The Mets owner is known as “Uncle Steve” to some close friends, and these days that includes just about any fan of the orange and blue.
Steve Cohen talks to reporters at Mets spring training.Corey Sipkin for the NY POSTSteve Cohen talks to reporters at Mets spring training.He’s not doing nearly as well financially in baseball, but for today there’s no doubt who reigns as the current King of Queens.
Cohen declined to affirm the $200 million plus figure but also didn’t disagree when that number was stipulated in a question I posed to him here. While Cohen joked that he pays the fans to wear those Cohen shirts, the truth is they love him for now, and for good reason. He’s run the Mets’ payroll to a record $364 million, and would have pushed it to about $390 millionEven with Correa with the Twins, the winter was a thrilling time for the Mets, as they brought back cornerstone players Edwin Diaz and Brandon Nimmo, added Verlander, Senga and Jose Quintana for the rotation and Omar Narvaez to catch them, and extended McNeil. Cohen suggested he has no choice but to spend big to “bridge” the time before his organization rebuilds a farm system short on productivity, especially when it comes to defensive players. Cohen said they are trying to avoid developing “half players” in the future.He certainly isn’t approaching his relatively new gig in a half-way manner. He called his record spending “part of the gig,” and something that causes him no discomfort . But he didn’t say whether it would continue indefinitely. “I can’t predict the future,” he said, ignoring the obvious that he’s better at it than the rest of us, as evidenced by his perennial equity gains. All his spending, according to sources, is upsetting some owners, who hoped that the 90-percent fourth-tier tax – appropriately dubbed the “Steve Cohen tax” – would discourage him from running his budget 30 percent past the next highest team, which happens to be the Yankees, whose revenues are higher by at least a couple hundred million dollars. Cohen continues to smile through all the red ink that would upset 29 other owners. He noted that he didn’t expect free agent prices to rise by “20 to 30 percent,” but it obviously didn’t discourage him.Cohen suggested he didn’t believe MLB’s newly formed economic reform committee is designed to target him. He also said he isn’t hurt not to have been chosen for it, though he does seem to know a thing or two more about the economy than the average person, or even the average billionaire. There’s only one constituency that concerns him. “I made a commitment to the fans,” Cohen said. And at least for today, they appreciate it to the point of adoration.
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