Coming off a winning season and a deep postseason run, Steve Cohen described the signing of outfielder Juan Soto as an accelerant in the Mets’ quest to end a now 38-year World Series drought.
“I’m excited by the Mets’ future,” Cohen said at Thursday’s introductory news conference. “I think this accelerates our goal of winning championships.”
“It’s hard to win,” he said later, referencing making a mistake in his comments after first buying the team about how he would be “slightly disappointed” if the Mets didn’t win a title in his first three to five years of ownership. “And you need great ball players to win. And we got one.”
With the Mets, coming off a run to the National League Championship Series, Soto said he looks to build on that.
“It’s gonna be fun, it’s gonna be fun,” the outfielder said. “I feel like the momentum that they had last year was incredible, what they showed in the playoffs, how far they went, I think it’s really nice and for me, it’s one of the things I’m looking forward to, to keep having that momentum all the way through 15 years.”
And of course, just as Cohen had said “championships,” Soto used the plural as well.
“… [I know] they haven’t done it in a long time,” Soto said of the title dry spell in Queens. “But for me, I try to win a World Series not only one time, if not a couple more times. It’s gonna be special, that’s what we’re trying to do here and try to bring this team to the top again.”
With those goals out there, manager Carlos Mendoza said the team now “has to embrace everything that comes with” the heightened expectations.
“You have to embrace those expectations, this is New York,” the manager continued.
“And now we’re looking at one of the better organizations in baseball and that’s what we wanted, a first-class organization and it comes with expectations. And if you don’t achieve the goals,” he said and paused making a face leaving the unsavory part of the job unsaid. “But I’ll say being in this position is a privilege. And I’m just excited for what the future holds.”
“We should embrace expectations, expectations are a great thing,” David Stearns, president of baseball operations, said, adding that before the signing their goals were to build a championship-caliber organization that consistently competes at a championship level.
“The expectations haven’t changed, we just added a really good player to help us get there.”
But in addition to this being what Cohen called “obviously, a huge move” for the club on the field, the signing of the 26-year-old superstar to a 15-year, $765 million contract was one that has off-the-field implications, too.
For the owner who grew up a Mets fan, this was another statement of intent, one that “puts an accent on what we’re trying to do” as a franchise.
Recalling something he said in the locker room during the Mets’ deep postseason charge, Cohen underlined how his goal was to “change how the Mets were viewed.”
“And I think we’re really on the path of changing that. We’re never going to stop, we’re always in a constant state of improvement, but that’s my goal,” he said. “My goal is that the Mets are premier, one of the elite teams in Major League Baseball.”
Of course, Cohen said he “wasn’t trying to send a message to the league” with the signing, but he was just trying to “build a team of sustainable winning.”
“It just shows I’m committed and I care,” the owner said. “This is a passion play for me.”
While adding Soto, one of the game’s most impressive hitters with a .421 career on-base percentage and career 158 wRC+, is one thing, Cohen indicated the signing doesn’t complete an offseason of work.
“Already our lineup has gotten a lot stronger, and, so, that’s a big deal,” Cohen said. “Juan is an extraordinary player, but we still gotta build a roster of 26 players.
“But I still think this is a big step forward.”
