Steve Cohen Says Mets Will Never Name A Captain

There have only been 4 captains in Mets history Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, John Franco, and David Wright. The position has been empty since David Wright vacated it back in 2018, and it seems it will stay empty for the foreseeable future.  Mets Owner Steve Cohen said he will never name a Captain.

"As long as I'm owning the team, there will never be a team captain," Cohen said to the media at Spring Training. "That was my decision. My view is the locker room is unique. Let the locker room sort it out year in, year out."

Many expected Francisco Lindor to eventually get the title. David Wright even posted a short video supporting the idea. Now the position will remain empty, at least officially.

It may be an unusual decision by Mets standards with the team historically having a captain. But a quick look around the league shows that having a team captain is actually the oddity. Only 2 teams currently have a named Team Captain. The Yankees, Aaron Judge, and the Royals, Salvador Perez.

This will be the seventh year for the Mets under Steve Cohen. Since he bought the team, they have consistently had one of the largest payrolls in baseball. Despite that, they have consistently fallen short of his end goal, and only made the playoffs twice.

That plays a big part in why Cohen made so many changes this Winter. The 4 longest-tenured Mets, Edwin Diaz, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, and Brandon Nimmo all ended up on other teams. In their place they added Bo Bichette, Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien, and Luis Robert Jr., on top of trading for All-Star Starter Freddy Peralta.

"I'm annoyed. I'm absolutely annoyed," Cohen said. "Every year that goes by, I get frustrated. I'm really committed to this team. And I know how much the fans care. I know we're celebrating the 40th anniversary of 1986 and that's just too long.