Tag: Steve Cohen

Juan Soto felt the Mets have a brighter future than the Yankees, per report

Juan Soto chose the Mets for a mindboggling reason.

The sports world was left stunned when the Juan Soto decided to leave the New York Yankees to sign with the New York Mets.

This was a significant decision by Soto that was otherwise unfathomable just a few short years ago as the slugger signed the largest contract in the history of professional sports. But while the Mets offered $765 million guaranteed, the Yankees also reportedly offered $760 million.

While a difference of $5 million would change lives for most people, this is effectively the same contract with figures that large. So why would Soto then decide to jump ship?

According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan during an appearance on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt, this was perhaps an evaluation on the future trajectories of the franchises.

“The Mets weren’t that much at a different place than the New York Yankees were. The Yankees had a $760 million, only $5 million less spread out over 16 years, so it wasn’t a huge demonstrable difference. At the end, I think Juan Soto looked at the New York Mets future and looked at the New York Yankees future and believed that the Mets have a better future than the Yankees.”

Let that sink in for a second.

The Mets, long considered the LOL Mets for their consistent misfortune, ushered in a changing of the guard.

Here is more context from Passan:

“The Yankees have been the most successful franchise in North American sports history. They have 27 championships. They New York Mets have been the New York Mets. And so to see the transformation that Steve Cohen has helped make with this franchise over the last four years after he bought it, to turn them from laughing stock to the team that Juan Soto wants to play with because he believes that they are going to have a brighter future, speaks volumes about what he has been able to do since he has bought the team. This, I think, is just the beginning. They are going to spend more money. They are going to continue to have payrolls like this.”

The Mets still have more decisions to make this offseason, including whether or not they will re-sign first baseman Pete Alonso and starting pitcher Sean Manaea.

But based on Passan’s characterization of Soto’s assessment, it seems very likely that this team isn’t done spending with the hopes of creating a threat and juggernaut in the National League.

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Mets’ Steve Cohen showed why he is MLB’s best owner as he actually greeted fans outside the stadium

This would not have gone as well for other MLB owners.

Before the New York Mets host the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS at Citi field, some fans got a chance to meet a very important person.

Steve Cohen, who took over the majority ownership of the Mets in 2020, surprisingly met up with fans before Game 3 of the NLDS in Queens. Folks who arrived early for the game against the Phillies had a very unique chance to say hello to the primary shareholder of the franchise.

It was a surprising decision from Cohen, who has at least held a minority stake in the Mets since 2012. Most other owners in sports would not get as warm a welcome as Cohen did outside the stadium, but Cohen received a lot of love for the decision.

Since taking over the ownership group for the Mets, Cohen has shown a distinct and noticeable willingness to increase the payroll for the roster and the organization.

So it was no surprise that so many fans enthusiastically lined up to take photos with him before such a big game in New York:

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Steve Cohen had Mets fans in disbelief when he claimed that London has better food than New York

That’s one way to lose a fan base.

For as disappointing as the Mets have been the past few seasons, if there’s one thing Mets fans — and New Yorkers — can take pride in, it’s the food. Citi Field has some of the best food in baseball. New York is among the top culinary cities on the planet. That’s indisputable, really.

So, Mets owner Steve Cohen should think about his audience when he says that London has better food than New York. It did not go over well this weekend.

The Mets finished up their two-game series with the Phillies in London on Sunday. And when Cohen was asked about his thoughts on the trip to London, he made a point to note that London has phenomenal food — even better than New York in his opinion.

Now, as to be expected with a large and diverse city, London is home to many amazing restaurants and world-class chefs. I’d guess that a billionaire owner of an MLB team would frequent London’s fine dining scene instead of opting for beans on toast. London does have great food — there’s no denying that. But the sheer quantity of delicious food in New York makes Cohen’s take just silly.

Mets fans were not tolerating the New York food slander.

This was how Twitter/X reacted

New York-based TGL team to feature Xander Schauffele, Cameron Young

New York Golf Club is the latest TGL team to be announced.

The New York TGL team has one player on its roster from the Empire State, but it also has two California boys and an Englishman.

New York Golf Club is the latest TGL team to be announced, and it will compete in the league beginning in January 2025. Its four-player roster is comprised of Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young and Rickie Fowler.

