By Mark Halpern
Let’s take a trip back to the end of the 2000 season; George Steinbrenner shells out the most significant contract, a 7-year 100mil+, to Jason Giambi. This contract is the first contract of $ 100 million of its kind. It didn’t stop there as we saw the Yankees hand out deals to the best players for an average of $80 million, turning those teams into World Series champs. Stein Brenner was asked what he thought of the other owners and that they couldn’t do what he was doing. He simply said, “My team, I will spend as much as I want, and there is no rule against it.” Steinbrenner was also smart by hiring one of the best front-office personnel and coaching staff in baseball. However, he never cared what other owners thought of him with all that he was spending.
Now let us take a trip forward twenty years; we don’t have to go far, but the New York Mets were bought by Billionaire and die-hard Mets fan Steve Cohen. Cohen expressed that he wanted to bring in a championship team and will do everything in his power. So, in his first three years, Steve Cohen has brought in Free Agents Starling Marte, Francisco Lindor, Mark Canha, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, and Kodai Senga. Steve Cohen has spent better than a Billion dollars to bring in a winning team. Steve Cohen also had the great help of a talented front office lead by GM Billy Eppler. Steve Cohen was interviewed with ESPN and said, “I am not responsible for how other teams run their clubs. They set the rules down, and I am just following them.” Basically, Cohen felt the same way Steinbrenner felt. It’s my team, and I will do what I damn, please.
Suppose you look at what Steinbrenner did during his tenure as Yankees owner. The team accomplished a lot, but it took a little time, but the Yankees are the Yankees, and we know how many rings, etc., they have. Now the momentum has shifted cross town to Queens, New York, where Steve Cohen is taking the philosophy that he has the money and wants a winning team, and no one will get in his way of that. Only when Major League Baseball imposes a Salary Cap (never happen in the next decade) there is nothing to stop Cohen from spending, and we will be in tier one of the salary luxury cap. Steve doesn’t care what other owners have to say and will continuing his player search with the promise of bringing a Championships to the New York Mets and that is how the old man sees it.
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