Anything the New York Mets owner Steve Cohen does afterwards can be done with a clear conscience and his sense of fairness totally intact. Because many of those hired since he was hired at the homeowners ’club have turned Cohen’s first year at the helm into an unprecedented embarrassment.
The boy initially introduced to be Mets general manager Jared Porter was banned from the sport earlier this year for sending sexually explicit text messages. And now the boy promoted to replace Porter, Zack Scott, has been arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated after he was found sleeping in his car on Tuesday morning. Scott allegedly refused to undergo a breathalyzer test. The reception has been disastrous, and that doesn’t even take into account the baseball part of the baseball business, which, for the Mets, has been extraordinarily disappointing.
The team had a 4½ game lead in the National League East on July 31, and on August 31, the Mets had collapsed to third place, seven games behind the Atlanta Braves. When the Mets didn’t hit too soon, team president Sandy Alderson and Scott fired their coaches and there has been no change in performance. Francisco Lindor has struggled all year, with a chronically slow bat, and Michael Conforto, Dom Smith and Jeff McNeil have dropped performance. Jacob deGrom has been repeatedly injured; and even after weeks of doctor visits and treatment, no Mets employee can predict with confidence whether deGrom could give them 10 tickets or 110 next year. DeGrom has been the best pitcher we’ve ever seen throwing harder than any starting pitcher ever, and no one can even say for sure if he can continue on that line or if his best chance to be productive is to set his speed again. .
Kumar Rocker was the first pick in the first round at the time as Cohen’s owner this summer, and the Mets apparently ignored some of the red flags that scared other right-wing teams – and chose not to sign. lo after reviewing the Rocker Physical Exam results. The Mets blamed Rocker agent Scott Boras, but regardless of who was in charge, it was a missed opportunity for a player development system that desperately needed talent.
And in the midst of all this, circumstances forced Alderson to stand up right in the middle of the Mets ’home and explain to the players that it’s a bad idea to tell paying customers how they should act, as Javier Baez did in a Zoom called Sunday with reporters as he explained his gestures with his thumbs down. (Baez and Lindor later apologized). The Mets’ best offseason play, signing Taijuan Walker, was a stroke of luck: the team chased Walker after he failed in his pursuit of Trevor Bauer.
Cohen would be justified in firing Scott, and he would be justified in banking on Alderson, the person who hired Porter and Scott. It would be justified in almost any choice he made at the time, including the move many rival executives expect: the search for someone experienced and accomplished to run their baseball operations.
As the terrible year for the Mets has worsened and officials from other organizations have become fascinated, a name has been mentioned frequently within the industry in recent days: David Stearns, president of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball operations.
Stearns ’name came up last year when Cohen took over the Mets as someone who could naturally fall into the team’s chain of command under Alderson. Stearns, 36, is a New Yorker who grew up rooting for the Mets. And after finishing at Harvard, Stearns earned an advanced front office title with the Cleveland Indians and moved to the Houston Astros, before the Brewers hired him as general manager. Milwaukee has constantly fought for the playoffs for Stearns’ tenure, and is highly respected by his teammates.
The most important question for Cohen: Could he have access to Stearns, to offer him the kind of compensation and power that would almost certainly turn Stearns into the top tier of game executives?
According to sources, Stearns ‘current deal with the Brewers extends into the 2022 season. Some of his teammates believe that if Stearns wants to continue the Mets’ work (working in a large market, in his hometown, the kind of huge resources he would never have in Milwaukee), is close enough to the end of his deal with Milwaukee owner Mark Attanasio to hold a conversation about what’s to come.
“If they tell you you can’t [pursue the Mets’ job]”said a longtime front-office executive about Stearns,” he was able to say [Attanasio] who will not sign an extension after next year. The Brewers and the Mets could come to an agreement. He’s been there long enough and they’ve had enough success with him, where he was able to have a pretty honest conversation about what he wants to do. “
An executive cited the precedent that Theo Epstein left the Boston Red Sox a year before his contract to go to the Chicago Cubs ended, with suspicious permission from Boston ownership.
The first questions any potential candidate would have about the current Mets would be about Cohen, whose activity on social media is viewed by experienced executives of baseball operations with great curiosity and some concern. There are natural questions about Cohen’s involvement and whether he could be constantly involved in the players ’staff decisions.
But after the ignominious presentation of some of his employees, Cohen might feel he has no choice but to get involved, for the correction of a franchise course.