Mets’ Steve Cohen appears to take subtle jab at former team owners amid struggles

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen appeared to put the onus on the Wilpons for the lack of immediate success since he bought the team for about $2.4 billion.

Cohen completed the purchase of the Mets in November 2020. The Mets have had two losing seasons in three years. The lone playoff appearance came in 2022 when they won 101 games but failed to get out of the National League wild-card series.

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New York Mets owner Steve Cohen walks on the field before a spring training game against the Houston Astros at the Cacti Park of the Palm Beaches on March 16, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Doug Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“I would hope that we would have had more winning seasons, but it’s not easy,” Cohen told reporters in Port St. Lucie, Florida, at spring training, via the New York Post. “In the end, I was given what I was given.”

New York spent big going into the 2023 season. The opening day payroll surpassed $330 million with the additions of Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga and the re-signings of Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil. But they ended up trading Verlander and Max Scherzer as the team struggled.

He did end up re-building a farm system and expressed optimism in the trajectory of some of the team’s top prospects.

Mets owner Steve Cohen speaks to the media before a game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field on June 28, 2023, in New York City. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

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Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert, Luisangel Acuna and Ryan Clifford are among the Mets on the MLB.com list of the top 100 prospects ahead of the 2024 season.

“I tend to be optimistic, I can’t help it, but I think I have good reason to be optimistic,” Cohen said. “That the talent we’re creating, we’re making players better – we’re improving them. I always wanted that. The best teams do that, and now we’re doing that.”

New York’s season begins March 28 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field.

Jett Williams of the New York Mets during a spring training game against the Houston Astros at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on March 18, 2023, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)

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The team is projected to have 83 wins this season, according to Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projections.

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