Steve Cohen’s first attempt to purchase the Mets earlier this year fell through, and according to Cohen himself, it was disappointing.
“I put a lot of time in trying to figure out if this was the right thing to do, so it was disappointing. But so be it,” he said Tuesday in his introductory press conference as the new Mets owner. “It was a complicated transaction, and sometimes things fall apart. But we’re sitting here today, and I’m really excited.”
Cohen is indeed the owner, as of Friday, and Mets fans are ecstatic hoping that Cohen will finally spend money the way the Wilpons didn’t to bring a winner to Queens. He will – “not like a drunken sailor,” he noted, “but when there’s a gap to fill, we will fill it” – but he did assure the 7 Line Army and the rest of the faithful that the Mets are more than a toy, but less than a business, to him.
“The amount of work that’s going to be required here is more than a hobby, but I don’t consider it like Point72 (Cohen’s hedge fund management company),” he said. “Essentially, I’m doing it for the fans. I can make millions of people happy, and what an incredible opportunity that is. I’m not trying to make money here; I have my business at Point72 and I make money there, but here, it’s about building something great for the fans and winning.”
Cohen truly is “one of us” in Mets fans’ minds, and it seems that he knows what he knows but also knows what he doesn’t, and is going to be able to take his fandom out of his decision making simply because he’s going to surround himself with people who also know what they’re doing.
“The way I run Point72 – I’m very measured, calm, and thoughtful about things. Impulsive decisions tend not to work, so I want to make sure there are checks and balances in the organization, and want my people to feel comfortable telling me if they feel differently. That’s how good decisions are made,” he said. “If I have a thought, they can shoot it down. I have a lot to learn, so that’s why I need to surround myself with real professionals. Over time I’ll get better, but I have a day job too, so I have to make sure the team is operating at full power even when I’m not around.”
Cohen notes there are a lot of similarities between running a hedge fund and a baseball team – “we both take pride in developing people, developing talent, and putting the best people out there you can,” he said – and he’s going to bring some of his business principles to the Mets.
“I hold my people accountable, but I give them a lot of rope to run, and provide them the resources to do their jobs as effectively as possible,” he said. “I’m not a micromanager. I won’t sit there and second guess every decision, that’s not my style. “I’m not hitting the baseball, all I’m doing is providing the resources to my management team, but ultimately, I have to be accountable for that.”
That said, he knows what the expectations are, and has lofty ones for his new organization.
“I’m not in this for a short-term fix. I don’t want to be good one year and bad three; I want to be good every year. That’s the goal, and the team I want to build,” he said, before adding this: “If we don’t win (a World Series) in the next three to five years, I’d consider that slightly disappointing.”
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