Finally a committee to address baseball's biggest economic issue
Namely, cheap owners being offended that Steve Cohen is spending money on the Mets
Baseball’s other owners looked at Mets owner Steve Cohen’s spending spree this offseason and didn’t like it. They can’t do anything about it, of course, since everything he did was within the rules, but they all agree it’s time to start talking about it. And so we have a new economic reform committee, and by “we” I mean the owners, and by “economic reform committee” I mean a plan to create new rules that will mean no one can ever spend like Steve Cohen again.
Okay, it’s possible that that’s only, like, 97% accurate. I shouldn’t act like MLB’s new committee is entirely about Steve Cohen. I mean, we’re going to get into how it’s almost entirely about Steve Cohen in a little bit, but he’s not the only topic of discussion. They also want to start hammering out a salary cap proposal for the next collective bargaining agreement in 2026, and they want to discuss the economic fallout of the likely bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group, which owns Bally Sports, whose TV channels carry 14 MLB teams.
These are important issues because…(trails off, rereads previous paragraph)…the second of those is an important issue because such a huge percentage of each team’s individual revenue is tied up in local TV deals, and if the company on the other side of those deals goes belly-up, then that’ll create some financial havoc, and financial havoc, while it may be a thoroughly mediocre but passable name for a hair metal band, is no good for someone running a business.
So that is a legitimate concern. 100%, no doubt about it. A serious matter for serious business people to hash out. Has to happen. Totally necessary. No complaints.
But it’s not what the committee is for.
The true purpose of the committee is to figure out how to bring Steve Cohen to heel. The Mets’ Opening Day payroll is going to be around $370 million this year. You know who doesn’t like that? Well, every other owner, if we’re being honest. But you know who really, really, ultra doesn’t like it?
The cheapskates. The misers. The rich assholes who love to cry poor. The Pirates. The Reds. The Oakland Fucking A’s.
Steve Cohen is not just throwing a shitload of money at the Mets in order to prove he can have every shiny new toy that won’t have a busted ankle in 5 years. He’s doing it with a purpose. He’s investing in the Mets to show fans that, yes, he’s in this for the long haul and they should care about this team too. He’s investing in the Mets now to get fans excited about the team again, and will wind down those massive free agent contracts if and when the Mets farm system starts producing a constant stream of players. He’s investing to increase future revenue.
This may seem like a child’s definition of investing that you don’t personally need to see, but I can’t make that assumption. After all, multiple literal MLB team owners don’t understand the strategy, so I can’t just assume everyone gets it.
This is the same strategy that the Dodgers used when the Guggenheim group bought the team from Frank McCourt. They made big, splashy deals to get lots of high-priced talent in, built themselves a perennial contender, and when, a few years later, the farm system started spitting out a constant stream of good players like watermelon seeds, they had the blueprint for a team that could be good indefinitely without much additional investment, and great if they shelled out enough money to be close to the luxury tax, which they have done.
It’s a clear, simple strategy, so of course Steve Cohen is going to follow it. But the Dodgers had a stronger core in 2012 than the Mets did in 2020, and a few million dollars doesn’t buy you what it used to, so he’s spent more to make the strategy work.
He’s spent a lot more.
And it’s making a lot of teams look bad.
All that investment that Cohen is doing to make the Mets into a top-flight franchise? That’s investment that is not being done by John Fisher, who owns the A’s, or by John Angelos of the Orioles, or Phil Castellini, total dumbass, of the Reds. They’re slashing payroll to the bone and telling fans, sorry guys, this is the only way.
Well, here’s Steve Cohen proving definitively that that wasn’t the only way. All that pain and annoyance and years of non-competitive baseball that those fans are suffering through? Completely unnecessary. Those teams could try. Nothing forced the A’s to trade Matt Chapman other than their own cheapness. The Orioles made an active choice to not build off their surprising 2022 this offseason. The Reds…I mean, the Reds aren’t fooling anyone.
The reason owners want to bring Steve Cohen to heel is that they don’t want to have to face these facts. The A’s have spent decades being disrespectful to their fans and to the sport. They will make $30 million in revenue sharing this year, which is more than half of their payroll. The only thing forcing them to be them is them. It’s insulting. It’s ridiculous. It’s pathetic.
And if it’s Steve Cohen’s fault that people are noticing, then he’s the one who’s got to be stopped.
Right on, Rudyard. Expose the thieves ruining MLB.