Justin Verlander
The biggest fear you could possibly have with the World Baseball Classic happened when Edwin Díaz suffered a potentially season ending injury celebrating Puerto Rico defeating the Dominican Republic to advance to the quarterfinals. No one, but no one wanted to see that happen.
Yes, you would like to think the injury was avoidable. Then again, spring injuries aren’t avoidable at all. Just go ask Brandon Nimmo and Bryce Montes de Oca, each of whom have suffered injuries this spring. We may see Nimmo on Opening Day, but Montes de Oca may take longer.
With Díaz, the question is how do you replace the irreplaceable. Last season, Díaz was finally the pitcher the Mets thought they were getting, and the Mets rewarded him for it by making him the highest paid reliever in the game. That’s what you do for the best closer in the game. You pay him and keep him.
Of course, this was a question the New York Yankees had back in 2012 when Mariano Rivera went down with an injury flagging down fly balls in Kansas City during batting practice. How were the Yankees going to possible replace Rivera.
The answer is you don’t. In reality, it is just the next man up. That man was Rafael Soriano. He was nowhere near as good as Rivera, and yet, he was still good enough to get the job done. In fact, he would finish in the top 20 in MVP voting.
That season, the Yankees won 95 games. That was not only enough to win the AL East, but it was also the best record in all of the American League. The Yankees would go to the ALCS before getting swept by a Detroit Tigers team with a dominant starting pitching staff led by Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.
That’s just it. The dominant starting pitching is always more important than the closer. Also, it helps having another reliever with closing experience who can step in and do the job. Fortunately, the Mets have that with David Robertson. The Mets also have other talented relievers like Drew Smith who could potentially step in to do the job.
Overall, closing Díaz is horrible. The Mets can’t replace him much like the Yankees couldn’t replace Rivera, the best to ever do it. That said, as we saw with the Yankees, you can lose your great closer and still be great. You just need the rest of the roster to do the things you expected them to do to get leads to the closer. From there, the Mets need 1-2 more players to step up.
In the end, the Mets were dealt a significant blow, but in the end, they should be fine. And if they aren’t, they have the assets to go get someone at the trade deadline or sooner.
Steve Cohen has set out to stretch the financial boundaries of Major League by doing all he can do to help the New York Mets win. In successive offseasons, he has signed a future Hall of Fame pitcher still near the top of his game.
The Mets are a far cry from the Wilpon era. Instead of trying to sell replacing Zack Wheeler with Marcus Stroman (despite both pitchers being in the same rotation), there is a healthy and fun debate whether Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander should be the Mets Opening Day starter.
This win-now attitude has infected the Mets and their fanbase. It is also something we are seeing with the New York Rangers.
Last year at the trading deadline, Chris Drury made a series of inspired moves. They were able to add Justin Braun, Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte, and Frank Vatrano. The end result was a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. After going up 2-0 in the series, they were within a blown lead of going to the Finals.
Drury would again not be deterred. He went out and got Motte back, who was a popular addition last season most Rangers fans were hoping would return. Then, he made a master stroke to surprisingly add Vladimir Tarasenko. While exciting, there was some mild disappointment because it meant the Rangers were out on Patrick Kane.
We were wrong, and for the most part, we have Drury and Kane to thank.
Kane had a no-trade clause with the Chicago Blackhawks. That meant Kane could go anywhere he wanted, and that anywhere was Madison Square Garden. The trick was finding a way to make it work under the salary cap.
Whereas Cohen has the option to absorb every nonsense financial penalty derived to punish trying to win, the Rangers needed to navigate through a hard cap. That involved some real creativity.
Picks had to be moved to the Phoenix Coyotes for them to absorb salary. Vitaly Kratsov was essentially given away to clear cap room. Jake Leschyshyn was waived. This was all done in the name of getting Kane and making the Rangers legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.
Like the Mets with Scherzer and Verlander, the Rangers have Kane and Tarasenko. They pushed the limits of spending in their sport, and they put themselves in a position to win the Stanley Cup. With any luck, there will be two parades down the Canyon of Heroes this year.
New York Mets manager Buck Showalter sounded non-committal over who his 2023 Opening Day starter would be. You can certainly understand why Showalter was not ready to make a decision just yet.
First and foremost, last season, it seemed obvious Jacob deGrom was going to be the Opening Day starter. That was until he was injured. Then, it was going to be Max Scherzer.
Well, Scherzer got hurt too. This all led to the very improbable choice of Tylor Megill. Fortunately for the Mets, Megill was up for the task, and we saw he was really up for the task to be a top of the rotation starter as he was the first pitcher in the Mets co-no.
