New York Mets owner Steve Cohen. Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Mets owner pens letter to season ticket holders about 2024

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 8/5/23

The 2023 New York Mets have been one of the most disappointing teams in Major League Baseball and officially started looking to the future at the trade deadline when they dealt several veterans — including future Hall of Fame pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander — for prospects.

That has led to the lowering of expectations for next season as the Mets start to clearly pivot to the future.

Owner Steve Cohen still wants Mets fans to know that his team is not completely giving up on the 2024 team, and in a letter to the team's season ticket holders this weekend he promised then a "formidable" team next season.

Said Cohen, via the New York Post:

“We added several key pieces to our team, but things have not turned out how we planned,” Cohen said in the letter. “You are rightfully disappointed and so are we. This is not where we wanted to be in 2023. Our goal is to be a consistent contender.

“The only way to do this in a sustainable way is to build a pipeline of high caliber talent in our farm system that will fuel our major league team for years to come.

…

“We promise you, we will work hard to field a competitive team in 2024."

The Mets entered 2023 with the highest payroll in baseball and had World Series expectations due to that investment and the 101 wins the team had a year ago.

None of it has gone according to plan.

Injuries limited the pitching staff, several key position players saw dramatic declines in their production and nothing seemed to be anywhere near as good as expected. All of that resulted in the trade deadline sell off.

While they did get a solid collection of prospects, it still has to be frustrating for Mets fans to have an owner with more funds than pretty much any other owner in the league and realize that even he wants to look toward the future.

Promising a formidable or competitive team next season could mean a lot of things, and does not necessarily guarantee contending for the playoffs. It could simply mean playing for .500 or just trying to avoid a complete rebuild.

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