New York Mets owner Steve Cohen did an in-game interview on Saturday, and he threw out a potential bombshell move.
The New York Mets had an eventful week, and it once again exposed the behind-the-scenes chaos that’s part and parcel of this organization. But owner Steve Cohen dropped an intriguing hint about changes that could be coming this season as he did an interview with the Mets broadcast review during the team's 10-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
The occasion was the Mets retiring the number of former outfielder Carlos Beltran after Beltran was inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer. The interview should have been a nothing-burger, but Cohen couldn’t resist going there when he was asked about possible changes.
Part of his answer was just the usual prattling on about the front office — having “good processes up there” was a personal favorite — but the hint was about adding “certain new voices” was a bit of a stunner, to say the least.
Interpreting Cohen-speak can be a challenge. His public persona is affable enough, but sometimes he comes across as a cross between oblique and clueless, and this was one of those times. Cohen said the Mets had a “great” trade deadline, but he also mentioned the possibility of making some front-office “tweaks.”
The Mets broadcast crew is razor sharp, and play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen immediately asked if that means a new GM. Cohen quickly backtracked when he remembered this announcers aren’t just a trio of hometown honks who spit back whatever the current party line is.
As a footnote, Cohen also mentioned wanting one player and ending up with another when he tried to explain his answer when he said that "winning is hard," which was almost certainly a reference to the failed bit to land outfielder Kyle Tucker and winding up with infielder Bo Bichette.
Two interpretations are possible here. The more benign one is that the Mets are a team that likes to do things by committee, and that could happen again this offseason. They fired the entire staff of manager Carlos Mendoza and inserted a brand new committee, and it would be sad but not surprising if that happened again.
The other possibility is that Cohen is talking about adding a senior GM, which seems far more likely. David Stearns' current title is President of Baseball Operations, and Cohen may want to have an adult in the room when Stearns wants to make a series of moves that were as bad as the ones Stearns made last offseason.
Stay tuned on this. The Mets have a boatload of decisions to make, and Cohen just did a nifty job of throwing Stearns under the bus, perhaps without letting him know about it.