Things are different in 2023. deGrom signed with the Texas Rangers, and he was replaced in the rotation by Justin Verlander. Suddenly, Scherzer and Verlander were again atop the rotation like they were with the Detroit Tigers, a team who won an American League pennant.
Both Scherzer and Verlander would lay claim to the Opening Day starter with just about any team. However, with the Mets, it is only going to be one of them who gets the nod. While Showalter may not want to commit, his choice should be Scherzer.
Scherzer came to the Mets last season making him the first real big free agent signed by the team. While you could argue it was the Francisco Lindor trade and extension, it was Scherzer who really the biggest sign things have changed.
This was when Steve Cohen first got to show the baseball world just how much more money he has to spend, and in many ways, the lengths he would go to sign players to take this Mets team to a new level. Interestingly enough, Scherzer’s contract served as a model for Verlander’s, and as it turns out, it was one of the reasons Verlander wanted to come to the Mets after the Houston Astros were alright with him departing in free agency.
Scherzer changed what the Mets were and could be. Cohen needed that first marquee free agent, and Scherzer was it. For that alone, he deserves the Opening Day nod.
Normally, when the Kansas City Chiefs are in the Super Bowl, we are anticipating it to be tangentially related to the New York Mets because there is discussion of Patrick Mahomes being the son of former Mets reliever Pat Mahomes. Certainly, there was some of that with Mahomes saying his son was prepared for these moments because he had him there at the 2000 World Series.
There was also the Philadelphia angle. In a world we where people mistakenly believe you are either Mets/Jets or Yankees/Giants, the simple truth is Mets/Giants and Yankees/Jets make much more sense. The Mets and Giants fans hate Philadelphia, and they want to see them fail, and Super Bowl LVII was another area where Mets and Giants fans had the chance to see that happen.
So, between the Mahomes and the Philadelphia angle, Mets fans were locked in, but then again, who isn’t locked in for the Super Bowl. After all, it’s the biggest sporting even in our country, and that is why we see ads costing $7 million.
That brings us to Steve Cohen. In a shock to us all, the Mets ran a Super Bowl ad featuring Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Lindor, Tomas Nido, Kodai Senga, Edwin Diaz as the closer, and of course, Mr. Met. It was a perfect commercial for Mets fans:
We Wanna Hear You! 📞https://t.co/UweYKix2Ir pic.twitter.com/XfM1qszMrQ
— New York Mets (@Mets) February 9, 2023
This would be the perfect commercial to run on SNY, or really any of the New York television stations. To be fair, that is what did happen. It was a regional Super Bowl ad, but nevertheless, Cohen purchased a Super Bowl ad, and it is one gaining a lot of traction.
Note, this ad comes off the heels of the other owners complaining about how Cohen is spending money.The deals for Justin Verlander and the almost completed deal for Carlos Correa sent them into a tizzy whining about the unfair economics.
Well, Cohen showed the rest of Major League Baseball it’s not just the spending on the players. As we know from recent interviews, it’s also not just the spending on the advanced technology and analytics.
Now, Cohen is making the Mets a more well renown brand. He is trying to be what the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, and Los Angeles Lakers are. For that matter, he’s trying to make the Mets what they once were in the 1980s.
The Mets purchased a Super Bowl ad. On the surface, it was to sell tickets. In reality, it was to sell the Mets. It was to send a message that the Mets are not stopping at beating you on the field. They will use every resource to grow the team and the brand even if that means purchasing a Super Bowl ad.
With Steve Cohen, things have changed so much for the better. Just look at this offseason, So far, the Mets have given record deals to keep Edwin Díaz and Brandon Nimmo. They have also brought in Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, Omar Narváez, José Quintana, and David Robertson. In the past, it would take the Wilpons more than a decade to bring in all of these players, and of that group, we’d never be able to consider a Verlander coming to Queens.
However, even with the Wilpons gone, they still find ways to mess with New York Mets fans. Of course, it comes with them being cheap and not realizing the value of franchise greats.
There is still a gap between SNY and Keith Hernandez in contract talks. Hernandez was offered a new deal, rejected it, and counter-offered. SNY has not yet responded with another offer.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) February 1, 2023
SNY (read, the Wilpons) always seems to do this with Keith Hernandez. They make the contract negotiations more prolonged than they need to be. In many ways, they don’t realize his value to the franchise and their broadcasts. Keep in mind, Hernandez and his commentary keeps fans tuned in during blowouts because fans want to hear Keith in those situations. That’s not hyperbole.
Actually, maybe the Mets do realize Hernandez’s value. It may be much more likely they really just don’t care. Based upon their ownership of the Mets, we can safely assume that is the case.
That is what actually makes this worse. They already have their billions from the sale of the franchise. They were financially made whole from the Madoff Ponzi Scheme scandal. Now, they’re just making money off the Mets like they always do.
