In his continued presentation of being the polar opposite of the previous ownership in all respects, Steve Cohen held a Q&A with Mets radio announcer Howie Rose on Wednesday. They ended up discussing all things Mets from the front office makeup, to fan experience at Citi Field, as well as honoring Mets players who came before his ownership.
Many of the questions from the event, which was live-streamed on YouTube and lasted just under an hour, came from Twitter users. There weren’t many baseball-specific questions (like who will be on the field for the Mets next year), as Cohen has stressed that is a front-office decision.
But, when asked what success on the field will look like in 2021, he said: “That we have a playoff-caliber team and that we have improved our performance in a significant way.”
Here are five takeaways from the Q&A:
First and foremost, Cohen is planning a big celebration of the late, great Tom Seaver once fans are allowed back in the ballpark. “We’re looking forward to honoring the greatest Met ever,” he announced.
The Mets previous administration developed plans to have a statue of The Franchise in front of Citi Field, set to be unveiled in 2021, and Citi Field has a new address: 41 Seaver Way. Cohen wants to make sure the Mets go bigger once fans are there to celebrate Seaver.
Cohen also said he wants to make sure more Mets history is present at Citi Field. The ballpark was widely criticized at its inception of being more of a Brooklyn Dodgers park than Mets, and improvements have been made since Citi opened. Cohen mentioned expanding the Hall of Fame at the park as something they plan to do.
“We should be celebrating Mets history,” he said. “It’s actually a very rich history,” noting that the Mets will do better all-around (retiring numbers, general celebrations of the franchise) as long as he owns the team.
When asked about the Mets’ Fanwalk bricks outside of Citi Field, Cohen also noted he had an idea for a Mets Walk-of-Fame (à la Hollywood) to have outside the stadium, though that idea hasn’t gained any legs yet.
“Anything that connects our fans with Mets history and the Mets in general I think is an interesting idea,” he said.
This is something every executive with the Mets has stressed since the change in ownership. Cohen continues to double-down on how important analytics and having the latest technologies will be for the franchise.
Outside of hiring the right guys (Alderson, Jared Porter, new senior VP Zack Scott), Cohen is making sure the Mets have all the resources to be able to acquire and learn about the technologies, what information they give you, and how to operate them.
“I think analytics is part of the equation” of the franchise, he said, “so I would expect my people to take advantage of data and integrating the data in a way that gives us the type of answers we’re looking for.”
Cohen also noted, as Alderson and Porter have, the upper-levels of the minor leagues are not where they want them to be at right now regarding depth and talent.
“We have to bridge that gap between the talent at the lower levels and Triple-A,” he said.
The upper levels of the minors have been affected the last couple years with some talent reaching the majors, but the depth issues have largely been a result of multiple years of trading prospects for rentals and veterans.
Cohen said, “I don’t want to put us in a position where if we don’t win now, it’ll hamper our ability to win down the road.” So there will be a more cautious approach to “win now, and win in the future.”
In addition to major league success, Cohen said that 2021 success will be if the organization has successes (better scouting, player development) at the minor league level, too.
Probably the most prominent part of Steve Cohen’s Twitter presence has been what the Mets can do to improve the fan experience at Citi Field. (Most recently, Cohen addressed the Chick-Fil-A “fowl” pole advertisements and the Mets’ all-black jerseys.)
Already viewed as one of the better parks in the game (with some of the best food, too), Cohen says there’s always room for improvement.
When it comes to decisions about food, he stressed “What’s the point of selling something that no one buys?”
He said there was a recent example of a “new category of food that had a sponsor element to it” which he won’t name they planned to sell at the park, but he wondered if fans would even eat it.
Sure, the Mets would make some money from the sponsorship, but it wouldn’t be worth it if fans weren’t eating it. (This might’ve been the moment that stood out most from the Q&A to me, but that’s for another day.)
Cohen also said that while many of the regulations that will be present when fans eventually return to Citi are out of his hands, he wants to do the most he can to make sure fans “worry a lot less” when they come to games in a post-COVID world.
He stressed that he will try to control as much as he can within the confines of the ballpark, while also staying wise to what’s going on with the pandemic.
Howie Rose asked Steve Cohen what he thinks of the “Captain” patch (last donned by David Wright) on the uniform and how important it was the Mets had one in 2021. He said he likes it but that it ultimately is up to the clubhouse and manger/general manager if they want a player to rock the “C” on the uniform.
There have been four captains in Mets history: Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, John Franco, and Wright.
