Could Steve Cohen’s Twitter rant help the Chicago Cubs?

A big league owner who’s active on Twitter? That sounds super fun! (Let’s just pray Tom Ricketts stays off Twitter for the sake of Chicago Cubs fans’ sanity). Well, you can safely say the experiment in the Big Apple has gone very wrong, with the Mets tumbling down the NL East standings, prompting their new owner, Steve Cohen, to put the team on blast in a very public way.

It’s a bad look for everyone involved. After New York went out and bought at the trade deadline – in the form of Rich Hill, Trevor Williams and two-time All-Star shortstop Javier Baez, they’ve fallen on their faces here in August, going 5-13 and falling five games back in the division in the process.

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The dream middle infield tandem of Francisco Lindor and Baez hasn’t exactly worked out as planned. Lindor’s season-long struggles continue, evidenced by his .228/.326/.376 line and both he and Baez are sidelined on the IL – and aren’t expected to return until the final week of August.

Prior to hitting the shelf with back spasms, Baez hadn’t delivered what the Mets were hoping for when they sent one of their top prospects, outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, to the Windy City at the trade deadline. He made some noise early, but has really struggled, hitting .171/.216/.343 with 14 strikeouts in just 35 ABs.

Clearly, Baez’s lack of plate discipline doesn’t jive well with what the Mets owner wants to see from his team, whose season may very well be lost with the expectation that ace Jacob deGrom will be shut down for the rest of the year. All this leads me to wondering if the bad blood in New York could open the door for El Mago’s return to the Cubs this winter.

Chicago Cubs: Javier Baez could return on a more team-friendly deal

Since he was sent to the Mets at the deadline, it seems like most of us figured Baez would light a spark and the front office would love the idea of Lindor and Baez up the middle for years to come. Now, if the team makes a late-season September push, that could still prove to be the case. But if Baez continues to showcase his signature lack of plate discipline and struggle, it might be enough to dampen interest in his services this winter.

At this point, there’s zero chance he gets the $200 million he was reportedly seeking. Xander Bogaerts’ six-year, $120 million deal looks more and more like the ceiling for what Baez might fetch in free agency given his streaky play and declining defensive skills.

So while the dumpster fire in Queens is looking more and more like a raging inferno, with ownership pouring fuel on the flames, it might allow Jed Hoyer and the Cubs to capitalize and bring back a fan favorite on team-friendly terms.