If George were alive...

 

**Please note this post is not meant to criticize the New York Mets or their fans. It's to question the tweet of Steve Cohen and wonder how the late George Steinbrenner would react. I won't be taking questions at this time. Thank you for your consideration.**

So "Uncle" Steve Cohen, owner of the New York Metropolitans (don't call them the "Metsies"...they're sensitive) popped off on Twitter regarding his flailing ballclub.

Look, I said all along that the Mets were a good team and there's no way they should be this bad. They've fallen to one under .500, have lost five in a row, and are 4.5 games behind Atlanta in the NL East.

But, ahem, that's baseball, Suzyn.

Yes, Jacob deGrom has been out for some time. OK and it's devastating to lose him.

But it's not like this team is bogged down with injuries otherwise.

The one thing I'll grant the Mets is that they've been up against the Giants and Dodgers recently and both teams have well over 70 wins as we sit in mid-August. They're quite good.

Still, what's troubling is how lifeless the Mets look (OK, that's criticism of the Mets). That will earn the ire of an invested owner every time. I respect his passion.

So the question many have is: "How would George Steinbrenner react?"

George would have flipped. It's that simple.

Do I think George would have had Twitter? I actually don't. I think he would have continued to go through the media, as he always did. He'd utilize social media that way. Maybe -- perhaps -- you'd see his "missives" through the team account but I think he would have avoided his own account.

Oh, but he'd flip. 

Look, I never loved him ripping the team, most famously Dave Winfield and the "Mr. May" remark. But it was more than Winfield. He went off on many players and managers and the whole team. Remember his apology for the performance in the '81 World Series?

From 1988: "People want to blame guys on the bench, but don't blame them," Steinbrenner told Newsday. "It's the guys making big money that have to produce."

He criticized Derek Jeter. In 2002. Read that sentence again. That was after four World Championships.

It was all embarrassing.

So, do I enjoy what Steve Cohen is doing? Meh. I appreciate the passion. I certainly don't want the "rah rah" that I've seen from Pete Alonzo either. I think there's a difference between, "Hey, we'll lace 'em up tomorrow and try it again then" and "We're fine! Just fine!"

As in this: "It’s frustrating for us, but just understand that we’re here together. We’re all in this together, and we got this. Just smile and just know that we got this.”

Er... "we got this?"

No, Pete, you don't "got this." That means all is well. You want to say you guys are scuffling and you're confident in your teammates? Cool. Do that. A leader does that.

But as for George? I found many of his antics embarrassing. Sure, I wanted the Yankees to win. I loved that the mission was a dogpile every October and anything else was a failure. No, it wasn't enough to make the playoffs or the World Series. It was to win and there was a lot of that, especially after George was pushed a bit to the background.

Remember the days of George's "baseball people?" Sigh...yeah. It took getting those "people" out of the way and leaving it to Stick Michael and Buck Showalter and Bob Watson and, eventually, Brian Cashman to rebuild the culture.

Then came the '94 run that ended with the strike. Then the '95 Wild Card. Then the nirvana of '96.

And five titles until 2009.

But nothing since.

George would be anything but happy.

My guess is social media wouldn't have been his approach personally but the message would have gotten out regardless.

I appreciate Steve Cohen blowing off the steam but, in the long run, in a time of hypersensitive athletes, this wasn't the best approach.

It just created more of an issue.

I'm content to watch from afar with a bucket of popcorn.

(And I'd still put George Steinbrenner in the Hall of Fame)