There is going to come a point in time where Keith steps aside, and we are no longer going to have Gary, Keith, and Ron. However, that has to come on GKR’s terms. They’re Mets legends, and they earned that right as they are about to surpass Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy, and Ralph Kiner as the longest serving Mets announcing trio.
The Wilpons cannot mess this up. They’ve already messed up too much, and for all they have done, this would be a step too far. We shouldn’t put it past them. All we can do is hope they finally do the right thing by the fans.
Back when Steve Cohen first purchased the New York Mets, the team was very close to signing Trevor Bauer. That was even with there being issues with Bauer and his treatment of women. It’s fair to say the rumors weren’t at the levels of what would eventually led to Bauer receiving the largest ever suspension in Major League history, but there was something there.
Now, the Mets are in winner-take-all mode. This is an offseason where the Mets gave Edwin Diaz a record deal for a reliever, and they gave Brandon Nimmo the largest deal ever to a homegrown Mets player. Oh, by the way, the team also signed Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, and Omar Narvaez. They also did all they could do to sign Carlos Correa.
Cohen wants to win, and apparently, the Mets finish to the regular season and Wild Card round exit has only spurred him to push harder. That leads to Bauer being released by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He’s now a free agent with any team able to sign him for $720,000.
For Cohen, that amount is something he finds in his couch cushions. Based on his unprecedented spending spree this offseason, that is nothing to him. Certainly, you can argue he should use that money to sign Bauer like the Mets wanted to do back before Bauer signed with the Dodgers.
After all, by signing Bauer, the Mets would exclusively control his rights. They can use that to make sure he never pitches in a game in 2023 and perhaps never again. They would being a civic duty by doing this.
This is also doing a favor to baseball. Remember, back when Cohen was snatching up free agents, one of the prevailing rumors was the other 29 owners were angry with him and would be complaining to the commissioner if they had not already. By signing Bauer and not playing him, Cohen would be doing the other owners a favor.
First, he would be ensuring Bauer doesn’t play. Second, he would be saving the other owners from themselves. After all, we see what the Atlanta Braves did with signing Marcell Ozuna, and the Chicago Cubs did with their keeping Addison Russell. Sometimes, teams and Major League Baseball needs to be protected from themselves.
Here, Cohen should be the hero. Sign Bauer and then never play him. Let him rot into obscurity. Push him a further year away from ever playing again making the chances of him ever playing again all the more remote.
When the New York Mets played the San Diego Padres in the Wild Card Series, it was the first time the Mets were in the postseason since they were in the postseason in 2016. In fact, that marked just the second time in team history the Mets went to the postseason in consecutive seasons.
While just seven years ago, none of the players from those 2015-2016 Mets teams are around anymore. Actually, that’s not entirely true with Jerry Blevins working on the SNY postgame and occasionally filling in for Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez.
Blevins isn’t the only player who is retired. Look back at their starting lineup in Game 1 of the 2015 World Series. Almost all of those players are retired:
- Curtis Granderson – retired
- David Wright – retired
- Daniel Murphy – retired
- Yoenis Cespedes – attempting a comeback after retiring
- Lucas Duda – retired
- Travis d’Arnaud – Atlanta Braves
- Michael Conforto – San Francisco Giants
- Wilmer Flores – San Francisco Giants
- Kelly Johnson – retired
That is five retired and one more effectively retired. Notably, with Johnson, we saw Michael Cuddyer and Kirk Nieuwenhuis pinch hit in that DH spot, and both are now retired. If anything, it would seem the San Francisco Giants is the official team of the 2015 Mets.
As we see with Conforto and Flores, there are still some of those Mets players still in the majors, Matt Harvey notwithstanding. However, when Jacob deGrom signing with the Texas Rangers, there are currently no players from that team still with the Mets organization.
When Seth Lugo signed with the San Diego Padres, that left the Mets with absolutely no pitchers from that two year run. When Conforto signed with the Giants, that meant Brandon Nimmo was the only Mets player from that two year stretch to remain with the Mets, and he only played in 32 games.
When deGrom signed with the Rangers, we obviously lamented the second greatest Met ever leaving the organization. However, it was Conforto and Lugo leaving which officially turned the page on those teams with so much promise which ultimately fell apart due to the Wilpons malfeasance and cheapness.
In a sense, we should welcome this chapter forever being closed. Now, it is all about Steve Cohen and how he runs the Mets. So far this offseason, that means Nimmo is a Met for life in addition to adding Justin Verlander, Koudai Senga, Jose Quintana, David Robertson, Omar Narvaez and hopefully, Carlos Correa. Oh, and by the way, the Mets brought back Edwin Diaz and Adam Ottavino.
