Steve Cohen Frustrated Yet Excited: Reflections from Day 2 of Mets Camp as Veterans and Prospects Fuel a Team That “Feels Different”
- Mark Rosenman
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
If Day 1 is about handshakes and fresh spikes in the clubhouse, Day 2 is where the tone starts to reveal itself.
And the tone on this morning was set in the dugout.
Steve Cohen met the media for 22 minutes, and if there was one word he kept circling back to, it was “excited.” But don’t confuse that with satisfied.
“I feel like there’s a different energy here this year than last year,” Cohen said. “I don’t know what it is. It just feels really optimistic.”
That optimism lives alongside something else — frustration.
“I’m annoyed. I’m absolutely annoyed,” he said when asked about not winning. “Every year it goes by, I get frustrated… I really want to win.”
He referenced the 40th anniversary of 1986 without hesitation.
“That’s just too long.”
For Cohen, the standard is simple: “Table stakes is making the playoffs. Got to make the playoffs. Missing two years in a row, that’s not good.” From there? “You want to go deep.”
He understands October’s volatility. “These are short series. You can’t control what goes on… anything can happen.” But the mandate is clear: “Keep putting yourself in that position year in, year out… which we haven’t done.”
There was candor about roster turnover.
“These are players I sort of grew up in my ownership with,” he admitted. “From a personal standpoint, it’s tough to say goodbye.”
Even he felt the winter anxiety.
“The worst part was these players left and yet we hadn’t signed or figured out who was going to fill those positions… even I was feeling anxiety.”
Still, he believes patience paid off.
“I feel really good about what we accomplished.”
When I asked him what excites him most about this team, his hedge fund analogy surfaced.
“If I can hire somebody with a really good track record, I’m better off than speculating,” he said. “We’ve brought in veterans who have performed in the highest leverage situations.”
That veteran presence is evident everywhere — particularly in a bullpen with arms like Craig Kimbrel and A. J. Minter.
For Kimbrel, the opportunity is about impact, not nostalgia.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Kimbrel said. “I see the promise here and also the opportunity to come and help a really good team win. I feel like I still have quite a bit in the tank.”
He doesn’t sound like someone thinking about the end.
“I don’t feel like I’m going out,” he said. “That’s why I wouldn’t be here if that was the case. I still have drive.”
On mentoring younger relievers — including Joey Gerber, who grew up watching him — Kimbrel understands the responsibility.
“I had the opportunity to play with my childhood hero,” he said. “I understand the importance of those conversations… A lot of times it’s very simple. It’s just letting guys know that we’re all human beings.”
Turning the page after failure, something he’s mastered, comes from experience.
“You gotta get punched in the face a few times and learn how to get back up,” he said. “Just focus on the task at hand.”
Minter sees the same opportunity.
“It feels like a new team. I mean, it is a new team,” Minter said. “The vibes are off to a great start. You couldn’t ask for a better start to spring training.”
From the dugout, the energy spilled onto the back fields.
Carlos Mendoza spent extended one-on-one time with Bo Bichette at third base. Mark Vientos, Brett Baty and Jorge Polanco took grounders at first. There’s movement everywhere — intentional movement.
Christian Scott threw live BP to a veteran group and, in Mendoza’s words, looked “healthy.”
“It’s all about health,” Mendoza said. “He was up to 95. The cutter is a pitch now that looks really good.”
Scott’s fastball jumped.
“We all saw it today… he blew three fastballs by the hitter there. That’s what makes him who he is.”
On another field, Luis Robert Jr. was launching moon shots during batting practice. Mendoza laughed when asked about his ceiling.
“I don’t know if you heard, but he was hitting bombs out there today.”
When healthy, Mendoza said, “he can do some things that are special.” Now, surrounded by veteran presence, “you’re probably not asking him to carry the load… maybe take something off his shoulder and just concentrate on playing baseball.”
The balance between experience and hunger shows up in stories like Alex Carrillo’s.
Carrillo said of reaching the majors. “It was a dream come true. It was a long journey.”
That journey required transformation — physically and mentally.
“I lifted like a bodybuilder before that, thinking the stronger you are, the harder you’re gonna throw. It’s not true at all,” he said. “We figured out being able to move my body and losing weight was able to help me.”
But the deeper shift came off the field.
“Mental health — I struggled with it and I didn’t realize it,” he admitted. “I was in a low spot… I resorted to alcohol, and that was a problem.”
What changed everything?
“Finding God. Mental clarity. And just wanting to have fun again.”
The person who carried him through it?
“My wife. She’s been at the lows of the lows with me and the highs of the highs.”
Mechanically, things clicked when he found consistency in his release point and began trusting his strike throwing. The velocity followed — 100 mph, then 102 in Venezuela.
“I think it was the atmosphere that got me to 102,” he said with a smile.
Now his focus is commitment.
“We have meetings every morning and what we talk about is commitment. Be committed. Fight for each other,” Carrillo said. “Every single guy in here — I’m willing to go out there and give it everything I got for them.”
A few lockers away, prospect Carson Benge is processing his own moment.
Stationed next to Juan Soto — who publicly praised his talent — Benge is staying grounded.
“It’s definitely pretty cool,” Benge said. “But also being able to stay within myself and not trying to do too much.”
The possibility of Opening Day hasn’t fully sunk in.
“It hasn’t clicked yet,” he admitted. “But I’m sure it will.”
For now, he’s observing.
“It’s pretty cool to see all these guys you grew up watching on TV,” he said. “But also staying where my feet are and just trying to be the best me I can be every day.”
Mendoza’s message to the team earlier in the day was simple: embrace expectations.
“Our goal is to be the last team standing,” he said.
There will be no designated captain. Leadership, both he and Cohen believe, should grow organically.
“You need to have not only one guy but a few guys,” Mendoza said. “That’s what makes teams great.”
Kimbrel echoed the long-view perspective needed over 162 games.
“Understanding that you gotta keep an even pace,” he said. “You can’t rely on one person the entire year.”
Day 2 wasn’t about depth charts.
It was about tone.
An owner who is both frustrated and excited. Veterans who still believe they have more to give. A bullpen blending experience with resilience. Young arms lighting up radar guns. Prospects staying grounded. A clubhouse learning how to fight for each other.
Different voices. Different journeys.
Same expectation.
And as Cohen reminded everyone, every season is unique.
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