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It was probably just a matter of timing that New York Mets owner Steve Cohen appeared Wednesday on “The Show” podcast, co-hosted by New York Post baseball columnists Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman.
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When a billionaire says today’s the day to shoot the breeze for almost 45 minutes, that’s the day to shoot the breeze for almost 45 minutes.
But Cohen dropping the news on July 1 – the same day most of the baseball world laughed at the Mets as Bobby Bonilla laughed all the way to the bank before cashing the 16th of his 25 yearly $1.19 million deferment checks -that he’s not firing David Stearns anytime soon is undeniably hilarious.
Because now the Mets might have David Stearns Day to go along with Bobby Bonilla Day.
Steve Cohen’s Vote of Confidence For David Stearns Isn’t Resounding
Most of the headlines from Cohen’s appearance centered around his declaration that he doesn’t plan to fire Stearns, who is signed through the 2028 season.
But the reasoning behind and phrasing of Cohen’s declaration of support, as well as his candid assessment of where the Mets are – a far more candid assessment than anything Stearns has ever uttered – were signs the ice underneath Stearns’ feet may not be sturdy over the little less than two-and-a-half years before the end of the 2028 season.
“I feel really strongly that if we’re going to burn and churn, it’s a terrible place to be,” Cohen said. “And every time you burn and churn, guess what? The next time, nobody wants to come. Is someone going to put their careers in your hands if you’re going to be short-term oriented?”
Given how the Mets have backslid under Stearns – from the National League Championship Series under the team he largely inherited in 2024 to a team on pace to lose 95 games and finish last, both for the first time since 2003 – few would believe firing Stearns was an example of burning and churning.
And even if it was, the idea that the Mets would have a hard time finding another president of baseball operations is funny. There are only 30 of these jobs in the world. Along the same lines, the Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals always find someone eager to run and coach them.
But fine, Cohen doesn’t want to be known as the modern-day George Steinbrenner. And he especially doesn’t want to be known as the modern-day Wilpons, who fancied themselves as baseball experts and wormed their way into every element of baseball operations.
Great meeting with the coaches and executives tonight. We continue to work together as we gear up for #SpringTraining. #LGMpic.twitter.com/upR1mBojUf
— Brodie Van Wagenen (@RocBVW) January 15, 2019
Cohen also doesn’t want to be known as the outlier owner, constantly shuffling executives in a game run by staid, conservative people. Sixteen teams are led by a head baseball executive who has been with the team for at least five seasons.
But Stearns is already Cohen’s fifth head baseball decision-maker, though none of the others moved on as a result of Cohen’s impatience.
Sandy Alderson was always going to be a short-timer while Jared Porter and Zack Scott were dismissed for off-field issues.
Billy Eppler resigned days after Stearns took once Major League Baseball began investigating Eppler for manipulating the injured list during his two seasons as general manager.
Still, perception is perception, and Cohen can’t be blamed if he doesn’t want to look like the ogre many believed him to be upon buying the Mets in 2020. Nevertheless, his public proclamations of patience with Stearns shouldn’t be confused with an endorsement of any part of the job he’s done.
“I have a contact, it’s a five-year contract,” Cohen said of his agreement with Stearns. “And we’re going to live that contract out.”
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Cohen Wonders “What The Hell Happened Here?”
As far as votes of confidence go, “we’re going to live that contract out” falls somewhere along the lines of “we’re staying together for the sake of the kids.”
Cohen may as well have just begun singing “Stuck With You,” which was a No. 1 hit for Huey Lewis & The News 40 summers ago (yeesh, that’s depressing).
Of course, Stearns hasn’t done much to justify anything resembling enthusiasm from Cohen or anyone else. This is how Cohen responded when Sherman asked why the Mets entered Wednesday at 36-50 (they later lost to the Blue Jays, so now they’re 36-51):
“If you asked me at the beginning of the season, I would have never expected this type of performance. I mean, it’s just horrendous. No sugarcoating it. This is not anything close to what I expected. And it’s really disappointing. Wildly disappointing. When you spend this type of money – I know everyone is working hard and we thought we put together a pretty good club. But when it doesn’t work, you have to sit back and go ‘What the hell happened here?'”
None of this is cherry-picked to create an inflammatory quote. This is exactly what Cohen said over 33 seconds – and a glimpse at what he said over the next 30-plus minutes.
Cohen figured the Mets would have retained at least one of the Pete Alonso-Edwin Diaz-Jeff McNeil-Brandon Nimmo quartet. He acknowledged the Mets may have turned over too much of the roster and underestimated the difficulty some newcomers may have adjusting to New York.
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Cohen also said he’s “extremely worried” about the top of the minor league system that has no major league-ready players following the graduation of Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing, though he noted development amongst prospects is rarely linear. He later said he was “concerned” about how the Mets will build the 2027 roster.
So Stearns hasn’t built a good major league team, and there’s no help coming from the minor leagues. At least his boss seems as miserable and mystified as the paying customers watching this.
“It’s so meaningful to them and it’s meaningful to me,” Cohen said, “And I’m sitting there like – it just takes the joy out of a chunk of your life.”
Later, Cohen said he doesn’t mind adversity because it hones his focus.
“And I’m focused now,” Cohen said. “Not that I wasn’t before. But I give a lot of rope and now I’ve got to pull at some rope and try to figure out how to improve things. And that’s what I’m going to do.”
That can’t be good for Stearns, whose runway isn’t as long as the calendar might make it seem even as he lacks the get out of jail free card Cohen pulled last week for Carlos Mendoza.
Cohen called the decision to dismiss Mendoza “…a mercy shot” after it became clear to him and Stearns that they wouldn’t exercise Mendoza’s option for next season.
Cohen has a lot more invested in Stearns than Mendoza, who made $4.5 million for serving as manager the last two-plus seasons – less than half what Stearns makes per season.
But how much time does Stearns have to prove the last two-and-a-half years have been the aberration and not the norm? This season is obviously lost, and it won’t be known until at least next season if any of Stearns’ deadline moves worked out. Except, of course, next season may be lost for the Mets and the entire sport.
Cohen also said he believed any changes to baseball’s financial structure wouldn’t really kick in until 2028, even if the CBA is hammered out in time to save some part of the 2027 season. If Stearns can’t turn this around, and fast, his replacement may have something close to a clean slate whenever he arrives.
David Stearns Day was another miserable day for the Mets. It might have been even worse for Stearns, who now knows the whole world sees Cohen standing over him, demanding he clean up the mess he created – even as Cohen, like the rest of us, wonders if Stearns is up to the task.
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Related: Mets Fired Mendoza – History Says It Won’t Help
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This story was originally published July 3, 2026 at 7:20 AM.