Steve Cohen didn't declare big, sweeping changes to his organization during his anticipated press conference on Wednesday, but he did challenge his players to "get their act together" and turn things around after "terrible" performances so far this season .
"It's been incredibly frustrating," Cohen said. "I watch every game, I see what's going on. If you asked me if I expected us to be in this position at the beginning of the season, my answer would have been no.
"We have quality players. For some reason or another, we're not gelling. When we pitch well, we don't hit. When we hit, we don't pitch well…There's really nobody to blame, it's across the whole team…It's on them. They're not performing to the level that they themselves have expected…but they want it as much as anybody else. But they gotta get their act together."
Cohen has been invested in every pitch this season, and has felt the fan frustration, since he feels it himself as the owner and fan of the team. To be seven games below .500 despite a record payroll, Cohen understands the anger, and while he doesn't have clear answers for why it has happened, he knows it isn't acceptable.
"It's kind of weird. It's actually very strange to me," Cohen said. "I don't know if the players are anxious or pressing…we see a lot of mental errors, unforced errors, obviously we can clean that up. We've lost games because of it.
"We're not playing well. I don't care if we're 14.5, 16.5, or 18.5 games back. It's terrible. That's not what I expected…We'll see where it goes. It's on the players. They're veterans, they've been there before. I think these are players that have done it, and we'll see if they can get their act together and string together some wins."
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
Listen live to WFAN:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker (just say 'Play W-F-A-N')
