We are quickly learning to expect the unexpected with the New York Mets under Steve Cohen.
The Mets owner Cohen revealed to reporters this week that executive Sandy Alderson is no longer the team president and has formally moved into an advisory role. This was the expected plan all along as it was announced in September that Alderson would step down from his position as president. Alderson, who served as Mets GM under previous owner Fred Wilpon, returned to the Mets under Cohen in 2020 and was given a two-year window to serve as their president (per Mets writer Pat Ragazzo).
However, Cohen told reporters something else a bit more unexpected — he said that the Mets might go all season without a president (per Tim Healey of Newsday).
While that strategy is a little unusual, the Mets have already done most of the heavy lifting for the upcoming season. They signed a multitude of free agents, including pitchers Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana, Kodai Senga, and David Robertson. The Mets also re-signed Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Diaz, and Adam Ottavino (though they lost Jacob deGrom to the Texas Rangers and had the Carlos Correa debacle as well).
The Mets tried in vain to hire a new president some time ago but struck out with virtually all of their top targets. So for now, Mets GM Billy Eppler will continue running the show with Cohen himself being highly involved in the day-to-day operations too. On top of that, the Mets just added a prominent former player to their front office.
