On separating fandom from ownership
“It’s always fun to be a fan, but the reality is I think the owner is really what matters because there’s a lot of decisions that have to be made and you don’t want to be short-term in your thinking. As a fan, you want to win yesterday. But in trying to win, you also want to create a sustainable winning which means you gotta sorta plan not just this year but multiple years. It may require flexibility in payroll, it may require doing deals or transactions that’s in the interest of the team longer term. That’s what you wrestle with.
“As a fan, they want me to sign everyone tomorrow, but is that a sustainable strategy? Is that going to work over the long-term?”
On honoring Tom Seaver
“We want there to be a celebration of the greatest Met ever. So we’ll do it when we can all congregate back at Citi Field at a ballgame at a date that the family approves of. We’re looking forward to honoring the greatest Met ever."
Cohen added that he isn't sure if Seaver's family would be attending, but they definitely "want a day like this."
On improving resources for the Mets
“I’m going to have to approve a capital expenditure budget. It’s going to be for buying technology, improving back-end databases. I know they’re talking about putting in those pitching cameras that can measure a pitcher’s bio-mechanical — how they pitch, how their arm throws the ball. So there’s a lot of new stuff out there — cameras and technology out there — that people are using. …They’re going to have everything they’re going to need.”
On what he views as a successful Mets season
“That we have a playoff caliber team and that we’ve improved our performance in a significant way this year."
On the first time Cohen thought about wanting to purchase the Mets
“If it’s not for sale, you don’t have to worry about it. Then, all of a sudden it became clear that a transaction was possible. And you have to say, ‘Do I really want to do this? Do I have the time to do this? Can I commit the energy, time?’ I got a business to run, so you go through all the paces to decide whether it’s a good idea or not. Once I decided it was a great idea, then it was like I was all in. Then it was a question of getting it done."
On naming a Met captain for 2021 season
"I kinda view that as a clubhouse decision. Maybe a manger, general manager decision. If we view that there’s a player that we view as a terrific leader that accomplishes what we want to accomplish at the moment, we’d obviously consider it.”
On building out Mets farm system
“Right now our farm system isn’t where — at least the upper levels — isn’t where we want it to be. We don’t have as much depth as we would like in the farm system to support the team. So we have to bridge that gap and that’s the art and I leave that to the baseball people.”
On Mets being involved in the community/NYC as a whole
“We’re highly committed to the Mets Foundation. My wife is going to run it. She does an extraordinary job in my foundation. They’ve been doing this for a long time, so they really know how to make an impact in the communities in ways that are significant and not just superficial.
“I have a lot of faith in Alex. She knows what she’s doing and she loves it. We’ll be in the community in a significant way and it will be noticed.”
On expanding Mets Hall of Fame
“I would like to do that. I think we should be celebrating Mets history. It’s actually a very rich history. ...That’s something that’s on the docket.”
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