The Cohen Effect has made Mets the most interesting team in MLB

NEW YORK — Steve Cohen, the hedge-fund maven sitting in the comfort of his home with a makeshift Mets logo backdrop, addressed the media for the first time last month. For 45 minutes, everything that came out of Cohen’s mouth resonated with a championship-deprived band of people that included a buzzing Mets fan base, players not even on the team, baseball executives and more.

There was no hesitation in Sandy Alderson’s response when the new team president was asked why he returned to the Mets.

“It was Steve Cohen,” Alderson said on his decision to lead the Mets’ baseball operations department. “That’s what excited me, the opportunity to come back and work for, work with, a guy like Steve, whose vision parallels my own.”

Cohen’s vision for the Mets includes creating a blueprint for winning, finding great players and making them better, building a quality analytics department and replenishing a scorched farm system. In short: he expects the franchise to be excellent in all areas. And it’s a vision that others quickly wanted to be a part of.

Marcus Stroman, who was on the verge of becoming a free agent, instead accepted the Mets’ $18.9 million qualifying offer to remain in Queens. Stroman’s decision to avoid entering a depressed marketplace due to the economic impact of baseball’s mostly fan-less coronavirus season was spurred by his new owner’s enthusiasm for the team.

“After watching the presser, I’m beyond excited to play for you sir,” Stroman tweeted to Cohen. “I could feel the excitement and passion you’re going to bring daily. Let’s go be great!”

Trevor Bauer, who is among this winter’s most desirable free agents, was compelled to make a 17-minute video on his YouTube channel to unpack Cohen’s “brilliant start” as Mets owner. Number one on Bauer’s list of Cohen’s best traits was the 64-year-old’s connection to fans through Twitter. Cohen memorably asked Mets fans on Twitter how he can make their experience better as soon as the sale officially closed early last month.

Suddenly, one of the best relievers on the market in Trevor May signed a two-year deal with the Mets last week. When May was asked why he picked Queens over the 14 other teams that were interested in him, or in other words half the league, his answer at this point was predictable.

“To be honest, one of the biggest things is the buzz around Steve and the purchase of the team and the excitement of all the changes happening,” May said after signing a deal worth north of $15 million. “My immediate reaction was wanting to be a part of something like that.”

This is the Steve Cohen Effect in action. A club with a career losing record across 59 seasons is sparking the interest of anyone with an appetite for baseball.

So how did a depressing franchise spawn a subtle beast in Cohen with his tentacles in every crevice of the baseball industry?

A year ago, Cohen’s initial agreement to buy the Mets became public. The original deal, which involved five more years of control by the Wilpons, collapsed two months later. Though Cohen was at first disappointed because he “really wanted to make it happen,” he jumped back into the team’s bidding process this past summer.

The opposition led by Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez never stood a chance against Cohen’s billions. Cohen, jokingly, said he doesn’t even remember his competitor’s names. He was even unconcerned about the owners’ majority approval, in which he needed at least 23 out of 30 votes in his favor.

He didn’t give a second thought to Mayor de Blasio’s embarrassing attempt to halt the sale, which involved a simple formality of signing a transfer of the Citi Field lease from the Wilpons to Cohen. De Blasio, upon grabbing a week’s worth of headlines and successfully stroking his ego, signed off on the deal minutes after MLB owners approved Cohen.

Plainly, Cohen was the frontrunner from Dec. 4, 2019 to Nov. 6, 2020 when his purchase of the Mets for a record $2.4 billion came to a close.

“I wasn’t really worried about it,” Cohen said last month of the final steps that led him to the helm. “I felt pretty good about it.”

Cohen was confident, yes. But he was also laser-focused on the end goal: to become sole majority owner of the team he’s adored all his life — and then, optimistically, turn the franchise on its head.