As the start of spring training draws closer, the Mets are set to begin the year with the highest payroll in baseball, ahead of the Yankees by nearly $60 million, per Spotrac.
The league-leading payroll came as a result of a nearly $500 million spending spree this offseason, highlighted by the signings of Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga, along with retaining Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Diaz.
For Mets fans, it's a perk of having the richest owner in baseball at the helm, but more importantly, an owner who is relentlessly committed to spending on his team. Some owners reportedly don't like what Cohen has done since taking over in Queens, but Cohen doesn't seem to mind those rumblings. If anything, their frustration is a product of their own lack of commitment.
"I've heard what everyone else has heard: that they're not happy with me," Cohen told ESPN's Jeff Pasan. "I hear things from people, who are maybe more neutral, that they're taking a lot of heat from their fans. I kind of look at that like, you're looking at the wrong person. They're putting it on me.
Maybe they need to look more at themselves.
"I'm not responsible for how other teams run their clubs. I'm really not. That's not my job. And there are disparities in baseball. We know that to be true. I'm following the rules. They set the rules down, I'm following them."
The rules, instituted in the latest CBA, included a "Cohen tax," a new fourth competitive balance tax tier to try and curtail spending like what Cohen has done with the Mets. But that hasn't stopped Cohen, and it doesn't sound like it will.
"We're in New York, and I'm competitive," Cohen told Passan. "If you're going to own a team -- I came in with a commitment that I was going to put a good product on the field. And I think I've done that. I had no idea what it was going to cost to put a good product on the field, but I'm in a position where I make a good income, right? So I can do this.
"I didn't know I was going to have to spend like I did. I actually was a little naive in that regard. But once I got comfortable and realized, OK, what's it going to take to put a great team on the field, I still had made a commitment to the fans, and to baseball, that I was going to come in and turn this thing around. I came in saying I'm all-in. And I keep my word."
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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