It’s safe to say Steve Cohen has completely changed baseball’s economic landscape since he purchased the New York Mets in late 2020. In the two years since, the hedge fund manager has spent over $1 billion on players. Following his most recent shock signing of Carlos Correa on Wednesday, theScore MLB editors Michael Bradburn and Tom Ruminski debate whether Cohen’s spending spree is good or bad for Major League Baseball.
The case for Cohen, arguably the best owner in any sport
The ire pointed towards Cohen for doing everything in his power – and within the rules of the collective bargaining agreement – to sign every possible player is misplaced. Sure, Cohen is the richest owner in North American sports history, worth an estimated $17.4 billion, and that’s difficult to contend with. But do you know who else can afford to field a team with an estimated $384-million payroll (plus $111 million in projected luxury tax payments)? Every single other owner in MLB.
Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting has never fielded an Opening Day roster worth more than $100 million. Even further, the Pirates – who are openly capitulating at this point – seem poised to field a 26-man roster with a payroll of less than $60 million. That’s roughly 16% of the Mets’ 26-man roster salaries, which currently sit at $366 million. Nutting, the newspaper magnate, is worth upwards of $1.1 billion.
The Cleveland Guardians, run by the Dolan family, have recently exceeded $100 million on the Opening Day roster (from 2017-19). But, now, they opt to field competitive teams with a lower 40-man payroll than three of their division rivals ($120 million). At $89.4 million projected for their 26-man roster, the Guardians rank 23rd in MLB and will push for another postseason spot this summer. The Dolans are the third-richest owners in baseball, behind only Cohen and the conglomerate that owns the Atlanta Braves, worth an estimated $5.5 billion.
It’s the Guardians’ prerogative to spend wisely, be probably too cautious with long-term investments in players, and hope for some October luck. But when Cohen aggressively invests in hopes of ending a championship drought that dates back to 1986, fans of other teams cry for a salary cap? No. Start holding your own owners accountable. Cohen is treating the Mets like a vanity project, and bringing a World Series to Flushing is the only reason he bought the team. Shouldn’t that be how we want all owners to act? Baseball teams are a business, sure, but unlike any other. There are no real shareholders and you do not have to post earnings every quarter to keep a board happy. You just have to win. And that’s all Cohen wants.
In any case, buying a championship simply doesn’t exist. The Los Angeles Dodgers spent the entirety of the 2010s attempting to do so and came up empty until the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. From 2014-22, the Dodgers had MLB’s highest payroll seven times. Cohen can throw his cash at anyone he wants to make his team the favorite, but the Commissioner’s Trophy isn’t coming to Queens until a Mets pitcher records the final out of the World Series.
And it wasn’t only the Dodgers who needed a rival with deep pockets to swoop in and act like what they’ve been doing is amateur hour. The New York Yankees also did. It’s been too long since a team in the Empire State acted like money was no object, and it was getting kind of annoying watching the Yankees not even bothering to run up the bill. Now, Cohen wants to come in and make the Mets the marquee team in New York. Hal Steinbrenner can’t possibly allow that, and it’s possible their efforts to re-sign Aaron Judge would have been too restrained to work if Cohen’s Mets weren’t writing blank checks to everyone. Do the Yankees pursue Carlos Rodon if the Mets don’t add Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga while also retaining Edwin Diaz and Brandon Nimmo on lucrative deals?
Limiting team spending does not create parity. The NHL has a hard cap and the Tampa Bay Lightning almost completed a three-peat. The NBA has somewhat of a hard cap as well, but we don’t see the Oklahoma City Thunder gaining any relevance. The hard cap has made player movement in trades almost impossible. Rich clubs should be able to put their money back into the team, not line the pockets of the owners.
When someone tells you that sports need fewer Cohens, laugh in their faces. Major League Baseball would thrive if all 30 owners acted the way Cohen does; he’s the best thing this sport has had in decades. What we need are fewer Dolans and Nuttings. – Bradburn
The case against Cohen, who will make baseball worse in the long run
Who’s ready for a hard cap?
That’s exactly what the majority of the owners will want after the current CBA expires in December 2026, and the ensuing battle with the MLBPA will likely threaten the entire 2027 campaign.
It’s hard to imagine the players ever agreeing to a hard cap with free-agent contracts and extensions ballooning to historically high levels. However, Cohen’s blatant disregard for the luxury-tax system isn’t good news for owners of small-to-mid-market clubs trying to keep up with the big boys, and that doesn’t bode well for the overall compete level throughout MLB . Even other big-market teams will have issues if there’s a monopoly on talent, which is just bad for business.
The “soft cap” clearly isn’t working. The luxury tax for Cohen is more than the payroll of 10 major-league teams. The whole idea behind the tax is to deter big-market clubs from overspending by making them think twice about blowing by the different tiers and ultimately punishing them for not playing by loosey-goosey “rules.” We all know teams with the lowest payrolls will get some money from the Mets. But who cares? It’s like a monarch giving a couple extra shekels to lesser dukes. Cohen has absolute power and there’s nothing stopping him from getting almost any player he wants.
So, who’s next? Shohei Ohtani in 2023 comes to mind. If the luxury tax means nothing to Cohen, he can just dish out a 10-year, $500-million pact to the generational two-way superstar without hesitation. And what about after that? Juan Soto is set to be the crown jewel of free agency in two years. Might as well get his Mets jersey ready because the richest owner in MLB isn’t going to let him go to another team since there’s nothing in place to stop it from happening.
The argument that all MLB owners can do the exact same isn’t really true. How can a team owner worth a few billion shell out the same dough as Cohen if he’s worth $17.4 billion? It’s like saying someone making $40,000 per year can experience the same luxuries as a person earning $320,000.
Yes, they can do the same things like go to a fancy restaurant or on a lavish vacation, but it’ll happen much less frequently for the former. It’s all relative. The clubs with lower payrolls have to be selective in what players they want to sign or extend, which will likely become even more difficult with free agency looking like a golden ticket. Small-to-mid-market teams will just be farm systems for giants like Cohen and a few others who will likely follow suit to keep up.
For those who believe this is good for baseball, enjoy watching your favorite homegrown stars inevitably bolt to the Mets, Dodgers, or Yankees. – Romanian