Mets owner Steve Cohen 'not going to blow up' over struggles - ESPN

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen said he is «not going to blow up» over his team's poor start to the season and insisted that neither manager Buck Showalter nor general manager Billy Eppler are in danger of being fired.

Cohen, in a wide-ranging interview with the New York Post, admitted he is frustrated with the Mets' struggles and said he thinks the team's biggest problem is its inconsistent pitching staff.

But when asked whether Showalter's or Eppler's jobs were in jeopardy, Cohen said he will remain patient.

«When things get really bad, I'm not going to blow up,» Cohen told the Post, which published the interview before the Mets' victory Saturday over the Pittsburgh Pirates. «I don't think that's the proper response. I don't think it solves anything, other than it gives people a one-day story. But it doesn't really solve anything.

»There's plenty of blame to go around from a performance point of view. So blowing up, I'm not sure it solves anything. It would demonstrate, 'Oh, he really cares. He's one of us.' But the reality is it's not going to solve our problems, and I think in some ways it can be demotivating."

The Mets enter Sunday fourth in the National League East with a 31-34 record, 9 ½ games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves. Saturday's victory in Pittsburgh snapped the Mets' seven-game losing streak, which included a three-game sweep in Atlanta to the rival Braves.

Despite a record payroll estimated at over $340 million, the Mets will be hard-pressed to match their record from 2022, when they went 101-61 in their first season under Showalter and Eppler.

Eppler told the Post on Saturday that he is confident in Showalter, a four-time Manager of the Year who is in his 22nd season as a major league manager.