On the day of Carlos Beltran‘s number retirement ceremony at Citi Field, a special and joyous occasion for the club and all those involved, Mets owner Steve Cohen made sure to also address the elephant in the room – what’s been bubbling up for many Met fans this season, particularly this past week.
Speaking with the SNY booth in the fourth inning on Saturday, Cohen was asked about the recent shenanigans that happened at the ballpark during the team’s last series with the Baltimore Orioles.
In what was Pete Alonso‘s first time back in Queens since he left the Mets in free agency over the offseason, fans came out in droves and gave the first baseman quite the reception. Not only did they give Alonso a standing ovation in his first at-bat, standard for a former beloved player coming back to his old ballpark, fans were actively cheering for Alonso’s success every time he went to the plate.
Things got murky when Alonso, who was chasing his 300th career home run, hit the milestone by hitting a game-tying home run against Kodai Senga in the top of the ninth inning which caused the stadium to erupt in cheers – odd for a home ballpark.
The Mets went on to lose that game in extra innings and during the postgame, players, including Sean Manaea and Francisco Lindor, admitted to being surprised by the response of the home fans seemingly cheering against their team.
“You can’t make it up, it was just so crazy,” Cohen said on Saturday. “The fans, they’re passionate and when they feel something they’re gonna let you know and I’m okay with that. Pete hits his 300th home run and it was sort of poetic. It was sort of amazing that it all occurred at the same time.”
Cohen seemed to understand where the fans were coming from, letting their frustration out for a player they believed deserved to be a lifetime Met.
Of course, that’s not how things turned out and in the midst of a disappointing season, it made it all the more painful.
“I’ll say it again, it didn’t surprise me,” Cohen said about the fan’s response to Alonso’s return. “I can remember being at a previous Mets event the previous year and the fans were vocal on Alonso and listen, it’s hard to say goodbye to a home grown player. Obviously he’s well liked and a great Met and those decisions got made and unfortunately we gotta look forward and look forward to ’27 and what we’re gonna do.
“But it was weird because we got past the trade deadline and the team was playing well and you got a sense that fans were really getting excited and then Pete came in and we kinda reversed course for three days, but now I think we’re back on track again.”
It’s true, prior to Alonso’s homecoming, despite the lost season, fans seemed to be invested in the team because of the young talent that spurred hope for the future, as well as the team’s improved performance on the field, albeit too late.
Still, Cohen believed that what the Mets had been building was enough to garner enthusiasm for what’s to come, even if it came during a second consecutive season missing the playoffs.
“I think that’s what the fans like,” he said. “We’re playing young, we’re playing athletic. We’ve developed a lot of players in a very short period of time and so that’s something you can really look forward to. So it’s true, two things can be true: a lousy season, but still something to look forward to.”
Something else Mets fans can look forward to is help coming on the way for president of baseball operations David Stearns – both in terms of the front office as well as a manager.
Despite interim manager Andy Green’s success during his time leading the team, Cohen confirmed the team will be looking elsewhere for somebody to lead the team and spoke about what he wants to see out of his next manager, a conversation that fittingly happened during Beltran’s number retirement ceremony.
“I see the manager’s role as mostly about culture and bringing the locker room together,” the owner said. ‘I think the actual managerial decisions are, I would say, 20-30 percent of what they do and the rest of it is trying to galvanize your ball club and trying to get them in the right frame of mind and I’m looking for someone that can bring out the best in their ball players.”
As for the front office, Cohen mentioned that he’s “identified some things that we can do better” and talked about bringing in extra voices to the mix to help out.
“We’re going to try to add certain voices into the front office that I think will be helpful and I know David supports that and I’m looking forward to, when we make those decisions, to announce them,” he said.
Cohen continued: “It doesn’t have to be a GM, it could be other ways to support David and the front office and I think the whole point is to get more opinions in the front office and people who are either pretty good at evaluating talent or people who have been in those positions before in the front office – in high positions – and help David out and help the team out as far as getting a different point of view.”
Cohen was also asked how he deals with, as he described it, such passionate fans that are always eager to give their two cents in how to run the team.
“Everyone’s got an opinion, I’ll tell you that,” he said. “…And frankly, there’s some good ideas out there so my ears are open.”
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