Mets owner shares philosophy on spending to win

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen appeared on Wednesday's edition of the CNBC "Squawk Box" program and hinted he's still willing to spend a small fortune in free agency following the club's relatively quiet offseason.

"I don't care about the cost side," Cohen explained, according to Danny Abriano of SNY. "That's why I bought the team. I said in my original press conference if I can make millions of people happy, how cool is that? I actually view it as a civic responsibility."

Cohen assumed ownership of the Mets in the fall of 2020 and famously said at that time he would consider it "slightly disappointing" if the club didn't win a World Series "in the next three to five years." 

While he gave multiple stars big-money contracts en route to the 2023 Mets being responsible for baseball's highest payroll, the club hasn't yet notched a playoff series victory under his watch.

"Nobody wants to lose money forever and spend money and not have success," Cohen said on Wednesday. "To me, I deem success as not only getting in the playoffs and winning the World Series. It's also developing a deep farm system that creates talent over the years -- over and over again."

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns focused largely on depth-related moves after Cohen struck out in his pursuits of two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani and Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto following last season. 

The Amazins then opened the ongoing campaign with four straight losses, and it's feared the Mets could be without starting pitcher Kodai Senga until at least mid-June as he works to recover from a moderate capsule strain in the back of his right shoulder.

"Nobody wants to start 0-4, but it's early," Cohen said about the club's spring. "During the season you're gonna have losing streaks. We just happened to have one at the beginning."

Cohen added during Wednesday's segment that what the Mets want to do "is develop talent" because building through free agency is difficult due to clubs "fighting the aging curve." 

That's all well and good, but fans will expect Cohen to pay All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso sooner rather than later and to pursue New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto assuming Soto reaches free agency this fall.