‘Mad Dog’ Russo Slams NY Mets Owner Steve Cohen For Spending $806 Million On Free Agents: ‘This Is Getting To Be Stupid!’
ESPN’s Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo bashed New York Mets owner Steve Cohen after Cohen spent more than $800 million on free agents this winter.
The San Francisco Giants rescinded their offer to free agent shortstop Carlos Correa on Tuesday after his physical. The Mets stepped in early Wednesday morning and reportedly agreed to a 12-year, $315 million contract with Correa.
Correa became the ninth free agent to sign with the Mets this winter and brought the total guaranteed money that Cohen would pay the nine players to $806.1 million. The Mets have a projected payroll of $377 million for the 2023 season.
It is $144 million over Major League Baseball’s luxury tax threshold. According to ESPN’s baseball insider Jeff Passan, Cohen will have to pay around $111 million for exceeding the luxury tax threshold of $233 million.
Cohen owns Point72 Asset Management, a hedge fund company. According to Forbes, he has a net worth of $17.5 billion.
Russo, a big Giants fan, had enough of Cohen’s spending spree and bashed the Mets owner for using his oversized wallet to make his team better.
On Wednesday’s First Take, Russo used his regular “What Are You Mad About!” segment to shout at Cohen.
“How about Steve Cohen with the Mets?” Russo began. “How much money do you want to spend, for crying out loud? Why stop here? You’re at 400; go to 800! Spend three billion! Maybe you’ll finally win something!”
Mad Dog referenced Cohen’s Mets fandom as a young boy and how Cohen vowed to become the owner of his favorite team when he got older.
“This is getting to be stupid!” Russo added. “Now, Correa? Who is next, for crying out loud?”
“I mean, this is crazy!” Russo continued. “Enough with spending money! You won 101 last year, and you brought (Edwin) Diaz back, you brought (Brandon) Nimmo back, you made a move to get the kid from Japan (Senga Kodai). Here comes (Justin) Verlander, and now Correa, bad back and all! That is nuts! That contract drove me nuts!”
Watch above via ESPN.