So yes, it is sad to see a part of Mets history gone, but we will have those memories. More than that, we have an exciting new era and owner. Now, it is time to just wait for Correa to sign, and the Mets to win a World Series.
You’re a reviled one, Mr. Cohen
You made Correa a steal,
You’re moves stings like a cactus, you got him even with McNeil, Mr. Cohen,
You’re a bad banana with an incredible infield
You’ve got Verlander, Mr. Cohen,
You filled the deGrom sized hole,
Your pocket is full of dollars, you have Gotham in your soul, Mr. Cohen,
I couldn’t touch your pitching with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!
You’re a foul one, Mr. Cohen,
You have Nimmo and his smile,
You have all Alonso’s sweetness of a swing hitting it a mile, Mr. Cohen,
Given a choice between the two of you’d call in sick for a while!
You’re a rotter, Mr. Cohen,
You’re the king of concession spots,
Your ballparks got helmet nachos with Mr. Softee instead of those lame Dippin’ Dots, Mr. Cohen,
You’re a three decker sauerkraut hotdog and double burger with extra Shack sauce!
You nauseate me, Mr. Cohen,
With a payroll super cost!,
You’re Scherzer is joined by a Koudai, and you sold McCann at a loss, Mr. Cohen,
Your opponents are left as an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most intimidating
assortment of pitches imaginable putting batters in tangled up knots!
You’re a foul one, Mr. Cohen,
You’re Omar catches pitches that sunk,
Your Edwin had us soil our jocks, your Quintana puts us in a funk, Mr. Cohen,
The three words that best describe the NL East opponents follows, and I quote,
“Stink, stank, stunk”!
EDITORS NOTE: Adapted from “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
Truth be told, Steve Cohen has been spending at a level no one anticipated. We should have anticipated there would be backlash to that with Major League Baseball trying to establish a system to discourage spending to build a team.
To some degree, you have to give the other owners credit. They were tight-lipped last offseason when the New York Mets free agent spree was highlighted by Max Scherzer and Starling Marte in addition to the Mets trading for Chris Bassitt.
They bit their tongues as the Mets signed Justin Verlander, José Quintana, David Robertson, and Koudai Senga in addition to re-signing Edwin Díaz and Brandon Nimmo. It’s fair to assume they weren’t happy, but they didn’t react publicly. Then, Carlos Correa happened.
Cohen and the Mets initially made a too late push for Correa, and Correa signed with the San Francisco Giants. To be fair, the Giants offered more than the Mets were willing to offer. If you were a skeptic, you were left believing Scott Boras was using Cohen and the Mets to extract every last dollar from the Giants.
After that, Correa “failed” his physical leading the Giants to try to renegotiate the deal. Boras being Boras treated this as an opportunity to re-open the bidding for Correa with the Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers re-entering the picture. In the end, it would be the Mets who signed Correa to a 12 year $315 million deal.
This is what caused the rest of baseball to snap. In an article from The Athletic by Evan Drellich, the other owners, who did not go on record, spoke about this disdain about how Cohen has conducted his business this offseason. There were a few choice quotes speaking about how Cohen was not stopped by control measures put in place for him to not outspend what other owners and markets were willing to do.
Note, the choice of the word willing isn’t of able. That choice was highlighted by an unnamed source who said, “There’s no collusion. But . . . there was a reason nobody for years ever went past $300 million. You still have partners, and there’s a system.” Another choice quote was, “We’ve got somebody with three times the median payroll and has no care whatsoever for the long-term of these contracts, in terms of the risk associated with any of them.”
Essentially, owners don’t like or feeling comfortable going to the lengths Cohen has been willing to go. That’s not the same as can’t go. They don’t want to go there, and as Drellich astutely points out, owners are not happy Cohen is raising the price of player contracts.
This is much in the same way the Wilpons restricted player salaries. They had a team in the largest market in the world, and they couldn’t spend on players. Having a very large market out on a player suppressed player salaries, which is why other owners had zero issues with the Wilpons.
They didn’t care about the psyche of Mets fans or what not having a large market non-competitive for all but two years in a decade was doing to the growth of the sport. All they cared about is players were cheaper. They left money and growth at the table to make their bottom line better. Now, they’re faced with the choice of spending a little more to be competitive, or as we see with the Tampa Bay Rays, find real ways to be competitive other than artificially suppressing player salaries.
Make no mistake here, the other 29 owners didn’t give a damn about their fans, especially Mets fans. It was all about their profit margin, which is what Cohen is directly impacting despite their efforts to stand in the way. In the end, not one fan should care what they think because they certainly didn’t care about Mets fans when the Wilpons were actively destroying baseball.