Mets Monday Morning GM: 1 move every fan wants Steve Cohen to make next winter

You can’t get New York Mets fans to agree on much. I have debated with people on social media who didn’t believe Tom Seaver was the greatest pitcher in franchise history. With all due respect to Jacob deGrom, there is no touching The Franchise.

Mets fans, as loyal as they can be to the team, aren’t the same way when it comes to agreeing. However, I think I know one move every fan would like Steve Cohen to approve this winter. It’s a major transaction that would tell us a lot about how he wants to move forward with this team.

Every Mets fan would be elated to see the team release Robinson Cano next winter

Suspended for all of 2021 after testing positive for PEDs yet again, the team marches forward with Robinson Cano this year. When the news broke in November, it was anything but anguish. Fans cheered. Jeff McNeil could handle second base and the club could look for upgrades at other positions. It opened up a lot of possibilities, mainly allowing for the team to proceed with putting all of their best players in the starting lineup.

Cano, a once definite Hall of Famer, has been in the Mets doghouse ever since his poor 2019 season. Even after rebounding with a nice 49-game stint in 2020, he never really seemed to climb out. Many were already against him because of his previous suspension in 2018 as a member of the Seattle Mariners. Worse, he came to the team in a trade we’ll be questioning every time Jarred Kelenic gets a major league hit.

Because of the suspension, Cano won’t get paid in 2021. However, he is still owed another $24 million in each of the next two seasons with $3.75 million getting paid to him by Seattle. Including the discount, it’s a large sum of money only the richest owner in baseball could eat.

Next season will be Cano’s age 39 campaign. After a year without any baseball under his belt in 2021, we have to question what, if anything, he could even give the Mets.

There aren’t enough calories I could eat right now to give me the energy to say all of the bad things I could about Cano without breaking out into meat sweats. A two-time cheater, it’s impossible to forgive him for the mistakes he made.

The way Cohen has run the franchise through his brief time calling the shots shows us he does things differently from the Wilpons. Will he release Cano outright and throw away all of the money just to see him go?

Several other factors and decisions could lead to whether or not we see Cano suit up for the Mets again. Is there a DH next year? How does Dominic Smith perform as the left fielder in 2021? Are there players the front office wants to trade away?

Cano may go down as the least liked player in Mets history. He had his shot at redemption when he went from Seattle to New York. Do Cohen and Company believe in third chances? If not, will the money be too much to waste?

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We know Cohen is a Mets fan. And as a fan, releasing him would cater to what his heart probably wants most.