Steve Cohen Sets High Bar for Mets Season

The New York Mets owner wants to make the playoffs.

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The New York Mets home opener was rained out on Thursday and when the skies cleared to allow baseball on Friday, things did not go particularly well. The Citi Field faithful saw their team get one-hit by the Milwaukee Brewers in a 3-1 loss. The game featured second baseman Jeff McNeil taking exception to a late slide by Rhys Hoskins and the benches emptying. It was only one game out of 162 and the team has a low bar to improve on last year's disastrous 75-87 campaign.

Expectations for this team are lower than for the squad that failed to do anything with a $335 million payroll in 2023. That said, owner Steve Cohen made sure everyone knew what the franchise is chasing this summer when he addressed media members before the game.

“I think the goal is to make the playoffs. Pretty simple. Let’s not overthink this,” Cohen said. “If we don’t make the playoffs, obviously I’d be disappointed.”

After dealing Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander at the trade deadline last August, the Mets have made more medium-sized moves than big splashes. The only exception to that may be adding designated hitter J.D. Martinez, who is playing on a one-year, $12 million contract. But Cohen's team still carries the biggest payroll in Major League Baseball and is the only franchise north of $300 million.

"We knew there were some constraints given contracts that we're paying for that obviously run off at the end of this year or maybe at the end of next year. So there were some money constraints, right?" Cohen said. "I mean, at some point everyone's got a budget. But generally I'm really pleased at what we've created. ... I think we've built a club that's going to be there in September."

Kyle Koster is an editor at The Big Lead.