Mets Owner Steve Cohen Jabs At Team's Offense On Twitter: 'Hard To Understand How Professional Hitters Can Be This Unproductive'
(CBSNewYork)- The last few weeks have been a difficult watch for New York Mets fans. On July 28, the team was in first place in the N.L. East division with a four-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. They have dropped 14 of 19 games since, fallen to third place and new owner Steve Cohen expressed his frustrations with the offense on Twitter Wednesday morning.
"It's hard to understand how professional hitters can be this unproductive. The best teams have a more disciplined approach. The slugging and OPS numbers don't lie," Cohen tweeted.
The slide has led to the Mets sitting 4.5 games off the pace of the Braves who now sit atop the division. The team's offense has struggled throughout the year ranking 24th in OPS (.693) and 26th in slugging percentage (.380) the two metrics that Cohen pointed to.
In addition, the team has produced the third-fewest runs (450), fifth-fewest homers (125) and are 19th in on-base percentage (.313).
The tweet from Cohen came after a 3-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night in which the team struck out 10 times while recording just one walk. The owner has been a vocal fan of the team for years but now, with his new role in the team, fans responded saying that he should have done more in free agency and at the trade deadline.
Manager Luis Rojas responded Wednesday by saying he knows where the owner is coming from and that "we all have to be held accountable."
With 43 games left in the season, there is still theoretically time for the offense to turn things around. The next eight games don't help matters much however as the Mets have one game left with the Giants before making the trip to Los Angeles for a four-game set with the Dodgers and then returning home for another three game series with the Giants.
