New York Mets owner Steve Cohen remembers his previous statement and knows fans won’t let him forget anytime soon.
“We haven’t won it yet and we’re two years in, so time’s running out,” Cohen said while chuckling during the latest edition of the “Mets’d Up” podcast about the club winning the World Series, as shared by Dan Martin of the New York Post.
Shortly after Cohen assumed ownership of the Mets in the fall of 2020, he outlined his short-term goal for the organization.
“One team wins the World Series every year, so that’s a pretty high bar,” Cohen said at that time. “But if I don’t win a World Series in the next three to five years — I would like to make it sooner — then obviously I would consider that slightly disappointing.”
He expressed little regret regarding those comments during the podcast.
“You’ve got to set high goals in life,” Cohen explained. “If you don’t set goals that seem hard to accomplish, you’re not gonna accomplish anything. We’re gonna do our best to accomplish them.”
Ahead of the 2021 season, the Mets traded with the now-Cleveland Guardians for Francisco Lindor. Cohen then signed the star shortstop to a 10-year extension that could be worth up to $341 million. The owner followed those moves by landing ace Max Scherzer via a three-year, $130 million contract in the fall of 2021.
It turns out Cohen was just getting started.
While he vowed in November 2020 the Mets would not “act like drunken sailors in the marketplace,” ESPN’s Jeff Passan noted earlier this week that the club has “guaranteed nearly $500 million to free agents this winter” to hold onto talents and acquire names such as three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander and Japanese ace Kodai Senga.
Cohen was also willing to give All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa a 12-year, $315 million contract if not for a medical concern flagged in a physical.
This past December, big-name agent Scott Boras compared Cohen to Goliath and King Kong. Cohen made it known during the podcast he merely wants the Mets to have opportunities to compete each October.
“I think the way to get there is to increase your probability to get in the playoffs on a consistent basis with a team that can go deep into playoffs,” Cohen remarked. “Once you get to the playoffs, anything can happen. You’ve got to keep putting yourself there. If we keep putting ourselves there, things are gonna fall our way at some point or another.”
The 2022 Mets won 101 regular-season contests but squandered a 10.5-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the National League East division standings and then fell to the San Diego Padres in a three-game wild-card series.
