Recently, a story came across my Facebook timeline that said when he was an active player and made a road trip to Boston, Dennis Rodman would buy out a Toys-R-Us and deliver it to Children’s Hospital. Rodman, who certainly had multiple issues, did this without any fanfare. This is my preferred way for millionaires and billionaires to act. Spend your money, have a good time but don’t forget there are people who need help. And help them without making it all about you.
And that’s where it seems Steve Cohen rubs me the wrong way. He seems to have a knack to make it all about him. Frequent commenter Chris F has a saying he likes to use – The name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back. Sure, Cohen owns the Mets and one could make the argument that Cohen and the Mets are essentially interchangeable. Still, his tweets and quotes give off a chest-thumping vibe that makes me uneasy.
Here is a sampling of Cohen quotes where it seems to be less about the team and more about him:
“I made a commitment to the fans,” Cohen said. “If it means I have to spend money to fulfill that commitment, so be it.”
Steve Cohen on Mets’ spending spree: ‘I made a commitment to the fans’
“I’d love to develop some pitching,” Cohen said. “Pitching’s really expensive. And I don’t know why we can’t. Other people can. At some point we will. The goal is to eventually get our payroll down to something more normalized for a New York team.”
Which is?
“What I thought was normalized turned out to be a lot higher,” Cohen said. “So I don’t know the answer to it. I always say this: I don’t create the world, I gotta live in it.”
https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/insider/story/_/id/35583053/mets-owner-steve-cohen-record-spending-free-agency-2023
“I would have kept the players if it turned out it was going to be a mediocre return. It’s a moment in time when other clubs were thinking very short term and I was thinking more intermediate, long term. And so, I was able to take advantage of that.”
https://apnews.com/article/mets-cohen-verlander-scherzer-alonso-18366d2ca50f2adf20af6202ffae3ea2
“The agent never reached out to me personally,” Cohen told The Athletic, “and I think that’s pretty telling.”
https://theathletic.com/5124923/2023/12/09/steve-cohen-ohtani-signing-dodgers/
Some people love this “heart on a sleeve,” shtick. Others will say that there’s nothing wrong with what he’s saying and that my objection is to style rather than substance. My reply would be that the style is the substance here. This is who he is. And maybe that’s how he became a billionaire in the first place. It may very well be that this puts me in “old man yelling at clouds” territory. But, as stated earlier, it just makes me feel uneasy.
How uneasy? It’s making me appreciate the recent incarnation of James Dolan, the much-hated owner of the Knicks. After years of crummy decisions and tone-deaf statements, Dolan has essentially stopped speaking about the Knicks. His silence is a blessing.
Oh, occasionally you’ll hear people in the press bitch and moan about how neither Dolan nor President Leon Rose make themselves available on more than a sporadic and limited basis. You can almost hear them say, “Waah, waah – why won’t these guys make my job easier – waah, waah!” For sure, we live in the 24/7 news cycle and everyone wants answers at all times of the day and night. But just because you want people to be at your beck and call doesn’t mean they owe you that.
The Mets are in a far, far better place with Cohen as their owner than they were under the previous administration. Nothing said here should be interpreted as a desire to return to Wilpon/Katz stewardship. Undoubtedly, many will roll their eyes over the audacity of anyone to complain about Cohen in any respect.
But it’s my belief that one is not being somehow disloyal to the Mets if they point out that the owner doesn’t walk on water. There are a ton of things that Cohen does very well. Every Mets fan should be thrilled with his willingness to upgrade the team’s infrastructure. He won over hearts and minds by bringing back Old Timer’s Day, the black uniforms and having Keith Hernandez’ number retired. No doubt you can name a bunch more, too.
But as with players and front office personnel, it’s important to list both the pros and cons. And his narcissistic statements simply fall into the “cons” section for me.
All I can hear
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
Everyone knows you can complain about ownership and not have that question your loyalty for the team. We went through decades of exactly that under the Wilpon/Katz reign of terror.
