Mets owner Steve Cohen stopped by the SNY booth on Saturday to chat with Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling about the eventful return of Pete Alonso to Citi Field, David Stearns adding new people to help him in the front office, the disappointment of the 2026 season, and what the organization needs to do to find more success moving forward.
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What Steven Cohen said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Mets owner Steven Cohen, in a September 20, 2026 SNY booth appearance, praised Carlos Beltran's value in the front office and defended the team's increased celebration of its history, noting nine player numbers have been retired. He reflected on the drama of Pete Alonso's 300th home run and fan reactions, acknowledging the difficulty of saying goodbye to homegrown players. Cohen admitted frustration at missing the playoffs for a second straight year but emphasized the team's young athletic core and developmental progress. He revealed plans to add voices to the front office, not necessarily a GM, to support David Stearns, and said decisions would be announced soon. On managing, he stressed culture and bringing out the best in players. Cohen acknowledged the challenge of winning, citing smart owners with resources, but expressed confidence the team will get there.
Key takeaways
Cohen expects front office additions to support David Stearns within weeks, announced soon.
Cohen said nine player numbers have been retired under his ownership.
Cohen plans to add front office voices, not necessarily a GM, for more talent evaluation perspectives.
Cohen conceded the 2026 season was frustrating as the team missed the playoffs for a second straight year.
Cohen believes the team's young core and player development are reasons for future optimism.
3:39When you talk to David Stearns about what happened this year, are there lessons that have been learned or is that something that you start to do post-mortems when the year's over?
6:15I'm sorry Garry, but has there been any since you took over the ballclub, any point where you have been really, really frustrated?
6:59Are there things about a major league manager that you are looking for that might be different than what you thought a few years ago based on the way the team has performed the last few years?
7:59But how do you deal with everyone who's kind of an expert on roster calculation, all that kind of stuff, how do you deal with all those kind of criticisms?
Fourth inning, Bryce Harper leads off against Christian Scott with the Mets up one nothing. And we are very pleased to be joined in the booth by Mets owner Steve Cohen. Steve, days like today are so much fun when Carlos Beltran goes out there and gets his number retired. I thought he was fantastic.
Carlos is a great guy and he's in our front office and he adds a lot of value to us. And so you know he's a great ballplayer and he's proven to be a real great asset to us.
When you took over, was it a goal of yours to celebrate the Mets history and legacy more than it had been in the past? Is it or is it just evolved that way?
Yeah, I mean I'm just listening to the fans and it felt like there was a real opportunity to kind of celebrate our history. And I felt like we can do a lot more of that. And you know we've done it now, nine player numbers have been retired.
I mean it was just so, it was so, I mean yeah, listen, I mean the fans, they're passionate and when they feel something they're gonna let you know and I'm okay with that. And so you know Pete hits his 300th home run and so the poetic, you know, sort of amazing that it all occurred at the same time. And I'll tell you a little story of sitting there in the bottom of the ninth and Lindor's in the on-deck circle and I'm looking at him and he's looking at me and he's thinking the same thing I'm thinking, like he wants to hit a home run and he hit one but it, you know, ended up being a double. So that would have been a game.
So what were your emotions watching that whole thing proceed with fan reaction and with Pete hitting the home run and all that? How did it make you feel?
You know, I'll say it again. Like it didn't surprise me. I mean I can remember being at the previous Mets event the previous year and the fans were both on Alonzo and listen, I mean it's hard to say goodbye to homegrown players and obviously you know he's well liked and then a great Met and those decisions get made and we know fortunately we got to look forward and look forward to twenty-seven and what we're going to do. But it was weird because we got past the trade deadline and the team was playing well and you got a sense that fans were really getting excited and then he came in and we kind of reverse course for three days. But now I think we're back on track again.
Alex Boehm drives in the tying run with a base hit as Harper comes home. You know Steve, getting buried by that 12-game losing streak and everything can be true. Get off to a slow start. Disappointment came. But now you're at a place now where so many good things are happening especially with the younger players. That's got to give you a lot of...
Listen, I think that's what the fans like. They were playing. We're young. We're playing athletic. You know we've developed a lot of players in a very short period of time. And so that's something you can really look forward to. And so I guess it's true. Two things can be true. A lousy season but still something we look forward to.
When you talk to David Stearns about what happened this year, are there lessons that have been learned or is that something that you start to do post-mortems when the year's over?
I've been working with the front office and you know I've identified some things that we can do better and it's always about, you know, I think they have really good processes up there but I thought there were areas of improvement that we can work on. And that's what you know we've been doing. And that you know we're going to try to, you know, add certain voices into the front office that I think, you know, will be helpful. And I know David supports that. And I'm looking forward to when we make those decisions to announcing.
Cohen, S. (2026, September 20). Mets owner Steve Cohen stops by the SNY booth to talk Pete Alonso, David Stearns & the team's future [Interview transcript]. SNY. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2776102/
MLA
Steven Cohen. "Mets owner Steve Cohen stops by the SNY booth to talk Pete Alonso, David Stearns & the team's future." SNY, 20 Sep. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2776102/.
BibTeX
@misc{cohen2026_2776102,
author = {Steven Cohen},
title = {Mets owner Steve Cohen stops by the SNY booth to talk Pete Alonso, David Stearns \& the team's future},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, SNY. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {sep},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2776102/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
