Steve Cohen Must Model Mets After Rays and Braves

The Rays and Braves stand out with their pitching, athleticism, and hitting, and that’s why we likely will see them in the Fall Classic.

As soon as Steve Cohen receives 23 votes to be approved as Mets owner, he will start the business of operating his new toy. He pined to do this for a long time, and he hopes it comes to fruition.

Mets fans hail Cohen since his net worth suggests he will spend to put the team in a position to win a championship. But the Mets owner knows there is more to money in building a championship team. He understands it comes down to scouting and player development.

He realizes the Rays and Braves built great teams through scouting and player development. He gets it that the Mets have to model after those two teams for them to win the division. There’s a reason why he plans to hire Sandy Alderson to oversee the team’s baseball operations. It’s not just helping his chances to get his sale approved, but Alderson brings gravitas for knowing about scouting and player development.

The Mets can’t afford to hire a neophyte to oversee a baseball operation.

Cohen must hire a guy that brings credibility after Brodie Van Wagenen’s negligence of player development, and Alderson checks all the boxes.

Who’s Making the Calls?

The Mets produced good players such as Pete Alonso, Dominic Smith, David Peterson, Jeff McNeil, Michael Conforto, and Andres Gimenez. Alderson drafted those guys. His success in the team’s draft made it easy for Cohen to go after Alderson.

It wouldn’t have been a good idea to hire a neophyte from the Rays and Braves tree to oversee the Mets baseball operation. With Cohen new in the ownership role, he had to find someone that knows what he is doing and had success with it. He realizes he needs a veteran general manager that can help him handle the highs and lows. Alderson checks all the boxes.

It just might be the Mets may have trade Jacob deGrom for this team to have a better tomorrow. They are nowhere close to the level of the Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins, and Washington Nationals to be a playoff team. They proved that this season. They should do everything possible to replenish young talent, and Alderson sounds like the right guy to trade deGrom, even if it’s not a popular decision.

Free Agency

The Mets can spend money and sign Trevor Bauer and J.T. Realmuto this offseason to make fans happy and get the back page of the New York tabloids. But that does nothing for this team. They won’t be any better, and Bauer and Realmuto may know that, too. It would be foolish to throw money around just to be a mediocre team.

This team is so far away from being a championship contender, and their window of opportunity ended in 2016 when Conor Gillaspie hit a three-run homer off then-Mets closer Jeurys Familia in the NL Wild-Card game that gave the Giants a 3-0 victory over the Mets. The Mets failed to make the playoffs since.

This team needs to develop more youth to keep up with the Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins and Washington Nationals. They need to develop more hitters who can take good at-bats rather than swing for the fences. They need to be more athleticism such as runners who can steal or take the extra base on a base hit.

The Mets can use some more arms. They could use some luck and smarts, too.

Face it. The Mets should approach rebuilding. It may sound frustrating for Mets fans who watched baseball lately, but it’s the smart approach. The Rays and Braves showed that’s the way to go in a young man’s game.

Alderson did that in his first few years as Mets general manager, and it set the stage for the Mets to play in the 2014 World Series. Of course, he inherited some of Omar Minaya’s players, but his player development experience paved the way for them, too.

Cohen needs to play this smart here. If he thinks spending can solve Mets’ problems, then he won’t be any better than the Wilpons.

It’s encouraging to know he may realize it by deciding to spend more money on an analytical staff that suggests this team will focus more on lesser guys that have value whether it’s in the draft or the waiver wire.

Copying the Rays and Braves not only makes the Mets likable, but it would make them entertaining. Most importantly, sustaining excellence for a very long time.

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