Steven Cohen Angrily Tweeting About Steven Matz's Agent Not Going to Endear Mets to Other Free Agents
By Liam McKeone
Late last night, news broke that the St. Louis Cardinals won the Steven Matz free agency sweepstakes and would sign the left-hander to a four-year deal worth $44 million. Matz had a career year in 2021 and cashed in.
The Cardinals faced stiff competition for Matz's services, with eight teams reportedly in on negotiations with the starter. One of those teams was the New York Mets, where Matz started his career back in 2015. Matz spent five seasons with the organization before he was traded in early 2021 following a disastrous 2020 season. His homecoming would have been a nice story, but ultimately the Mets lost out on another free agent.
Owner Steven Cohen, notorious tweeter, was very displeased about the unfolding of events. He angrily sent out a tweet that is presumably about Matz's agent.
I’m not happy this morning . I’ve never seen such unprofessional behavior exhibited by a player’s agent.I guess words and promises don’t matter.
— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) November 24, 2021
This echoes the sentiment of new Mets GM Billy Eppler, who thought the team would get a chance to make a final offer to Matz before he made his final decision.
Mets GM Billy Eppler told Matz’s agent Rob Martin he was upset. Mets thought they’d have a final chance and didn’t get it. Word from Matz camp is he had a late change of heart,
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 24, 2021
It's one thing for the team's GM to let it leak that he was unhappy with the way things unfolded. That's part of the grander game of free agency. It is quite another for the owner to get Mad Online after getting burned.
Like many of Cohen's other tweets, it simply is not a good look for the organization. Sure, the open line of communication is a welcome change after the Wilpons worked in the shadows for decades, but it is hard to imagine any player loving this.
Reading between the lines, it feels like Matz's agent used the threat of a Mets homecoming as leverage to get more money from somebody else. It's part of the business. Even if the agent was a little shadier than everyone would like, nothing changes the fact that the player did not pick the Mets. Cohen tweeting about the unprofessionalism of Matz's agent probably hammers home that he did the right thing by not coming back to New York.
Cohen's Twitter fingers are going to get the Mets into more serious trouble one day.
UPDATE: Cohen went a more traditional route after tweeting and spoke to Joel Sherman to further air his grievances.
1/Just talked to Steve Cohen on the phone. He was angered that the Mets were pursued by Matz and his agent -- not vice versa -- and told the NYM were Matz's first choice, that there was unfinished business with the NYM and he wanted to return.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 24, 2021
2/His quote: “Most relationships I have had with agents have been wonderful. The conversations have been good, they really have been. But here this was different. This was something so over the line.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 24, 2021
3/I can’t imagine what the agent was thinking in the context of how they reached out to us and the reasons they wanted to come back. I have ever had an agent do that before with me.”
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 24, 2021
UPDATE 2: Rob Martin has responded to Cohen via Ken Rosenthal.
Statement from Steven Matz’s agent, Rob Martin. pic.twitter.com/yC4p1FPfaP
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 24, 2021