Steve Cohen didn’t exactly hide from the mess when he talked with the New York Post, and that’s what makes his comments hit so hard. He opened the door on a few juicy stories, confirmed the Francisco Lindor-Juan Soto relationship wasn’t “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and then got to the part that really matters: the Mets already have reasons to worry about 2027.
That’s the uneasy part for fans. Cohen is keeping David Stearns in place, which means Stearns is being asked to clean up the problems on his own watch.
Cohen was blunt about the state of things, and the honesty is almost more unsettling than comforting. If the owner is looking ahead and seeing trouble, the rest of the fan base probably should too.
The first concern is Stearns himself. There’s a real question about whether he can break out of the habits that got him here in the first place.
His run in Milwaukee worked well enough, and the 2024 Mets gave him some fortune, but that doesn’t automatically mean the same approach will keep working. Cohen is giving him the chance to fix it, and maybe he should - after all, the Mets have churned through enough turnover already.
But Stearns still has to show he can learn from the mistakes and not just keep leaning on what has worked before.
Then there’s the CBA, and that could wipe out one of Cohen’s biggest advantages. If the next agreement brings harsher spending penalties or even a salary cap, the Mets lose some of the edge that made Cohen such a dream owner in the first place.
He can push against the limits, but even he admitted there’s a budget to work within. And money alone hasn’t solved the Mets’ issues anyway.
What Cohen wants now is creativity, because simply spending harder hasn’t fixed the underlying problems.
The last worry is the roster itself, especially the group that’s supposed to carry the club into 2026 and 2027. There are some names worth believing in: Carson Benge and A.J.
Ewing are there, Nolan McLean is still expected to be really good even if he’s not the Cy Young-type pitcher some thought he’d become, and Zach Thornton has shown promise. But after that, the list gets thin fast.
A lot of the higher-ranked prospects have had rough years in the minors, with Jack Wenninger standing out as one exception.
Cohen also spent time talking about the organization’s trouble developing players, and that only adds to the concern. The veterans already signed through 2027 don’t exactly make the picture cleaner either.
Sean Manaea has been better lately, but there’s still the question of how good he can really be for $25 million of the payroll. Jorge Polanco remains hard to pin down.
If Bo Bichette opts out, third base becomes another problem. And Marcus Semien?
Don’t talk to me about Marcus Semien.
The Mets were supposed to be building toward sustained success. Right now, that feels a lot less certain. At best, this is a cautious-optimism situation.
In Other News...
Mets Just Sent A Troubling Message About Kevin Parada
Kevin Paradas path through the Mets system has taken another turn, and it is not the kind that usually inspires confidence in a former first-round pick. After an uneven run in the minors this season, the catcher showed a brief offensive spike in Triple-A, but the Mets still opted to move him back to Double-A, where the bat has cooled again and the overall picture remains choppy on both sides of the ball.
For a player whose development was supposed to center on steady progress, the shuffle is a telling sign. Paradas struggles have left him squeezed by the organizations current catching depth, with more experienced options offering a cleaner fit for a club that needs reliability behind the plate. For now, the message is less about one bad stretch than about how much ground he still has to make up. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Bullpen Rehab Bet Already Looks Like A Wasted Move
Adbert Alzolay was supposed to be the kind of low-cost bullpen bet that could pay off later, especially for a Mets club always looking for ways to find relief help without giving up anything of value. Signed to a two-year minor league contract while recovering from Tommy John surgery, the right-hander has spent all of 2024 in the minors, with the hope that he could eventually become an internal option and maybe even an unexpected late-season chip.
Instead, his time at Triple-A Syracuse has been rough enough to make that plan look shaky. Alzolay has struggled to miss bats and keep runners off base, and the Mets still have not cut bait, suggesting they are willing to keep waiting for signs of a turnaround rather than give up on the rehab project just yet. [Read more 🡒]