Mets owner preaches patience as he adjusts expectations

Steven A. Cohen did not expect to be in this position when the season started. Cohen, the billionaire owner of the Mets, had pledged nearly $500 million this offseason to free up agents, seeking to improve a roster coming off a 101-win season. And yet he sat there on Wednesday in the Citi Field press conference room answering questions about the plight of his fourth-place team.

“We have quality players and for some reason they are not gelling,” said Cohen. “It’s a little weird.”

Not gelling is an understatement. The Mets opened Wednesday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers trailing the Atlanta Braves in the National League East by 16 ½ games and 8 ½ games away from last place with a wild card. They were closer in the standings to the American League’s Oakland Athletics, an organization stripped to spares for planning to escape to Las Vegas, than to first place in their division.

Cohen announced the surprise press conference a day earlier on Twitterleading to speculation that he could channel the fiery scenes common in New York when George Steinbrenner owned the Yankees.

Instead, Cohen seemed resigned to the fact that the Mets are now a playoff long shot this season — that chance was 12.8 percent, according to FanGraphs. But sitting on a chair that looks like a baseball glove, and in front of a round table with a Mets logo on it — both of which had been brought in especially for his press conference — he said he wouldn’t make any hasty decisions to try to turn the team’s fortunes around. .

Known for his smart moves as a hedge fund manager, Cohen preached patience and focus on the organization’s long-term stability. That means, Cohen said, Manager Buck Showalter and General Manager Billy Eppler will keep their jobs for the rest of the season.

“I’m a patient man,” Cohen said. “Everyone wants a title. Everyone says, ‘Fire this person,’ ‘Fire that person.’ But I don’t see that as a way of working. If you want to attract good people to this organization, being impulsive is the worst thing you can do.”

In an effort to rebuild the club inside and out, Cohen confirmed he wants to hire a president of baseball operations — a statement that will only fuel speculation that Cohen is lusting after David Stearns, the former Brewers president who is currently in an advisory role. role with that team – and to build a sustainable player development system, which the Mets currently lack.

Money alone does not solve the structural shortcomings of the organization. To do that, he said, he has to “attract the best, and they won’t want to work for someone with a short fuse.”

That means any changes Cohen makes during the season will be with the roster, and based on the team’s current state, the Mets are more likely to be sellers than buyers before the August 1 trade deadline.

When asked if he would consider trading the team’s co-aces, right-handers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, if the Mets continued to spiral, Cohen dodged the question. “These are great pitchers,” he said. “We brought them in for a reason.”

That reason was to win, and the Mets don’t win.

Scherzer, 38, is 7-2 with a 3.95 ERA but also received a 10-game suspension for a violation of the league’s ban on the use of foreign substances on a baseball. Verlander, 40, is 2-4 with a 4.11 ERA a year after winning the AL’s Cy Young Award for the Houston Astros. He signed with the Mets to much fanfare, but has had uneven results after starting the season on the injured list with a shoulder strain.

With Cohen playing the long game, the ace pitchers could be more valuable for what the organization could get for them in exchange for a deal than on the field.

Last week, when the Mets traded veteran third baseman Eduardo Escobar to the Los Angeles Angels for two pitchers, they agreed to pay Escobar’s entire $9.5 million salary. They almost certainly should if they also traded Scherzer or Verlander, as both earned a league-record $43.333 million this season on a team with a record payroll.

“I already consider that money spent,” Cohen said. “In an unfortunate circumstance, if I can find ways to improve our farming system and that’s the path we’re going down, I’m willing to do it.”