Most Mets fans would agree that Steve Cohen is a great owner. From the day he bought the New York Mets, Cohen made it clear that he was committed to spending and winning. Granted, the ownership bar to clear wasn’t all that high given the disaster that was the Wilpon regime, but Cohen has delivered and made the Mets relevant again. 

But there’s a problem the way he does this. Spending big on guys like outfielder Juan Soto is laudable, but this kind of star chasing also creates a top-heavy roster, which sometimes makes it tougher to win. 

This is where the Mets are now. The coaching staff has been scapegoated for this summer’s epic collapse, but roster construction was actually a big part of the problem. Several of the Mets’ mid-level veterans underperformed, and injuries to some older starters compounded the problem. The Mets have young starters who are ready to emerge, but they were rushed to the big leagues in a last-ditch effort to make the playoffs. 

The unintended consequences of this can be seen with first baseman Pete Alonso. In some ways Alonso was a victim of the Soto chase, and as a result he was offered a low-ball bridge contract that obviously led to some hard feelings now that Alonso is an unencumbered free agent. He declared himself up for bidding within minutes after the season ended, and at this point it would be something of a shock to see him return. 

The obvious question that comes up with all this is why not spend, spend and spend some more to get to the promised land? The problem with this kind of approach is that it turns $20 million players into $30 million players due to the luxury tax penalties, and that's just bad business. 

The retort is just as obvious: But the Los Angeles Dodgers do it, and they just won the World Series, right? The counter is that the Dodgers have Shohei Ohtani, and their weak positional group and Swiss cheese pitching staff got extended to a seventh game by the Toronto Blue Jays, who were a prototypical example of a very good team that got hot at the right time. 

There’s no real answer to this, of course, but Cohen and GM David Stearn will provide some important clues this offseason. The Mets are clearly at a pivot point in their roster construction, coaching staff purges aside, and it will be interesting to see if they really do pivot and change the way they’re doing business at all.