NEW YORK — Steven Cohen threatened the underperforming New York Mets with the prospect of a trade deadline selloff unless they get back into contention for a playoff berth, but the team owner promised job security through season’s end to manager Buck Showalter and general manager Billy Eppler.
“All is not lost yet, but it’s getting late,” Cohen said during a news conference Wednesday with the Mets fourth in the standings in the National League East Division. “I’m preparing my management team for all possibilities. If we don’t get better, we have decisions to make at the trade deadline, and that’s not my preferred end result, but I’m preparing all contingencies.
“And we’ll see where it goes. It’s on the players, right? They’re veterans. They’ve been there before. These are players who have done it, and we’ll see if they can get their act together and string together some wins. I can’t pitch, and I can’t hit. That’s the way it goes.”
New York currently projects to a $360 million payroll and is on track for an MLB-record luxury tax of about $99 million. The Mets are shattering the previous payroll high for $291 million set by the 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers, who set a tax record that year at $43.6 million.
And yet the Mets began Wednesday 36-43 after losing seven of their previous 10 games and 16 of their previous 22. They were 16 1/2 games back of the first-place Atlanta Braves and 8 1/2 games out of the last NL wild-card berth. Their 4.58 ERA was 25th among the 30 teams in Major League Baseball.
In stark contrast to New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner’s behavior in the 1970s and 1980s, Cohen promised stability in terms of management.
“I’m a patient guy, OK?” the 67-year-old hedge fund billionaire said. “Now, everybody wants a headline. Everybody says: Fire this person, fire that person. But I don’t see that as a way to operate.
“If you want to attract good people to this organization, the worst thing you can do is be impulsive, OK, and win the headline for the day. … You’re not attracting the best talent. You’re not going to want to work for somebody who has a short fuse. Listen, I know fans, they want something to happen. I get it. But sometimes you can’t do it because you have long-term objectives.”
Cohen said the team is still pursuing a team president and a president of baseball operations.
This year’s trade deadline is Aug. 1, and an unsuccessful season could increase interest in a youth movement for a team that had the oldest average age on opening day. Cohen said he’d be willing to cover salaries in trades if it improved the prospect haul coming back.
“If it turns out we don’t improve and I’m looking at ’24 with a similar team, one year older, for a veteran team, probably not a great place to be,” Cohen said. “We have to make honest, truthful judgments.”
FanGraphs estimated the Mets’ chances entering Wednesday of winning the division at 0.1%, reaching the playoffs at 13.3% and winning the World Series at 1.1%.
Showalter said players are aware they are running out of time for a turnaround.
“Their strengths, shortcomings are right up on this huge board every night for the whole world to see,” he said. “I’ve said it before: You go out there every night with the idea that something could happen, that there’s this ridicule and poking fun at them. Even our own people sometimes do it. So it’s tough, but they understand it. They understand it. They know it, and I try hard not to be Captain Obvious to them.”
Cohen compared the Mets to dogs at a track chasing a mechanical rabbit.
“It’s been incredibly frustrating. I watch every game. I see what’s going on,” Cohen said. “We have quality players. For some reason or another, they’re not jelling. When we pitch well, we don’t hit. When we hit, we don’t pitch well. It’s kind of weird. It’s actually very strange to me. And I don’t know if the players are anxious. I don’t know if they’re pressing. I assume that’s a little bit of that. We see a lot of mental errors.”
Heading into their third season under Cohen, the Mets added pitchers José Quintana, David Robertson, Kodai Senga and Justin Verlander, along with catcher Omar Narváez and outfielder Tommy Pham. They also re-signed outfielder Brandon Nimmo for $162 million over eight years and closer Edwin Díaz for $102 million over five years. Díaz sustained a knee injury during the World Baseball Classic and is expected to miss the entire season.
“Let’s assume this turns out to be a poor season,” Cohen said. “Yeah, in retrospect you’d like to spend less. But you don’t have that luxury when you’re trying to put together a team.”
“Ultimately I think we’d like to get the payroll down because the farm system is developing players,” he added. “If we can’t, then it’s on us.”
Asked whether a fourth-place finish would result in major changes, he quipped: “It’s not fifth place.”
Former Chattooga star makes MLB debut for Nationals
Amos Willingham, a 24-year-old right-hander from Summerville, Georgia, made his MLB debut Wednesday for the Washington Nationals, pitching one inning in relief during a 4-1 road win against the Seattle Mariners.
The 6-foot-4, 217-pound Willingham was a standout for Chattooga High School, Snead State Community College in Boaz, Alabama, and Georgia Tech before being taken in the 17th round of the 2019 amateur draft. With minor league baseball’s 2020 season wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic, Willingham began his climb through the Nationals’ farm system in 2021 and was called up to the majors for the first time earlier this week.
He was available for Tuesday’s game but did not pitch, posting afterward on Twitter: “It didn’t happen tonight, but I want to thank everyone back home and on the east coast who stayed up with us tonight. I’m so incredibly grateful for all of the love and support. There’s no way I can thank each and every one of you enough. Let’s do it again tomorrow!”
After entering in the eighth inning Wednesday, he worked Jose Caballero to an 0-2 count on a strike looking and a strike swinging before throwing two straight balls and giving up a home run to left field. However, Willingham settled down to get out of the inning on a groundout, a flyout and a pop-up, having thrown 17 pitches — 14 of them for strikes.
The rebuilding Nationals are fifth in the NL East but have won four of their past five games.