Rob Manfred Calls Out Steve Cohen For Spending, Claims It Could Hurt MLB

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred spoke out against New York Mets owner Steve Cohen recently.

Cohen has made waves across the league since taking over in Queens a few years ago, mostly for his seemingly excessive spending.

The 2023 version of the Mets will far and away lead the league in payroll and had the Carlos Correa deal not fallen through, it could have been even higher.

Rival MLB owners have engaged in concerted efforts to stop or slow Cohen, mostly to no avail.

READ: STEVE COHEN RESPONDS TO OTHER MLB OWNERS TRYING TO STOP HIS SPENDING

But now efforts to rein him in have reached an entirely new level, as commissioner Rob Manfred has joined in the criticism.

Manfred appeared on a podcast hosted by Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman and while he acknowledged Cohen had every right to spend as he did, expressed concerns about the resulting impact on “competitive balance.”

“The downside is spending at that level, particularly at a level that kind of steps away from everybody else, emphasizes a problem that baseball, since I started in 1987, has grappled with. And that is the disparity in the revenues that are generated in our markets produces a challenge in terms of competitive balance,” Manfred said.

HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 29: Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. on the field prior to Game Two of the 2022 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies at Minute Maid Park on October 29, 2022 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

Is Manfred Right About Cohen?

Competitive balance refers to the league’s desire to have all of 30 teams achieving relatively equal results.

But in reality, appeals to competitive balance are often designed to protect ownership interests.

Steve Cohen makes the rest of MLB’s owners look bad, plain and simple. Despite cries of poverty, most teams are making huge sums of money. For example, the Seattle Mariners recently posted a profit of $84 million, despite playing in a midsize market.

Revenues are skyrocketing across the league, as are franchise valuations.

Competitive balance is simply code for allowing smaller and midsize market teams to spend less without suffering consequences.

Cohen is exploiting the latest market inefficiency: trying to win.

The Padres have done the same thing in one of the game’s smallest markets, and are favorites to win their division as a result.

Manfred works for all 30 owners, and most of them prioritize pocketing huge profits over putting the best team on the field. So the criticism isn’t too surprising.

Instead of trying to bring Cohen and the Mets down, MLB should be focusing on encouraging other owners to spend more. Competitive balance is great, as long as it comes from owners actually trying to win, not paying as little as possible to lose.