The 10 biggest Mets mistakes of the Steve Cohen era

The New York Mets have made countless errors throughout their history. Regardless of the ownership, front office personnel, or coaching staff, the Mets have made mistakes that have cost the team sustained excellence. Some of these mistakes have been blatant on their part, such as trading Tom Seaver and David Cone. Others have been due to signing the wrong personalities, such as Bobby Bonilla and Vince Coleman. Many in recent memory have been due to cheapness on the Wilpon's part, including failing to re-sign Daniel Murphy and Zack Wheeler. 

Every organization in professional sports have made mistakes. Here in New York, those mistakes are highlighted by the passionate fanbases and immense media presence. Mets fans were hopeful mistakes would not be as glorified under Steve Cohen's ownership because of his willingness to spend. However, money alone cannot brush aside poor-decision making on the front office’s part. Since Cohen bought the team in October 2020, which moves have been the biggest mistakes?

10. Drafting Kumar Rocker in the 1st round of 2021

This decision seemed like a draft-day steal as the Mets selected right-hander Kumar Rocker from Vanderbilt University. He had been a part of that great 'Vandy Boys' rotation with Jack Leiter that almost won the 2021 College World Series. As with the current farm system, the Mets in 2021 had very few pitching prospects ready to contribute. Even with Scott Boras as his agent, Cohen had the resources to offer Rocker $4 million to sign. 

However, acting general manager Zack Scott failed to do his due diligence by checking on the health records of Rocker, forcing the Mets to pass on the stud collegiate pitcher. Rocker was reported to have arm issues, which are now magnified by undergoing Tommy John Surgery in 2023. This move was a mistake not only for the failing health records, but players selected afterward that have turned out to be star prospects such as Andrew Painter and Colson Montgomery. While the Mets were given two first-round picks in 2022 as compensation, the 2021 draft has turned out great talent.

9. Moving Eric Chavez from hitting to bench coach in 2023

The Mets had a fantastic season offensively with hitting coach Eric Chavez in 2022. The team would score 772 runs, the most in a single season since the closing of Shea Stadium in 2008. They struck out the fewest among all 15 National League teams while finishing first for batting average at .259. This was all despite not having a productive designated hitter or catcher for much of the season.

One of Billy Eppler’s more head-scratching decisions was to move Chavez from being a hitting coach to a bench coach in 2023. In return, Jeremy Barnes was promoted from assistant to full-time hitting coach. Suffice it to say, Barnes did not draw the same production from any of the star players as the Mets finished 11th in runs scored at 717 and hit just a measly .238. Eppler should have considered the long-time sports saying, “Don’t fix what is not already broken”. Luckily, Stearns has asked Chavez to return to his former role in 2024.

8. Signing Starling Marte to a 4-year contract

The Mets have had success signing players past their primes to multi-year contracts. Most notable were Bartolo Colon and Curtis Granderson in 2014 as they were integral to the Mets clinching a 2015 National League Pennant title. However, these types of decisions tend to backfire more often than not. Marte fits this bill having only played 86 games in 2023 with an anemic .248 batting average and 13 extra base hits. He is currently signed through 2025 at which he will turn 36 years old.

Marte’s contract was confusing from the start. Though he has been productive for most of his career, Marte was turning 33 years old when the Mets agreed to a contract worth 4 years $78 million. Cohen and Eppler should have had more awareness a player of this age plus his history of PED usage would not live up to a $19.5 million AAV. While Marte performed well in 2022, he still missed time on the injured list and was showing immediate decline defensively, hence the move from center to right field on opening day. James McCann could have fit this bill; however, his contract was still tradable as a solid backup catcher whereas Marte’s is not.

7. Chris Bassitt leaving for the Toronto Blue Jays

The Mets saw its entire 2022 rotation hit free agency with the exceptions of Max Scherzer and Carlos Carrasco. To fill these holes, Eppler added Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, and Jose Quintana while letting Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassitt, and Taijuan Walker sign elsewhere. We understood the decision to let deGrom sign with the Texas Rangers given his partially torn UCL from 2021. We also understood Walker was very replaceable at a cheaper price than 4-years $72 million. 

The decision to let Bassitt sign with the Blue Jays was puzzling considering his health and performance track record since 2020. His contract is not atrocious either, just 3 years and $71 million. The feeling after the 2022 Wild Card Series was that Bassitt is ‘not made for New York’ given his comments about pressure. However, Bassitt was reliable for the Blue Jays making 33 starts and throwing 200 innings. Even had the Mets kept Scherzer and Verlander beyond the trade deadline, only Senga pitched a full season. Taking poor performance and the health of the rotation into consideration, Eppler made the wrong decision to move on from Bassitt after 2022.

