Mets: A trio of bold predictions for Steve Cohen’s first offseason

Incoming New York Mets owner Steve Cohen has the opportunity this offseason to leave a personal stamp on a new era of Mets baseball with the following three moves.

Our New York Mets owner in waiting Steve Cohen is already making executive decisions at the top despite not being officially voted into the owner position quite yet. We are all expecting Cohen to be voted in and named as the Mets official owner sometime soon after the World Series.

Some of the decisions that Cohen has made thus far include bringing back former General Manager Sandy Alderson as Team President, as well as making it his top priority to invest and expand the Mets baseball analytics department. Yet, some of the biggest decisions still await this winter between deciding the future of current General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen, current Manager Luis Rojas, and opening up his checkbook in free agency.

There is a real strong sense of optimism among all Mets fans around the nation heading into the winter offseason, a sense of optimism that many of us surely can’t remember having in a very long time. That optimism is centered around the organization at long last having an owner committed to winning. It’s hard not to argue that point after viewing his first two moves he has made to this point in his pre-ownership phase.

The Mets will have an advantage that many other teams do not have this offseason and that is cash (that’s still weird to say I know). With many owners and Major League baseball facing budgeting issues due to the pandemic the Mets will be one of the only, if not the only team that has an influx of cash to spend this winter.

With that being said, I expect owner Steve Cohen to make some bold moves this offseason to improve the club as well as keep the camaraderie where it has been working. This is also an important offseason in the sense that Cohen will begin to put his stamp on the organization with the Wilpons out of the picture. Without further ado let’s take a look at three bold moves that Steve Cohen will make this winter to begin a new era of Mets baseball.

2) The Mets Trade for Cleveland Indians Shortstop Francisco Lindor

The Cleveland Indians are going to face enormous pressure this offseason to figure out a way to unload Francisco Lindor for something of value before he walks at the end of the 2021 season. With each passing day that no deal is made, the gravity of the situation will increase. Luckily for the Mets, there is no better potential marriage in baseball this offseason than Lindor opening the new Steve Cohen era in Flushing as the new cornerstone of the Mets middle infield for the next decade.

The 26-year old shortstop is going to want to cash in at the end of next season as the highest-paid shortstop in the game, and rightfully so. The Mets will be one of the few teams in the league currently that can afford to pay Lindor his value. Putting this move in perspective, not only does the switch-hitting Lindor improve the Mets already deep lineup, but his Gold Glove defense and his infectious leadership is something that will be a welcome addition to the clubhouse.

It’s not going to be cheap to acquire Lindor, but the Mets will be investing in a player who has his best baseball still ahead of him and is the best at his position. The Mets haven’t added a player of Lindor’s caliber to the organization since acquiring Yoenis Cespedes back in 2015, and we all saw how that trade regenerated the entire organization as well as the fanbase and led to a World Series birth.

I predict Steve Cohen is going to greenlight a couple of big splashes this offseason with Francisco Lindor being one of his big prizes this offseason as we usher in a new era at 41 Seaver Way.

3) The Mets retain current Manager Luis Rojas

Before Steve Cohen announced that Sandy Alderson would be returning to a role in the Mets front office, I fully believed that current Manager Luis Rojas would be dismissed with current General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen. Now I still believe that Van Wagenen is going to be fired, however with Alderson now returning to the organization I believe Rojas’s job may be safer than it was previously.

There is a sense of familiarity with Rojas and Alderson, as Rojas has been a coach in some capacity with the Mets since 2007, and he was previously seen as a riser in the organization prior to landing the managerial position after the Carlos Beltran debacle. Rojas also has managed many of the Mets current homegrown players through the Minor League ranks and I believe there is a sense of familiarity as well as comfort that I don’t think the organization would want to disrupt especially with may expected sweeping changes ahead.

I honestly believe Rojas didn’t get a fair shake at the job considering he managed a 60-game abbreviated season in his first rodeo as a Major League Baseball manager. Nonetheless, it also seemed as the season went on that his overall performance and comfort level as manager improved.

Rojas also brings a robust background in baseball analytics after being the first-ever Quality Control Coach in Mets history back in 2019. With Steve Cohen already planning on beefing up the Mets baseball analytics department this offseason it would make little sense to rid themselves of a brilliant analytical mind that they already possess in the dugout.

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Amidst Steve Cohen bringing back an old friend in Sandy Alderson as well as making a sizeable investment in the Mets analytics department, I believe Luis Rojas may be given another opportunity with a full 162-game season to help turn the Mets losing ways around in 2021.