New York Mets owner Steve Cohen didn’t hold back when talking about his team’s recent woes, calling it a frustrating time for the team, and if things don’t get better decisions will have to be made at the trade deadline.
“It’s been incredibly frustrating,” Cohen said Wednesday afternoon. “I watch every game. I see what’s going on.
“We’re not playing well. I don’t care if we’re 16 and a half, 14 and a half or eight and a half. It’s terrible, OK? that’s not what I expected.”
Heading into Wednesday, the Mets are 36-43, 16.5 games behind Atlanta for first place in the NL East, and 8.5 games out of the wild card, thanks to a dismal June. This month, New York is 7-16, including a seven-game losing streak and winning only three of their last 10 games. The June record is third worst in MLB, ahead of the Colorado Rockies and Kansas City Royals.
“We see a lot of mental errors that what I call unforced errors,” Cohen said. “It’s nobody to blame and it’s really across the whole team.”
‘We’ll see where it goes’
Despite trailing so far for a playoff spot, hope isn’t entirely lost for Cohen. He said he doesn’t want to make any impulsive decisions regarding any jobs, and manager Buck Showalter and general manager Billy Eppler won’t be let go during the season. He believes there’s still time to turn the season around, pointing to Tuesday’s win over Milwaukee. But if things don’t get better, there might be decisions to be made.
“If we don’t get better, we have decisions to make at the trade deadline, and that’s not my preferred end result,” Cohen said. “I’m preparing all contingencies, and we’ll see where it goes.”
“I’m a realist. It’s June 28. The trade deadline is August 1. A little bit more than a month, we got to get going.”
Cohen didn’t specify who, if any players are going to be available to trade, but if that’s the route the team decides to go down, he’s “open to all ideas.”
Who’s to blame for Mets 2023 struggles?
Cohen took responsibility as the owner for this year’s struggles, but said “there’s plenty of blame to go around.”
“We have pretty good talent, but it’s on them. They’re not performing up to the level that they themselves would have expected,” Cohen said.
“We got ourselves in this mess. Now, how are we going to get out?”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New York Mets owner Steve Cohen: Season ‘incredibly frustrating’