“New Yorkers expect and deserve the best, and we couldn’t be more excited to have four of the best players in the world serve as an extension of the thriving golf and sporting culture of our city and region,” said Steve Cohen, owner of the NYGC and the New York Mets. “Rickie, Xander, Matt, and Cameron’s unwavering dedication to the sport, successful track records, and passion for winning is undisputable, and we look forward to watching them compete on golf’s newest stage.”

Per the release, “NYGC’s logo is inspired by New York’s state bird, the Eastern Bluebird. These birds are commonly found where forests meet fields, and particularly on golf courses. Our design features a dynamic swinging club crafted into the form of a wing with four grooves, one for each of our players. The circle pays homage to the circles on our scorecards and the iconic NYC Subway circle.”

Since turning professional in 2009, Fowler has recorded 10 wins, including the 2015 Players Championship. His most recent title came at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic last July.

Schauffele has been a top-10 player in the world for the better part of the last five years. Since turning professional in 2015, he has recorded seven PGA Tour titles, two DP World Tour wins and an Olympic Gold Medal in Tokyo.

Fitzpatrick became England’s first major champion since 2016 when he won the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, joining Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win a U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur at the same venue.

In 2022, Young earned Rookie of the Year honors when he became the seventh player since 1980 to collect five runner-up finishes in a season on Tour, including a second-place finish at the Open Championship and T-3 at the PGA Championship.

More on the league’s format can be found here.

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The Mets won the MLB trade deadline by giving up (nearly) everything they could

This was far better than when the Mets got Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler for R.A. Dickey and Carlos Beltran.

It is a bitter pill to swallow when a front office effectively decides that the season is a lost cause, but the Mets played this one perfectly.

Although they were a popular preseason pick to win the World Series, this team never materialized into anything other than a middling mess. It wasn’t going anywhere and they were a $350 million disaster.

The Mets (50-55) had a losing record heading into the MLB trade deadline and it was time to pull the plug. Despite winning over 100 games last season and then making flashy moves like signing Justin Verlander, this was a team simply not succeeding on the field.

So ownership and the front office decided to effectively throw in the towel for the remainder of this failed season. The odds are strong that they may effectively punt on next year, too, unless that was just lip service to get Max Scherzer to waive his no-trade clause.

For what it is worth: Mets star Francisco Lindor says he is still convinced that the Mets are positioning themselves as a winning franchise. They just, as planned, improved their farm system in the process.

New York is assuredly one of the suitors for superstar Shohei Ohtani in free agency. The AL MVP frontrunner is apparently getting recruited by Mets pitcher Kodai Senga and recently posed for a photo with Mets legend Dwight Gooden.

But in the meanwhile, the Mets opted to cash in their veteran arms and received some young talent in return. Remember when New York traded a veteran Carlos Beltran for the promising Zack Wheeler in July 2011 or the aging R.A. Dickey for Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud in December 2012?

This feels like history repeating itself but with far more magnitude.

Scherzer (39 years old), Verlander (40) and reliever David Robertson (38) were all moved before the deadline. Mark Canha (34) and Tommy Pham (35) were traded from New York. That sounds like a bad thing, especially after so much money was spent to acquire these big names.

But many of these players were potentially on their way out soon, anyway.

The Mets received notable names including infielder Luisangel Acuña (21 years old), outfielder Drew Gilbert (22), outfielder Ryan Clifford (20), infielder Marco Vargas (18), catcher Ronald Hernandez (19), pitcher Justin Jarvis (23) and infielder Jeremy Rodriguez (17) in return.

It was a “years-long rebuild over the course of a week” for the Mets, as noted by Anthony DiComo.

Acuña, Gilbert, Clifford and Vargas immediately become some of the most notable names in the New York farm system. All four were considered top-101 prospects by Baseball Prospectus. Gilbert was a collegiate teammate of Blade Tidwell, a top pitching prospect for the Mets, at Tennessee.

MLB.com projects Acuña and Jarvis should arrive in the majors by next season. Gilbert (2024-25) and Clifford (2026) are not terribly far off on the timeline, either.

If even one or two of these players develop the way that the Mets saw from Wheeler and Syndergaard, this would be a tremendous return.

As the Mets retool with a more youthful roster, meanwhile, fans should probably expect to see more playing time for those already within their farm systems (e.g. infielder Ronny Mauricio as well as pitchers Coleman Crow, José Butto and Grant Hartwig).