6. Trading Steven Matz to the Blue Jays for 3 relief pitchers

With the Mets continuously being short on starting pitching depth, this move never made sense. Following a brutal campaign for every starting pitcher not named deGrom in 2020, Jared Porter decided to move on from Steven Matz in return for Yennsy Diaz, Sean Reid-Foley, and Josh Winckowski. The Mets would later send Winckowski to the Boston Red Sox in a 3-team trade involving Khalil Lee, which did not work out either.

As injuries to the rotation mounted in 2021, the Mets immediately regretted the decision to move on from Matz. He would make 29 starts for the Blue Jays including 150 innings and a 3.82 ERA. While these statistics are not Cy-Young Award caliber, the Mets only had Marcus Stroman make every start in 2021. It was reported at the time Cohen never loved the Matz trade, to the extent he tried to re-sign him before 2022. Regardless, the Mets would have rather had Matz pitch amid a division title stretch than Jerad Eickhoff or Robert Stock.

3. 2022 Trade Deadline deals

As per waiting too long to promote the prospects, the transactions the Mets did make at the deadline were even worse. While there were internal options to fill voids in the lineup, Eppler would first send Colin Holderman to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Daniel Vogelbach. He then would send J.D. Davis, Carson Seymour, Thomas Szapucki, and Nick Swack to the San Francisco Giants for Darin Ruf. In retrospect, Eppler was essentially flipping the Davis-Dominic Smith DH tandem for Ruf and Vogelbach. 

This trade is not only terrible for the lack of production from Ruf and Vogelbach following the trade deadline, but the pieces they gave up turned out to perform well. Since joining the Giants, Davis has hit .251 with 26 home runs and 120 RBI. In 2023 for the Pirates, Holderman pitched to a 3.86 ERA in 56 innings with 58 strikeouts. While these statistics are not all-star caliber, compare this production to Ruf and Vogelbach, who have now both been released from their contracts. At the time, these trades made little sense given the team was not getting a substantially better return. 18 months later, our concerns have been proven correct.

2. Not extending the homegrown talent earlier

This topic has been of note with Pete Alonso set to become a free agent at the end of 2024. The Mets have a history of extending their homegrown talent before reaching free agency. Minaya did this with Jose Reyes and David Wright in 2007. Alderson did this with Juan Lagares and Jonathon Niese in 2015. Brodie Van Wagenen signed deGrom to 5 years $137.5 million in 2019. During Cohen’s tenure, the Mets have only extended one of their homegrown players before free agency with Jeff McNeil. Otherwise, the only other rumblings of an extension were with Michael Conforto during Spring Training of 2021.

The situation surrounding Alonso highlights the mistake on Cohen’s part not to recognize the price tag he would have to pay once 2024 rolled around. With Scott Boras now representing Alonso, his contract will be an overpay as compared to negotiating in 2021 or 2022. Take Nimmo’s contract as the best example: as much as we love Nimmo, he is not worth an 8-year $162 million contract at age 31. He as well hired Boras when reaching free agency last offseason, and bidding for Nimmo’s services became expensive. Cohen would be wise not to make the same mistake with Alvarez.

1. Trading Pete Crow-Armstrong for Javier Baez & Trevor Williams in 2021

This decision by Scott is by far the worst since Cohen has taken over. Failing to extend Alonso and Nimmo earlier has financial ramifications that can be overcome. Trading Davis for Ruf can be fixed by signing a better player in free agency. Even drafting Rocker gave the Mets an extra draft pick in 2022. Trading a young center fielder who is now a top-10 prospect on the MLB Pipeline for a rental player in Baez was a mistake the Mets should have foreseen coming.

The worst part about this trade is the thought of PCA winning multiple gold gloves in center field and helping to expedite the ‘re-tooling’ process of the 2024 Mets. He is turning 22 years old and had a breakout season for the Chicago Cubs in AA and AAA last season. While the Mets needed a bat at the 2021 trade deadline, the farm system was already barren at the time. To part with a budding star before reaching full prospect potential is a mistake the Mets have made before with Jarred Kelenic. If Baez had multiple years of control beyond 2021, like the Bruce and Stroman trades in 2016 and 2019, then the deal would have made more sense. In 2024 with David Stearns at the helm, we should expect the Mets not to continue this trend.