Mets lose another one, and what Steve Cohen's press conference means
New York loses to the Brewers for the second time in three days. Plus, what to take away from the owner's pregame presser.
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets lost to the Brewers by a score of 5-2 on Wednesday night at Citi Field (box)
RHP Kodai Senga was solid, allowing two runs and striking out eight but was only able to complete five innings
RHPs Grant Hartwig and Adam Ottavino combined to allow three runs out of the bullpen in the loss
New York tied the game in the 4th inning and had the bases loaded with no outs but were unable to score any additional runs
The Mets are now 6-17 since June 2nd and will have gone the full month without a series victory
New York’s offense went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position
LHP José Quintana will make his next rehab start in Triple-A Syracuse on Friday, and could come off the injured list if things go well
Who’s Hot 🔥
Brandon Nimmo is hitting .281/.324/.563 with three home runs, six RBI, five runs scored and an .887 OPS over his last nine games
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (36-44) vs. Brewers (42-38)
Where: Citi Field – Flushing, NY
Starters: RHP Max Scherzer (7-2, 3.95 ERA) vs. RHP Adrian Houser (2-2, 4.02 ERA)
When: 7:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
What Steve Cohen’s press conference means for the Mets franchise ✍️
Prior to Wednesday night’s game against the Brewers, owner Steve Cohen broke his silence to sit down and speak with the media for over 20 minutes. Cohen discussed the disappointment of the club’s first half performance and also touched on some items in the future. Here are our main takeaways and what they mean for the franchise…
Steve Cohen is paying attention, and he’s disappointed
"It's been incredibly frustrating. I watch every game. I see what's going on,” Cohen told reporters. “But here we are, and hopefully we can right the ship."
For anyone who was thinking Cohen didn’t watch or care, or only believes that the owner speaks when things are going well, that should be put to bed at this point. You can say that for all his spending over the last offseason that it was not enough or simply not used wisely, but this is an owner that cares about the results.
Cohen tweeted as recently as two weeks ago after a win against the Yankees that the club made “too many mental mistakes.” I am also reminded of a moment during the 2021 second-half free fall where he sent the following frustrated tweet:
“It’s hard to understand how professional hitters can be this unproductive. The best teams have a more disciplined approach. The slugging and OPS numbers don’t lie.”
Say what you will about the team or the man but he’s watching, he cares, and he is clearly frustrated.
Nothing Is Going to Change This Season
Another item that became clear yesterday was that for better or for worse, things likely are not going to change for the Mets this year.
Cohen confirmed that Buck Showalter and Billy Eppler are “absolutely” safe, and will not be fired – at least during the remainder of the 2023 season – and that he is not ready to “blow up” the team.
When asked why, Cohen expressed that the Mets still want to be a desirable organization for others, and impulse firings and acting out the worst parts of George Steinbrenner is not the way to do that.
The reality is it’s not going to solve our problems, and I think in some ways it can be demotivating,” Cohen said. “I think that’s the worst thing you can do is to be overly reactionary. General fan reaction, it’s usually, ’I can’t believe Steve’s not going nuts, fire somebody.’ My answer to that is, ’OK, let’s say I went nuts. Let’s say I fired somebody. Then what?’ What does that accomplish? Who are you gonna replace them with? This is the middle of the season. And then if you actually ask people [who are the replacements], they have no answers, other than they’re just angry, and I get that. I’m frustrated too.”
Ultimately, when it comes to placing blame or focusing on who the only people who can turn this season around, Cohen did not put that on Showalter or Eppler.
“It’s on the players.”
The Mets Are Probably Going to be Sellers
If you’re someone who was worried about how Cohen and the front office may act around the trade deadline and if another Javier Báez mistake was coming, it sounds as if those fears were quelled.
After last night’s loss, the Mets now find themselves an incredible 17 games behind the Braves for first place in the NL East, 11 games behind the Marlins for second place and 8.5 games back of the third and final Wild Card spot.
“If we don’t get better, we have decisions to make at the trade deadline,” Cohen said. “If I’m in this position, I’m not adding. I think that would be pretty silly. I’d probably do pretty little.”
Cohen also indicated that if the club did become sellers that they would likely pay large portions of players’ remaining salaries to get better returns, as they did when they sent Eduardo Escobar to the Angels for two top 20 pitching prospects.
This is a large departure from the Wilpon regime, who most famously opted to not pay any remaining of the salaries for players when they became sellers during the 2017 season. That year the club traded Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson, Addison Reed, and Lucas Duda only to get Ryder Ryan, Jacob Rhame, Stephen Nogosek, Jamie Callahan, Gerson Bautista and Drew Smith in return.
All six of those players were minor league relief pitchers and low, if not totally unranked, on each team’s top 30 prospect lists. After Nogosek was waived by the club and hit free agency, Smith is now the only player from that crop that remains.
David Stearns is Coming…
It’s been no secret that since purchasing the club back in 2020, Steve Cohen has been hot and heavy after a President of Baseball Operations.
Each of the last two offseasons have seen rumors abound involving the organization trying to hire David Stearns away from the Milwaukee Brewers, but each time those rumors fizzled as the exec was still under contract. Still, there has always been a belief that Stearns, who grew up as a Mets fan, would ultimately be the man for the job once his contract was up.
Cohen confirmed on Wednesday that the organization is still searching for that position, even after swinging and missing over the last two-plus years.
“I’m still looking for a President of Baseball Operations,” Cohen said. “Billy [Eppler] knows, I’ve had that conversation and he’s supportive. You know, my view, is this a very complex job. And there’s a lot to do and it’s a lot on one person. Obviously, there are people under Billy, but from a leadership standpoint, that’s still out there. At some point, we will fill that position.”
While Cohen did not mention Stearns by name – for what it’s worth he has said in the last year that the club has to “play by the rules” when hiring an executive – but it’s not too difficult to connect the dots here.
Cohen and the Mets have been looking to fill this position for years, and have been opting to wait for the perfect fit rather than hiring someone solely to fill the position. David Stearns has been the one name that has consistently come up every year for this job – and his contract with the Brewers is set to expire at the end of this season.
It’s certainly not a guarantee at this point, and we’ve been down this road before, but if you ask me, it’s seems to be more of a “when” and not “if” that David Stearns eventually becomes the next President of Baseball Operations for the New York Mets.
Around the League 🚩
Yankees RHP Domingo Germán pitched the first perfect game in baseball since 2012 in the club’s 11-0 win over the A’s
The Astros defeated the Cardinals, 10-7, thanks to a five-run 8th inning
Reds LF Will Benson hit a go-ahead triple as part of a four-run 10th inning in the team’s 11-7 win against the Orioles
The Braves swept the Twins to win their fifth consecutive game