I get that you dont like how Cohen does business. Its not my favorite either, but its a damn sight better than where we came from. Like anything, he is still on the learning curve for being an owner. I can look down the list of MLB owners and find fan bases that bitch and moan practically up and down the league. Im not sure any fan base is really happy with their owners except possibly the Dodgers, Braves, Houston, and Texas. Id rather have our problems now than those of almost all other teams.
He’s owner and he’s made moves you do not like, like dumping Verlander and Scherzer (who still are on the masthead of the page!) and Vogelbach. That much you have made infinitely clear. But here’s the deal, its his team and he can play this out as he wishes. We asked for years to hear more from the Wilpon and got nothing, so they gave us Alderson with his double backwards windtalker explanations which left the fan base no better understanding the team had nothing been said. Now we hear more, but you dont like what he says. Is this really a Mets ownership issue or is it more about you?
FWIW, I said Vogelbach’s arbitration estimate was too much and that I would non-tender him.
Anytime you want to make a new masthead – just send it my way. I’m waiting for the Mets to sign someone more interesting than Severino and Tonkin before I update.
If Steve Cohen had signed Ohtani to the same exact deferred contract the commissioner would have voided. The other owners are so jealous of Cohen. As of today I still believe in Steve.
I really don’t get your complaint, Brian. So do those of us who don’t know what you’re talking about and take the examples you cited and write a dialogue that shows us what you think Cohen should have said.
I don’t know Uncle Steve personally but I’m indifferent to his comments. It’s a little of you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t. I like an owner that is more public, good or bad, as a customer I want to hear the owner. If someone asks the owner and gets a legit response, I can’t blame the owner for making it about them. It’s just answering a question…I’d prefer that to a billionaire hiding from his customers. Now, the answers could be arrogant and/or self-centered, but I don’t see that in the answers cited. I mean, if Ohtani had any interest in NYC, his people would have contacted the biggest spending owner. That’s just common sense, regardless of whether the owner was an egomaniac or a recluse. The lack of contact clearly demonstrated a lack of interest, that’s all I take. Now, the Cohen Nets have not been great, and he has to wear that no matter how many phrases he has made. And just because he made a fortune in hedge funds is no guarantee he’ll be among the most successful in baseball.
Being indifferent is a great way to be. Wish I could be that way but I can’t.
To me those quotes absolutely reek of arrogance and self-centeredness coming from the great and powerful Oz.
I am a lifelong New York sports fan. For 50 years, the Jets have sacked, the Knicks have sucked and for many years, except for 86 and a few other years, the Mets have sucked. That is 150 years, with one title.
I am thrilled to have Cohen as an owner. He wants to win as much as George Steinbrenner wanted to win. This is especially apparent after the doldrums of the Wilson’s.
I have a big hope that we get Yamamoto. In a year I hope we get Soto. I am energized with what the Mets are doing.
Cohen has a charitable foundation that gives back to the community. Who knows how much Cohen has given to charity, but it is in the millions of dollars.
What he has given to me is an amped up excitement for my sports team, which is really important to me. Thanks Uncle Steve. I am sure that I will see another Mets World Series title in my lifetime, which is way more than I can say about the Jets and Knicks.
I completely get Brian is coming from. I was a Cowboys fan since I was seven, even a subscriber to Dallas Cowboys Weekly for many years as a New York resident, but Jerry Jones’ ego has made me turn away from my team. I got tired of his meddling and desire for all the credit: “I would grant you the decisions that have been made over the years have not produced a Super Bowl, two Super Bowls or three Super Bowls that I would like to have been a part of. And the only thing I am going to do there is keep trying and then make sure I get the credit when we do get that one. Y’all are going to give it to me, aren’t you?” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2013/02/25/jerry-jones-wants-credit-when-cowboys-win-super-bowl/). This was after being an owner for 15 years and ten years ago. The Cowboys are hardly ever even in the playoffs, but Jerry keeps being the face of the franchise.
There are owners like John Henry Johnson, Mark Cuban, and even Michael Jordan that are very visible but aren’t of the “I” mentality. It is hoped that it is merely a consequence of a new owner that wants to win so badly that he considers it his responsibility to do so. That’s better than the opposite.
