Brown: Steve Cohen Makes Mets Fans' Dreams A Reality

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A new era of Mets baseball is on the way. 

Officially, it might take five years, but the impact on the franchise could end up being much sooner than that.

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas, Mets fans. Steve Cohen is here to spread the holiday cheer, and to change the future of the Mets for the best. 

The New York Mets are a real big-market team now. It’s not a dream. It’s reality. 

Cohen is finalizing a deal to gain majority control of the Mets, reportedly at 80% of the team’s $2.6 billion value. Fred Wilpon is expected to remain the control person and CEO for the Mets, and Jeff Wilpon the chief operating officer, but only for now. By 2025, it will essentially be Cohen’s team. Cohen will reportedly have an impact though sooner than that, which would change everything with this franchise when it comes to spending.

The Great Neck, NY native is worth $13.6 billion. Yes, that’s a ‘b’. He grew up a passionate Mets fan and clearly has deep pockets. The Mets payroll is going to rise, and it’s going to mean this is a true New York team that won’t be afraid to spend. The penny-pinching days are almost over. The Mets are going from the dollar menu to Del Frisco’s. They will soon have the richest owner in Major League Baseball. The changing of the guard puts the jokes in the past when it comes to this team not spending, as there will be plenty of it soon. 

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Mets fans have been dreaming of this moment for so many years. Since the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme that hurt the Wilpons, they’ve clearly been more of a mid-market franchise. The money just has not been there like it has been for the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers. The Mets will enter the category of those teams when Cohen’s cash kicks in, which means championships are on the Mets radar. While it’s not always the team with the biggest payroll that wins titles, it sure does help. The Yankees, and now the Red Sox in the past 15 years, know that well. 

We don’t know what kind of owner Cohen will be or if he will even be a good one, but we do know he’s not afraid to spend, and he’s clearly got the dollars to do it. Having an owner that is a lifelong Mets fan with an abundance of money is what Mets fans dream of after the bullpen blows a Jacob deGrom start. Having a real owner that spends is what Mets fans have put on their holiday wish list for the longest time. Well, check it off the list, because it’s happening. 

The question will be when does his money and raised ownership stake kick in. Will it be 2025? It sure seems like it could happen sooner than that. The hope is that this will have an effect on payroll next year, but there’s at least a plan in place now. It’s a changing of the guard in Queens. There’s a new sheriff in town. And he’s soon going to take the Mets back to the promised land, and on a consistent basis. Championships won’t be a mirage. False hope won’t be an option. Money will be heavily invested into the roster.

Citi Field will become the new home to make it really feel like Shea. It won’t be about wild card title banners being put up anymore. It won’t be celebrations every year about teams from before most of us were born. It will be about raising World Series championship banners in the greatest city in the world. 

Buckle up and enjoy the ride, Mets fans. The coupons will be thrown in the garbage. The juiciest of steaks, the finest of wine and the big-money, big-time players will be here soon. Dreams do come true.