On my New York Mets text thread, the debates and discussions with passionate fans are endless and often heated, marked by frequent disagreements and little consensus. The analysis swings wildly, ranging from thoughtful to downright irrational.
Yet the exchanges are also oddly therapeutic. The 162-game Major League Baseball season can be emotionally draining for deeply invested fans who devote significant time and money to supporting their team.
So the expectations and duty placed on the Mets this season by a fan base that has either never seen them win a World Series — or was around for the last one all the way back in 1986 — are understandable. The team sat 62-46, tied for the third-most wins in the entire league and were in first place, half a game ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East, when they played the San Diego Padres on the road last night (Wednesday).
But the Mets have flaws and are vulnerable. As the MLB trade deadline approaches at 6 p.m. today, countless eyes are on Mets general manager David Stearns and team owner Steve Cohen to see if they add a top of the line starter, bullpen help, and a centerfielder to bolster the roster. The Mets already landed lefty reliever Gregory Soto in a trade with the Baltimore Orioles last Friday but many close observers of the sport surmise that another starter and centerfielder are essential in their quest for a title.
Team owner Steve Cohen has raised the stakes, embracing high standards set by fans and the accountability that comes with it by pouring many billions into his ball club. It is appreciated and lauded by the team’s longtime supporters after the franchise’s previous principal owner, Fred Wilpon, was rightfully widely criticized for not spending the requisite amount of money to build a champion — especially after he allegedly lost upwards of $700 million in the infamous Bernie Madoff investment scandal.
“I have the ability to spend if I have to, and I want to win, and I want to put the best team I can on the field. There’s certain things, free agency’s expensive. It’s just the way it is…” Cohen said to the media in February during spring training.
He has backed up those words, most notably in December by signing Mets right fielder Juan Soto to the richest contract in North American sports history. The 69-year-old Cohen, a hedge fund manager born and raised in Great Neck on Long Island, who Forbes estimates to have a net worth of $21.3 billion, inked Soto to a 15-year, $765 million deal.
Now Soto and shortstop Francisco Lindor, who Cohen deservedly bestowed a 10-year, $341 million contract in April 2021, are charged with carrying the Mets one step further than last year’s team that lost to the eventual World Series champion-Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 in the National League Championship Series.