at the team was strapped for cash for years.
Former general manager Brodie Van Wagenen also compromised the farm system in an effort to win in the short term that left the prospect pool decimated. He also left the new regime with several holes around the diamond and an albatross contract in Robinson Cano that the team will have to deal with after his steroid suspension is up before the 2022 season.
Cohen has not buckled in being patient and wise, and that seems as though it will continue. For him, the interactions on Twitter don’t bother him in the mean time.
“Nah, I can take the heat,” Cohen said. “As long as they don’t mind the return serve.”
