Torn between 'owner' and 'superfan,' Cohen excited

NEW YORK -- Unless the Mets are on the West Coast, Steve Cohen does his best to watch every inning of every game. He often refers to himself as a fan as much as an owner. In that regard, Cohen found his emotions in lockstep with those of other supporters when the Mets won three of four in Miami to open the season, then when they lost all three in Milwaukee to end that trip.

As a fan, Cohen fretted. As a businessman, he forced himself to take a wider view.

“In the hedge fund business, I’ll have a bad week and it doesn’t define my year. It doesn’t define my month,” Cohen said before the Mets rebounded to win their home opener on Friday, 9-3 over the Marlins. “This is kind of the same thing. It’s a really small sample. It’s foolish to make conclusions in such a short period of time.”

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Which led to the obvious follow-up: If seven games is too small a sample from which to draw meaningful conclusions, what sort of sample is large enough?

“Eight games,” Cohen deadpanned.

Cohen's joke seemed prescient hours later, when the Mets drew a dozen walks off Marlins pitching and clubbed three late homers at Citi Field, reestablishing their reputation as a team to be feared in the NL East. All the right ingredients were there: Tylor Megill delivered six scoreless innings to earn the victory, Brandon Nimmo set a career high with four walks and Starling Marte, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso all went deep.

“It was a good day for us,” Lindor said.

It was the type of day that seemed repeatable, given the star power up and down the Mets’ roughly $377 million payroll. Spending a record-setting amount of money on players is what Cohen has frequently called a “bridge” strategy, designed to keep the Mets competitive while their farm system matures. It also has the potential to become an expensive fiasco if an aging rotation falters and the Mets fail to produce enough offense to make up for it.

The team’s opening road trip gave Cohen a glimpse at how the latter scenario could look. The home opener served to ease his mind.

“Let’s get into the season,” Cohen said. “Let’s not make any conclusions at an early stage in the season. I think that’s probably a mistake. Last year, we got off to a great start and then had a tough September and, obviously, playoffs. I’d rather finish strong and be prepared for the playoffs.”

Cohen added that if things do go south for the Mets, he’s prepared to make whatever changes are needed. While Cohen wouldn’t outright commit to adding additional payroll as the season progresses, his willingness to spend was obvious on Friday to anyone with a functional pair of eyeballs. More so than the Mets’ offensive output, the talk of Citi Field was a new 17,400 square foot LED board in center field, looming so large that Lindor quipped he was going to need a facial to slough off any pimples.

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In the future, Cohen intends to make additional upgrades to the ballpark, much as he has already done to the roster. None of it can guarantee winning baseball for the Mets, but there’s little doubt that Cohen’s money will at least improve their chances at success.

Knowing all that, the hedge fund manager in Cohen made certain not to panic this week, even as the superfan inside him was none too thrilled. On Opening Day in Miami, Cohen spent time in the right-field stands with members of The 7 Line Army, a like-minded fan club that travels to various road games. On Friday, he called his experience owning the team “a blast,” saying it plays to his “creative side” as he works to find additional revenue streams for the club.

Some ideas may be better than others, but Cohen is adaptable. When fans gave negative reviews to a uniform patch advertising a new partnership with New York-Presbyterian, Cohen emailed the hospital system’s CEO with a request to change the advertisement’s colors.

Nothing around the Mets -- not slumps, nor injuries, nor video boards, nor uniform patches -- is permanent. Two and a half years into his ownership of the club, Cohen has learned to embrace the benefits of patience.

“Long way to go,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of injuries, and obviously that’s a concern, so we’ve got to get healthy. But this is a veteran team, a lot of depth. I’m excited by this team. We’ll see what happens.”