The Mets fired manager Carlos Mendoza on Friday morning in the midst of a six-game losing streak. It’s easy to blame Mets GM David Stearns for the team’s downfall, and he’s getting plenty of gas thrown his way. Not so with Mets’ owner Steve Cohen. Are you kidding me?
It’s easy to pin everything on the president of baseball operations, David Stearns, for what’s gone wrong. You can date it back to last summer when the Mets collapsed after a 45–24 start and missed the playoffs. The problem is that Mets’ owner Steve Cohen has gotten a pass from a frustrated fanbase that should be demanding answers. But they are not getting any from Cohen: he hasn’t spoken to the media in a long time.
Look, Cohen has done good things as Mets owner. He spent money, brought back alumni whom the Wilmons had ignored, and ran a humane organization. He can do a lot worse. But he is also the owner of a team that has underachieved with a $330 million payroll, and he hired Stearns, whose results have been poor.
Under Cohen, the Mets employed three managers and five executives, which was not what Mets fans had in mind when he purchased the team in November 2020. Instability was supposed to end when the deep-pocketed owner took over from the Wilpons. He was going to hire the right people and bring winning back. He promised this team would win a championship within five years.
There is no excuse for so many executives and managers coming and going. It’s unacceptable to see a team be this awful under him.
Cohen thought Stearns would put an end to the team’s issues. He had a lust for this executive since the day he bought the team. He would have hired his guy earlier if the Milwaukee Brewers had let him out of his contract. He even fired a successful manager, Buck Showalter, to make sure his baseball Yoda would be in the organization.
So far, Stearns has been a failure. The Mets have done plenty of losing under him, and along the way, he alienated winning stalwarts Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, Edwin Diaz, and Alonso by failing to build partnerships. Nimmo and McNeil were traded, and Diaz and Alonso left for free agency. He saw those guys as replaceable and not winners. His offseason moves flopped: Luis Robert Jr. and Freddy Peralta did nothing, and Jorge Polanco was injured all season.
Sure, Stearns had some moves, right, such as Luke Weaver and Devin Williams? He also found Luis Torrens, who proved productive. But the macro outweighs the micro when it comes to moves. It’s also on Stearns for players not being developed quickly enough in the minors, as well as for why players such as Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Ronny Mauricio have regressed. He hired his people to work with the young players, and they have not been coached properly, from what we have seen.
If the Mets somehow lose 95 to 100 games this season, it’s going to be a hard sell for Cohen to bring Stearns back. Firing Stearns would give the Mets owner an “E” on the scorecard, and it would be hard to think he will get it right after getting it wrong in hiring executives such as Jared Porter, Dick Scott, and Stearns.
That is why it’s interesting that Cohen has yet to be ripped by fans and the media. Right now, they still believe in him, even though the results offer no tangible evidence.
To me it’s mystrious, especially when Cohen doesn’t speak to the media, which he should have done on Friday after Mendoza’s firing. The fans need to hear answers from the owner. He doesn’t do himself any favors by staying out of public view.
Cohen has been a disappointment on and off the field. He has been no better than the Wilpons.
But he has one thing going for him: He’s not M. Donald Grant, the hockey guy who became a Mets’ baseball executive … at least just yet.
What a sad, but redeeming, quality.
