New Look Mets

By: Mike Rifkin

When Steve Cohen bought the New York Mets fans were thrilled because they knew and were told he was willing to spend his money. Last offseason the big splash was trading for Francisco Lindor and signing him to a 10 year 341 million dollar contract. This offseason Steve Cohen really spent on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 

Let’s start with what happened on Friday: the Mets signed three players in Eduardo Escobar, Mark Canha and Starling Marte. Escobar signed a two year 20 million dollar deal with the Mets to play third base, but also can play second base and last season played some games at first base. Last season Escobar had a slash line of .253 average, .314 on base percentage and .472 slugging percentage with 28 home runs and 90 RBI for the Diamondbacks and Brewers. Escobar’s arrival might signal the end for either Jeff Mcneil or JD Davis returning, but both could be impacted depending if the team brings back Javy Baez. 

The Mets also signed Outfielders Mark Canha and Starling Marte from the Athletics to contracts. Canha signed a two year 26.5 million dollar contract to play one of the corner outfield spots. Canha last year had a slash line of .231 average, .358 on base percentage, and .387 slugging percentage, with 17 home runs and 61 RBI. His .358 on base percentage was 14th in the American League.  Marte signed a four year  78 million dollar contract with the Mets. After being traded to Oakland from the Marlins Marte slashed .315 average, .389 on base percentage, and .464 slugging percentage with 12 home runs and 52 RBI. Marte brings the Mets an element they didn’t have: Marte last season stole 47 bases while the Mets as a team only stole 54. Marte, a 2 time gold glove award winner, should be at the top of the lineup and playing Center Field which should move Brandon Nimmo to the other corner thus eliminating any thoughts of Michael Conforto returning. Does this make Dom Smith available? But my thought would be if the Universal DH came into play the Mets could put Smith or Pete Alonso there while the other plays first base. 

The Cherry on top of all this was Monday when the Mets signed three time CY Young award winner and future hall of famer Max Scherzer to a three year 130 million dollar contract. Scherzer has been one of the best pitchers in baseball in the last decade. Last season he was traded from the Nationals to the Dodgers at the trade deadline posted a career best 2.46 ERA. Scherzer signed the fifth largest deal in Mets history behind teammates Francisco Lindor and Jacob Degrom as well as David Wright and Johan Santana. Scherzer also broke Gerritt Cole’s record of average annual value at 43.3 million dollars. Pairing Scherzer with Jacob Degrom who currently is the best pitcher in baseball gives the Mets the best 1-2 punch in baseball. 

These moves from Steve Cohen shows that he is not afraid to spend money if it means his team will win. These moves should excite the Mets fan base  because under the Wilpons the Mets wouldn’t have been in the mix. There is still some work to do, but for now it’s a new day in Queens and Steve Cohen has become the King of Queens.