Steve Cohen’s buzz helped bring Trevor May to Mets

It’s not just Steve Cohen’s billions that are making a difference to the Mets.

Trevor May, who officially signed with the Mets on Wednesday, attributed the new owner’s overall impact on the team as influencing the right-hander’s decision to come to Queens.

“To be honest one of the most important things is sort of the buzz around Steve and the buying of the team and the excitement of all the changes that are happening,” May said during a call to Zoom Thursday. “My immediate reaction was to want to be a part of something like this.”

No doubt the two-year, $ 15.5 million deal also played a role.

May has become one of the first significant free agent signings of the offseason and will join a reliever box that includes several players the Mets hope to bounce back, including Edwin Diaz, Dellin Betances and Jeurys Familia.

But the Mets, with new financial prospects following Cohen’s buyout of the team, plan to continue adding coins and will be free agency players.

They are engaged with James McCann, the best receiver in the market outside of JT Realmuto, which remains a possibility.

And the best starting pitcher in free agency, Trevor Bauer; outfielder, George Springer; and infielder DJ LeMahieu continue to be available.

To secure any of their serves, the Mets will need more than Cohen’s enthusiasm.

“I couldn’t name another owner who is such a huge fan of a team that he is going to own and who has some accessibility and spirit with him,” May said of Cohen, who regularly responds to questions. fans on Twitter. “There was a connection, immediately.”

May said he has yet to speak personally to Cohen yet, but has noted how quickly the Mets have made a serious offer during this unusual offseason in which there are many questions regarding the state of the world. economy around sport.

May said she was surprised at how quickly the deal was reached, with talks between the two sides gathering momentum ahead of Thanksgiving.

“The Mets have grown waist-deep faster than a lot of other teams,” said May, adding that he had heard from about half of the teams in the league.

In Queens, May will reunite with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, who was the assistant pitching coach with the Twins in 2018-19.

May credited Hefner with regaining his form when he returned from Tommy John’s surgery in 2018. Hefner had the surgery twice as a pitcher and warned May to expect too much too soon.

“When my [velocity] was not where I wanted it to be, he preached patience, ” May said. “A lot of what I learned was having frank conversations with him.”

That speed has improved even more recently, which May attributes to improved mechanics. And he’s confident he can continue this trend by embracing analysis and its impact on his delivery.

And he took it upon himself to try and increase the popularity of the sport, in a way a little similar to what Bauer did: by communicating with fans online.

“For some reason my passion is to think of creative ways to get people into the game and to engage with fans,” said May. “If it’s something that interests you, collaborating with people and doing cool things, there is no better place than New York.”

Being public comes with its own challenges, which May said she understands. And he knows it will be a bigger problem in New York than in Minnesota – but he intends to accept it.

“The most important thing is probably the passion for [Mets] the fans are, ” May said. “I feed on these things. I love to play baseball mainly because of the emotions the fans give to the players. I don’t think there is a better place than New York to make this connection.