Mets' Steve Cohen criticizes MLB owners who are irritated by his spending

"I've heard what everyone else has heard: that they're not happy with me," the billionaire told ESPN. 

"I hear things from people who are maybe more neutral — that they're taking a lot of heat from their fans," Cohen said. "I kind of look at that like, you're looking at the wrong person. They're putting it on me."  

"I'm not responsible for how other teams run their clubs," he added. "I'm really not. That's not my job. And there are disparities in baseball. We know that to be true. I'm following the rules. They set the rules down; I'm following them."

After guaranteeing nearly $500 million to free agents this offseason, the Mets will have the highest payroll in the history of baseball this upcoming season, exceeding $468 million, including luxury tax penalties. 

Per ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Mets will pay more in luxury tax penalties than five other teams have committed to their CBT payrolls. If Carlos Correa's deal with the Mets hadn't fallen through, they would've been paying more in taxes than 10 other teams' payrolls would cost.  

The Mets' big spending reflects the stubbornness of other owners more than Cohen's willingness to do whatever it takes to win. Every sports fan dreams that their owner would splurge as Cohen does and many of them could but choose not to. 

Cohen admits he didn't expect to spend as much as he has, but once he realized that if that's the price to field a top-notch team, so be it, "I'm in a position where I make a good income, right? So I can do this." 

While Cohen is willing to spend, he strives to develop his organization's talent to eventually conserve money to make strategic decisions in the future, much like the Dodgers do.  

"I'd love to develop some pitching," said Cohen. "Pitching's really expensive. And I don't know why we can't. Other people can. At some point, we will. The goal is to eventually get our payroll down to something more normalized for a New York team."

Keith Law of The Athletic ranks the Mets' middle-of-the-road farm system as the 15th best among MLB teams' systems. A majority of the current roster's contracts are off the books after the 2024 season. If a few prospects pan out, they'll have plenty of money to work with during that offseason.

With spring training starting next week, Cohen will soon have an opportunity for a closer look at this offseason's additions. Should the Mets fail to win the World Series again, Cohen will likely be in for another winter of high spending and frustrated rival owners.