Lastly, Cohen has handed the keys to Stearns; let’s see if he lets Stearns drive the vehicle. He paid $2.4B to have the right to call the shots, and while he certainly is enjoying the attention, he has shown a willingness to avoid too much of it by learning his lesson about engaging the fans on Twitter. Another lesson he has learned is about mortgaging the future foolishly to go all out to win now (PCA trade). He appears to be learning.
Thanks Gus. I hope that Jerry Jones quote isn’t what we’re destined to hear a decade from now with Cohen.
I wouldn’t put Cohen in the Jerry Jones category at this point. That doesn’t mean he won’t get there, and that doesn’t mean he has an oversized ego (my experience is that the majority of “successful” businessmen do). As Gus accurately pointed out, he is new at the baseball ownership thing, he has certainly made some mistakes, and he is hopefully learning from them. At this point I am still comfortable viewing him as a filthy rich fan, and not the average Joe that just hit Powerball, but a guy who has been the top dog of a profitable entity for years….one used to people kidding his Fanny and showering him with compliments. In that world, he isn’t that offensive…yet.
Cohen hasn’t always done things well as owner, but no one’s perfect. I know a lot of fans are frustrated that the Mets haven’t made any major signings yet this offseason. I think Cohen still is trying to spend, but I think he’s trying to do it more wisely, instead of just throwing money at any big name. And yeah I know that he used to tweet a lot when he first became owner. I’m glad he’s toned it down a little. I don’t think he’s trying to make everything all about himself. He’s a Mets fan just like us, even before becoming owner and he wants the Mets to win badly. Because of where he came through, he is trying to relate to the fans more, which is something the Wilpons didn’t do much. He said that 2025 is the realistic goal. Let’s see how he really does in next year’s offseason then. But this offseason, we gotta at least get Yamammoto. If not him, then either Snell or Montgomery, to improve our rotation.
“Although Cohen has talked up his own personal Mets fandom, several people who have known him for a long time recall him more as a general sports fan or as a Yankees fan. Knicks games have been a more popular social occasion for Cohen than trips to the ballpark, and he even traveled to Indianapolis one year to watch the Knicks play the Pacers in a postseason series in the late 1990s. It’s Cohen’s wife, Alex, who registers more as the Mets diehard in the family.”
https://theathletic.com/4767345/2023/08/11/mets-offensive-approach-billy-eppler/
Brian, I think this was one of the more fun group of responses to one of your jump out on a ledge articles. For years, I have railed against the evil empire that resides in the Bronx but underneath all of that railing was jealousy for the money they could spend to ensure a trip to the playoffs. What separates the way the Yankees spent versus the way the Mets spent was that the Yankees had a strong organization. They knew what to do with the players they obtained. The Mets have struggled with a weak organization, a substandard, minor-league system, and insufficient scouting. Money to spend did not make the decision makers smarter, just allowed them the leeway to make deals. I hear Cohen but while his attitude would be unacceptable if he was just some blowhard you were out to dinner with, he owns this franchise, and is dying to make it a winner. We listen to him so carefully because we are so hungry for him to spend his money and make the Mets a contender.
It’s his party, he can whine if he wants to.
One thing I want to make clear is that this is my true opinion on the subject. This is not a take manufactured to be “edgy” or anything remotely like that. It’s an opinion and it’s 100% fine if others don’t share that opinion. My hope is that people read it, consider it and even if they don’t agree with it, they remember it and see for themselves if statements that Cohen makes in the future are narcissistic, too.
Just to be clear, this next sentence is not a prediction, just an observation. But at one point, Redskins fans loved Daniel Snyder.
“When Snyder took over, fans saw great promise in a young, self-made millionaire determined to pour his riches into restoring the franchise’s glory. Snyder shared their DNA, having been reared on Sonny Jurgensen, Sam Huff and Frank Herzog’s radio accounts of the games.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/04/15/dan-snyder-commanders-ownership/
It didn’t take long for the worm to turn in Washington.