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Jorge Castillo
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The New York Mets aren’t going to name a team captain anytime soon.
Owner Steve Cohen said Monday he will never name a captain as long as he’s in charge, ceasing speculation that the franchise would one day grant Francisco Lindor the title.
«As long as I’m owning the team, there will never be a team captain,» Cohen said before the Mets’ first full-squad workout of the spring. «That was my decision. My view is the locker room is unique. Let the locker room sort it out year in, year out.»
There have been four official captains in Mets history. Keith Hernandez was first given the designation in 1987. Gary Carter, John Franco and David Wright followed, with the position vacant since Wright retired in 2018.
Lindor was widely considered the next in line for the designation. Wright supported the notion and the organization even published a one-minute video last July chronicling Mets captains ahead of Wright’s retirement ceremony that included Lindor before deleting it.
Cohen, however, said Monday that he has always believed naming a captain was unnecessary since he purchased the Mets in November 2020.
«My view is every year the team’s different and let the team kind of figure it out in the locker room without having the designation,» Cohen said. «Actually, having a captain in baseball doesn’t happen often. It’s actually unusual. So whatever previous ownership did, that was their way of doing things and I look at things differently.»
One other thing Cohen has sought to do differently from previous ownership is win. Upon buying the team, he said he would consider not winning the franchise’s first World Series title since 1986 in three to five years to be «disappointing.»
He now enters his sixth year as owner without a championship, and the closest the Mets have reached the goal is a National League Championship Series appearance in 2024 despite ranking among the top two teams in payroll every season.
«I’m annoyed. I’m absolutely annoyed,» Cohen said. «Every year that goes by, I get frustrated. I’m really committed to this team. And I know how much the fans care. I know we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of 1986 and that’s just too long.
«There’s a lot of great teams out there. No matter what you do it doesn’t mean you’re necessarily going to win the World Series. But I just want to put myself in position every year in the playoffs where we have a chance with a really good team.»
