Buried somewhat in his state-of-the-Mets press conference this week was team owner Steve Cohen’s dismay over the organization’s underwhelming track record in recent years of drafting and developing pitchers.
“We haven’t developed any pitching, which is actually pretty shocking,” Cohen said. “We’re certainly capable of doing it. We may not have had the right infrastructure in place [in the past].”
Lack of success on that front spurred the Mets to hit the free-agent market hard last winter, with long-term contracts for Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana totaling more than $185 million.
The previous winter, the Mets gave Max Scherzer a three-year deal worth $130 million. Such is the cost of not developing enough of your own pitching talent.