5 reasons the Mets have underachieved under Steve Cohen’s watch

Under the watchful eye of Steve Cohen, the New York Mets have been much different than they were below the Wilpon thumb. Unfortunately, the results haven’t been much better. Aside from three postseason games at home last year with one win to show for it, the Mets have been one big underachievement.

It’s not Cohen’s fault. He may be the last person to blame. He spends money. He has at least attempted to build a better brand and culture. What more can an owner do?

Responsibility does ultimately fall on him as he is the face of this franchise. Why, though, has it been such a miserable tenure so far?

1) NY Mets front office mistakes put them in an early hole

The 2021 Mets feel like a Wilponian season. The Mets were competitive but not all that good. A weak National League East, particularly in the first half of the season, led us to believe the team would end their playoff drought. They came up well short and the thirst continued.

The first year under Cohen was a bit messy. Jared Porter was fired from the general manager position only weeks after getting hired because of, well, kids may be reading. Zack Scott replaced him and he, too, lost the job in part because of a DUI after attending an event at Cohen’s house.

It wasn’t even the end of the 2021 season and already the team went through two general managers. They had essentially been called for two pitch clock violations before ever taking a swing.

The instability in the front office set the Mets back in the first year of the Cohen regime. Just as things began to feel a bit more settled, the dark clouds formed over the 2023 season. Do we start all over again?

2) NY Mets are trying to rebuild a barren farm system while competing

Pick one. Don’t wrap your groceries in a paper bag then put it in plastic. Don’t insist on competing so quickly while building a farm system practically from the ground up.

When Cohen entered the picture, the Mets were a very average MLB team and had a very average farm system. They were an eighth or ninth-seed NBA team. It’s not a place where you want to be.

Ever since, the focus of the Mets has been to keep as many of their best prospects around while trying to build a winner. It hasn’t worked out so well. They hesitated to trade away anyone of significance at last year’s trade deadline for the purpose of holding onto guys they’re not using regularly now anyway, like Mark Vientos. Pick one. You’re either going to need to go for the haymaker now or wait a little longer.

The Mets are trying to bulk and cut. As every awkward teenager who was tired of being out of shape will find out, you can’t really do that. You just end up maintaining and make very little progress along the way. The number on the scale is meaningless if you still look goofy with a shirt off.

Anyway, I think that’s enough similes. You understand the problem already. Free agency hasn’t worked out so well for the Mets and their inability to execute a good trade outside of the deal for Chris Bassitt has held them back. Crawl before running.

4) Steve Cohen’s presence alone has put a target on the team

It was inevitable that the Cohen-led Mets would have a target on their backs. He didn’t take over as the majority owner with as much swagger or arrogance as some believed he would. For the most part, he’s been pretty tame in comparison to what some of the expectations were.

Nevertheless, knowing he is the richest owner in the sport and now shown he’s willing to break salary records has created a stronger anti-Cohen sentiment. How many teams would be willing to do any sort of a trade with them?

Following the 2021 trade for Javier Baez where the Mets look like they were robbed of Pete Crow-Armstrong, most of the transactions made by this ball club at a blockbuster level have been through free agency. They were able to pick up Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco from Cleveland but that was a bit different. The future Guardians needed to get something for their star shortstop and the Mets were willing to give up two quality MLB infielders for him.

It’s only those kinds of financial deals the Mets might be able to make on a regular basis. Teams who want to get anything at all for a pending free agent or are looking to dump salary will gladly call up the Mets. Otherwise, they’re leaving the Amazins to fend for themselves.

5) Short-term contracts created a never-ending free agent search

The good thing about short-term contracts is you aren’t stuck with an underperforming player for a long time. The bad thing is once the contract is up, the search begins all over again.

The Mets had to get incredibly busy last offseason just to replace their free agents. Jacob deGrom became Justin Verlander. Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker became Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana. In the bullpen—well, they didn’t do a very good job at replacing those guys now did they?

This is where the aspect of building up the farm system is important. The Cohen-led Mets are fully aware of this and I do think it’s a model they’ll follow closely throughout his tenure. They get an A in terms of not giving up too much of the future. There have been some big misses in trades in Cohen’s tenure, but they seem to have calmed down as Pete Crow-Armstrong, Endy Rodriguez, and even Josh Winckowski have either thrived in the minors or become big league contributors.

The Mets need a mix of long and short deals with free agents. They actually did a decent job at this in the offseason. Brandon Nimmo will be in Queens forever. Edwin Diaz will stick around a while, too.

Next would be a long-term deal with Pete Alonso. Where the Mets don’t have too many answers is with the starting pitching staff. Hall of Fame mercenaries don’t work. The plan needs to change.