If Steve Cohen meant to rally the troops with his press conference last month, it didn’t work.
It’s been nearly a month since the Mets’ owner said of the team’s season, “All is not lost yet, but it’s getting late.”
That was on June 28, when Cohen spoke prior to a game and another loss to the Brewers at Citi Field.
And while it may not have been late then, it certainly is now, so what does that mean about the position the Mets are in now, as they barrel toward the Aug. 1 trade deadline?
At the time of Cohen’s press conference, the Mets were seven games under .500 and 8 ½ games out of the last wild-card spot before they went out and lost to the Brewers.
The numbers are no better since then, as the Mets have gone 10-10 after Cohen’s chat and just 4-5 since the All-Star break, leaving them still seven game out of the final wild-card spot entering play Monday.
Most recently, they dropped two of three to the Red Sox in Boston before Monday’s off-day, with a trip to The Bronx for a two-game set against the Yankees in the final edition of this year’s Subway Series beginning Tuesday with Justin Verlander on the mound.
While the Yankees are hardly in good shape in the AL wild-card race, they’re at least playing over .500 and coming off a sweep of lowly Kansas City.
The Mets have been subpar in nearly every facet of the game and their talk of playing with urgency leading up to the deadline hasn’t amounted to improved play.
According to Fangraphs, the Mets have a 14.2 percent chance of reaching the playoffs.
Verlander is among the high-priced veterans whose futures could be impacted by the deadline.
As Cohen said last month, “I’m preparing my management team for all possibilities. If they don’t get better, we have decisions to make at the trade deadline. That’s not my preferred end result. We’re preparing all contingencies.”
Almost nothing has gone according to plan for the Mets this season, from the pairing of Verlander and Max Scherzer at the top of the rotation, to disappointing seasons from Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil, among others.
Now, with a week left before the deadline, Cohen and general manager Billy Eppler are tasked with deciding how to approach the future — and not simply the rest of this season.
There’s also 2024 to consider, since Cohen noted it didn’t make much sense to bring back a veteran-laden team that underperformed and will be another year older.
As far as this season goes, the 46-53 Mets would have to finish 41-22 over their remaining 63 games just to get to the 87 wins that allowed the Phillies to reach the postseason last year.
And as ugly as their record is, it looks even worse considering the 14-7 start they got off to, followed by a 32-46 stretch.
If the Mets do end up selling, Mark Canha and Tommy Pham could go, as well as relievers David Robertson and Brooks Raley.
None of those players have opposing teams salivating at the prospect of adding them, but they could get returns that at least help in rebuilding the depleted farm system that’s among the reasons Cohen felt he needed to put together the highest payroll in MLB history this season.
Cohen was willing to stand pat a month ago, with just a pair of small deals since then, ridding the roster of little-used Eduardo Escobar and adding reliever Trevor Gott.
At the time of his chat with reporters, Cohen used the word “hope” when talking of why the team might right itself.
“They’re veterans,’’ Cohen said then. “They’ve been there before. We’ll see if they can get their act together and string together some wins. We’re hoping for the best.”
Then he added later, “Hope is not a strategy, right?”
We’ll find out their next strategy this week.