This season wasn’t ideal for the Mets but they dramatically improved their middle-of-the-road farm system without surrendering core players like Francisco Lindor (29 years old), Pete Alonso (28), Brett Baty (23), Francisco Alvarez (21) as well as veterans like Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil.

Soon, the Mets may have a top-tier farm system. Already, via FanGraphs, they have more hitting prospects (five) with an overall Future Value grade of at least 50 than any other organization in the MLB.

While their long-term pitching plans are still suspect outside of Senga, this was a massive win to add so much young talent to a roster that is still mostly intact.

Now, they can replenish their rotation in free agency (even if they do miss out on Ohtani), add reliever Edwin Diaz back once he recovers from his injury, or use some of these young players to acquire the next star to hit the trade block.

That is a much better scenario than finishing the season with a losing record and a few players past their prime.

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The Mets brought out a very good dog after owner Steve Cohen’s underwhelming press conference

Brilliant strategy honestly.

Heading into the 2023 season, few would have expected the New York Mets to be 16.5 games back in the National League East on June 28. This was a team that came off a playoff appearance in 2022 and spent its way into MLB’s highest payroll. Expectations were deservedly lofty.

So, on Wednesday, owner Steve Cohen decided to break his silence and meet with reporters from a lone high-top table and baseball-mitt-like chair. But the most noteworthy moment from the appearance might have occurred immediately after the 23-minute press conference: A dog took the podium!

OK, while Cohen did express his disappointment in the season thus far and take responsibility as the owner, he didn’t make any managerial or front-office changes. He also said that he was looking to hire a president of baseball operations. It was a confusingly underwhelming press conference from the billionaire owner who had his fanbase expecting something.

It was so bland that a scheduled photo op with a veteran service dog, Seaver, managed to steal the show. Reporters particularly noted how the mood shifted from confusion to “aw, what a good dog!” in seconds.

If the Mets intentionally planned that Seaver appearance to win over the room, it might have been the smartest move the team made all season.

Vincent D’Onofrio looks exactly like New York Mets owner Steve Cohen in the new movie Dumb Money

You have to see this first look of actor Vincent D’Onofrio as NY Mets owner Steve Cohen.

Actor Vincent D’Onofrio has played everything from an intergalactic cockroach-turned-farmer in Men in Black to Marvel villain Kingpin in the Daredevil universe.

Now, D’Onofrio will portray New York Mets owner Steven A. Cohen in the upcoming film Dumb Money, which focuses on the GameStop stock market short squeeze of 2021.

Vanity Fair debuted an exclusive look at the upcoming movie, which pulls in Cohen, whose hedge fund Point72 took massive hits during the GameStop incident.

The film will also reportedly feature Cohen’s famous pet pig. Filmmaker Craig Gillespie detailed to Vanity Fair how the very unique household companion factored into the scenes with D’Onofrio’s Cohen.

“The scene with Vincent and the pig walking through the house was inspired the day before [we shot it], because I read a New York Post article that said Steve Cohen apparently had a pet pig that had lived in the house,” Gillespie says.

The filmmaker knew Cohen owned the pet, but had no idea it once freely roamed his 30-room Connecticut mansion. “We had the pig, but it wasn’t going to be in the house,” Gillespie says. “Then I read the article and it was like, Okay, let’s see if we can put him in the house.”

The film will release this fall and also features actors like Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Pete Davidson, Shailene Woodley, America Ferrera, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Ramos, Dane DeHaan and Nick Offerman.

Steve Cohen claimed that one Mets fan finally broke the most improbable losing streak

Why would the fan advertise that?!

Monday’s 5-0 Mets win over the San Diego Padres wasn’t just a big bounce-back game for Max Scherzer — who pitched five scoreless innings of one-hit baseball — but also it apparently broke a tremendous drought for one Mets fan out there.

According to Mets owner Steve Cohen, a fan attended the game at Citi Field having previously seen the Mets lose 28 consecutive games over a 16-year span. Why this person was allowed in the stadium — we have no clue. The odds of that are pretty astounding — if not straight-up impossible. But when it comes to bad luck, we really shouldn’t downplay the extent of pain that any single Mets fan is capable of experiencing.

So while there was a decent chance that this fan was exaggerating, it had to be legitimate enough for word to make its way over to the owner of the freaking team.

Without taking into account matchups (and just saying the Mets had a 50/50 chance every game), the odds of that happening for 28 random games looked like this:

Just wild.

MLB Twitter also had thoughts on that one unfortunate fan’s string of losses.

