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Perhaps nothing has defined the Wilpons’ failed Mets ownership as their obsession with winning the press conference – and their incredible loss record nonetheless.
They could never see beyond tomorrow, beyond the headlines the next day, beyond what might be yelled during driving time on WFAN. They wanted so much to be loved now and to convince their fans that they really knew what they were doing that they tended to fall 20,000 feet, never to see a problem from that perspective.
At a Mets press conference, you got to see the sweating and hopelessness, inadequacy and incompetence, the downsides of engagement. You could feel the anguish in the room; Jeff Wilpon tripped over his words and tortured others in their language trying not to trigger Jeff Wilpon.
So Steve Cohen had an extremely low bar to pass on Tuesday when he introduced himself via the Zoom press conference. Yet he also had a high bar. For the Mets, fans had already created an image of Cohen as a savior, Santa Claus, and a saint.
The fact that Cohen had cleared all the obstacles was so obvious that an executive from a rival team sent an unsolicited text: “I just watched all this and if I was a fan of the Met right now, I would dance in the street.”
Dance away, even knowing it’s the easy part. Press conferences are not real, questions can usually be prepared in advance. Liability is minimal. George Steinbrenner said he would be an independent owner almost half a century ago after taking over the Yankees. Cohen made a similar commitment that he was going to let his baseball folks make the decisions. We will therefore see if this new boss is like the old boss.
But the key here wasn’t to be like the old Mets bosses. Cohen avoided criticism of what existed under the previous regime, but definitely commented on it with each response on what he expects. As an example, when he spoke of wanting to emulate the Dodgers, it wasn’t Brooklyn and 1950s nostalgia, it was in the relentless efficiency and modernity in every phase of the now-champion version of Los Angeles.
When he talked about embracing and improving the organization’s analytics, it wasn’t because he had heard that this was what the cool kids in the game were doing – think again about the scam on the Wilpons’ belief – it was because he was using the best of the best now in his thriving hedge fund.
The money from Cohen’s session will be his hope of winning a World Series within 3-5 years. But the real silver lining came from team president Sandy Alderson during his Zoom session when he demarcated yesterday and today in explaining how the Mets will pursue talent: “Now we can focus on acquisition rather than cost. ”
Like Cohen, Alderson did not invoke the previous property by name. It was not necessary. Alderson came in as general manager of the Wilpons when the grueling means of ownership was put on steroids by his losses in the Madoff fiasco. In the Wilpons real estate business it might have been location, location, location, but in baseball it was cost, cost, cost.
Cohen clarified that the Mets are not his piggy bank. He said he had no expectations of making money with the team; Point72 is its income generator. He didn’t specify a payroll, but promised, “This is a major market team and should have a budget to match it. Again, a photo from the past without ever mentioning Fred, Saul or Jeff.
Cohen, speaking from his home, had an unimpressive start reading bland remarks prepared from a teleprompter. What followed, however, challenged a public image of social awkwardness and reluctance. Cohen was improvised and excellent at summarizing his Mets past as a fan and his vision for a present and future Mets as an owner.
He hopes to shape the Mets in the same way as Point72. He is willing to splurge when necessary, but that backbone of both businesses must be talent development from within. He promised to ask tough questions of his baseball folks, to hold them to high standards, to create a path to enduring excellence.
“I’m not here to be mediocre,” Cohen said. “I want something big.”
Alderson said that was the reason he returned, because of Cohen’s vision and possibilities. Again, he never had to say compared to the previous administration. A Mets press conference for the first time in decades was not marred by eggshells and landmines to avoid. Without Big Son on top of the proceedings, Alderson unplugged was enlightening and elaborative.
In the short term, “There’s a base there if we can add the right pieces this year – and Steve has indicated we’ll have the opportunity to do that – we can be good enough, pretty quickly. That’s my goal in 2021. ”And in the long term, if resources in all areas are well deployed,“ we have a chance to be an iconic franchise… We have a chance to write an epic story. ”
It might be a fairy tale. It would be unwise not to seek out the Cohen whose company has been fined $ 1.8 billion for insider trading or has a reputation for being an overbearing boss. But all we have now as owners of the Mets is the start of the first chapter in which Cohen and Alderson provided a verbal oasis for Met fans after years in the wilderness. A strong sense of direction, abundant resources and great hope emanated from Mets ownership. So for the first time in a long time:
The Mets won the press conference.
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