Mets owner Steve Cohen says club won't have a captain as long as he's in charge

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — New York Mets owner Steve Cohen likes the vibe in a revamped clubhouse, and says he'll never have a captain in charge of that scene.

“As long as I’m owning the team, there will never be a team captain,” Cohen said in his first meeting with reporters at spring training Monday. “That was my decision. My view is the locker room is unique. And let the locker room sort it out, year in, year out.”

New York said goodbye to popular slugger Pete Alonso, star closer Edwin Díaz and two other Mets stalwarts before Christmas, but added free agent Bo Bichette and traded for All-Star pitcher Freddy Peralta.

The Mets are going into their third season with manager Carlos Mendoza after they missed the playoffs following a run to the 2024 NL championship series.

“I just was in that locker room and in the meeting and I sense an energy that really is exciting,” Cohen said on the day of the team's first full-squad workout. “These are new faces, fresh faces that I think our fans are really going to enjoy watch playing. It’s different. And I think we’ll play a different type of baseball, and I think that’s great.”

The rival Yankees had Derek Jeter, known simply as the “the captain,” for all 20 of the Hall of Famer's seasons. Becoming an owner in the same city won't sway Cohen, whose view might also keep the Mets from having a tricky choice between two of their biggest stars, Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto.

“Just my own views on how I want a locker room to be,” Cohen said. “My view is every year the team’s different and let the team kind of figure it out in the locker room rather than having a designation. Having a captain in baseball doesn’t happen often. It’s actually unusual.”

The Mets have alternated between making and missing the playoffs during Cohen's tenure. New York made the playoffs in 2022, then missed in 2023 with an underperforming group that led to the unloading of star pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer at the trade deadline.

Disappointment returned last season after the Mets lost in six games to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 NLCS. New York's most recent World Series title came in 1986.

“About not winning? Yeah, I’m annoyed,” Cohen said. “I’m absolutely annoyed. Every year that goes by, I get frustrated. I’m really committed to this team. I know how much the fans care. I know we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of 1986, and that’s just too long.”

Asked about the big-spending Dodgers, Cohen said he had no problem with their approach, while drawing laughter from reporters by saying the billionaire hedge-fund manager could spend big, too.

Cohen also didn't sound opposed to a salary cap, which figures to be the primary point of contention during collective bargaining talks that could jeopardize the 2027 season.

“Obviously, I’m listening to all the arguments,” Cohen said. “But I’ve always been a league-first owner. So I’m listening to all the sides and I haven’t made up my mind yet. We’ll see where it goes. Sometimes I put the league’s interests above my own interests.”

Although the Mets pivoted with the signing of Bichette and the trade for Peralta, they thought they were going to land the biggest prize in free agency before four-time All-Star right fielder Kyle Tucker signed with those free-spending Dodgers.

“I’m competitive,” Cohen said. “When you’re actually making a bid and you decide you want that player, you don’t want to lose, like anything else. And then you get over it, and then you move on. It’s sort of like in my business. I have a bad trading day, all right, I move on to the next day, and then the next day's better.”

The Mets are set to break ground on a player development complex at their spring training home in Port St. Lucie. The 55,000-square-foot facility will include locker space, a training room, therapy pools and a dining facility.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb

FILE - New York Mets owner Steve Cohen waits for the team's baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Aug. 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger, File)

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — He was named after two basketball stars, with his father hoping he would end up following in their footsteps. In a way, he has.

Meet Shaquille Anfernee Murray-Lawrence, a Canadian bobsled push athlete at the Milan Cortina Games. He was born in 1993, and yes, was named after Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, who were teammates with the Orlando Magic and teamed up to win Olympic gold for USA Basketball at the Atlanta Games in 1996.

Murray-Lawrence probably won't be winning gold at these games — he and pilot Taylor Austin were 15th after Monday's first two runs of the two-man event — but he can say that, just like his namesakes, he's now an Olympian.

“Today is very special for me, my country, my friends, family, my whole community," Murray-Lawrence said. "Just being able to give it my all and just represent Canada.”

Murray-Lawrence is not a 7-footer who could dominate the paint like O'Neal. Nor is he a 6-footer with the smooth handles and explosive playmaking of Hardaway. At somewhere around 5-foot-8, the Ontario high school grad decided to pursue football in the United States.

Loads of of letters to college coaches went largely unanswered. He ended up at a junior college in Texas — and then the school closed.

He went to another junior college, and then transferred to UNLV, where despite averaging 7 yards every time he touched the ball, he was apparently most notable for having the “longest name ever at the school,” deemed: “ the hardest fit in Rebel roster history."

The Canadian Football League came calling, however. All the while, Bobsled Canada took notice.

And his winding track through sport now requires a sleigh.

“My father was definitely a Shaq fan, and he hoped one day that I would grow to 7 feet tall and be dunking in basketball," Murray-Lawrence said. "That never happened, but I was blessed with tremendous speed, tremendous heart, tremendous pride, and that’s all I need.”

There have been other athletes named Shaquille in the Olympics before, including a swimmer from Zambia named Shaquille Moosa — who finished the 50-meter event at the 2020 Tokyo Games (held in 2021 because of the pandemic) ranked 56th out of 73 swimmers.

And Greece had a basketball player named Sofoklis Schortsanitis, who went by “Baby Shaq” because of his massive frame and massive personality. Schortsanitis played in the 2008 Beijing Games, scoring 15 points during the tournament with three of those points coming in a loss to the U.S.

Now there's Murray-Lawrence. He heard O'Neal might be coming to the Olympics. He'd love nothing more than to meet him at the bobsled track.

“It’s a powerful name, you know," Murray-Lawrence said. "The name has a great legacy to it and I’m glad I’m able to hold up my end of the bargain. I wasn’t in basketball but, you know, I’ve dominated two sports now — so I think I’m doing pretty good.”

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Former Miami Heat players Shaquille O'Neal, right and Gary Payton smiles during a half time celebration of the 2006 NBA champions Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Canada's Taylor Austin, front, and Shaquille Murray-Lawrence start for a two man bobsled run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Canada's Taylor Austin, front, and Shaquille Murray-Lawrence slide down the track during a two man bobsled run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Canada's Taylor Austin, right, and Shaquille Murray-Lawrence start for a two man bobsled run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)