The Mets’ Steve Cohen told no lies in passive-aggressive shot at MLB owners’ cheap spending

Cohen is ABSOLUTELY right.

In the current pantheon of baseball ownership, the New York Mets’ Steve Cohen might be a unicorn.

As various owners around the league try to keep their total payroll low — 11 teams are lower than $100 million, according to Spotrac — Cohen is going all out for the Mets.

After a flurry of a free agency spending period where the Mets added stalwarts like Justin Verlander and re-signed core pieces like Edwin Díaz and Brandon Nimmo, New York now has baseball’s highest payroll. In fact, at over $335 million, the next-closest team to the Mets is the crosstown Yankees, at roughly $68 million less.

In an interview with ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Cohen heartily acknowledged he might be outside the box when writing large checks to players compared to the thriftiness of his peers. In fact, Cohen even took it a step further — he essentially told them they should look inward if they’re bothered by how he spends.

Phew!

Nothing Cohen said there is a lie. Not one word. Cohen isn’t breaking any rules by opening his wallet more than others.

Here’s an additional thought. If other owners are really bothered by how Cohen’s Mets are using his resources to build a good team, perhaps they should be trying to spend to build a winner! It’s not a difficult concept.

‘No collusion’ in free agency says MLB exec before proceeding to describe textbook collusion

Watching billionaires lose their minds is a sport in itself

Even if he never wins a World Series or a pennant or even a single staring contest with a free agent, Steve Cohen’s stewardship of the New York Mets will likely go down as one of the more consequential tenures in baseball simply for how he continues to break the brains of his billionaire counterparts.

You see, baseball teams are immensely profitable, but you’re not really supposed to focus on that. The point is that those profits for years and years and years have gone back into the pockets of owners. They are not spent on acquiring more players who would happily accept it in exchange for their market value.

Cohen has no need for that type of guidance. He was mega-rich before purchasing the Mets and he’ll probably be worth even more if/when he decides to sell them.

This offseason that’s meant he doesn’t blink when spending nearly half a billion dollars on free agents and the luxury tax accompanying those contracts (which was designed to discourage people like Cohen from doing exactly this). But you can’t really legislate fear of taxes into a collective bargaining agreement.

It all boils down to owners holding each other accountable to ensure none of them spend too much. In other words: collusion.

It’s inherent to the equation. If you spend too much, there will be consequences from your peers. But no one would be dumb enough to come right out and say that. At least not with their name attached to such a quote.

“I think it’s going to have consequences for him down the road,” an official with another major league team who was not authorized to speak publicly told The Athletic’s Evan Drellich. “There’s no collusion. But … there was a reason nobody for years ever went past $300 million. You still have partners, and there’s a system.”

But wait, there’s oh so much more:

“Our sport feels broken now,” a different rival executive said Wednesday. “We’ve got somebody with three times the median payroll and has no care whatsoever for the long-term of any of these contracts, in terms of the risk associated with any of them. How exactly does this work? I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it.”

Ok, one more for good measure:

“If he would have went up to the Cohen tax, a little over, I think he would have been fine,” the club official said of Cohen. “But the fact that he blew past it, it kind of like embarrassed Rob and a lot of people. He went so far beyond it, it rendered the whole CBA — made them look stupid on the CBA negotiation. He flaunted it in their face.”

Watching billionaires whine about having to spend their own money because someone else gave up the game is a sport in itself.

This whole debacle is likely to start another round of execs and owners screaming for a salary cap despite the fact a salary floor encouraging teams to spend money would make the sport more attractive to both players and fans.

Earlier this offseason MLB completed its sale of BAMTech to Disney for $900 million that was evenly divided up so each franchise received $30 million. And yet an entire third of the league has spent less than $30 million on free agents this offseason, per Spotrac.  There is no excuse for that type of inactivity aside from plain old greed.

It’s also important to remember two things here:

  1. The vast majority of the money that is spent going to a small group of elite players. This isn’t a trickle-down scenario where mid-tier players are still earning a massive payday.
  2. This is what collusion looks like.

Maybe it’s not enough to pursue another lawsuit against the owners—side note: you know a sport’s ruling class has a problem with collusion when the topic has it’s own wikipedia page with multiple(!)  entries and examples—but the more Steve Cohen opens his wallet, the more he’s going to anger his fellow owners and the more they’re going to slip up and say something they regret.

Hopefully next time there’s a name attached to the quote.

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