With Steve Cohen, baseball is entering a new world of unrestrained ownership wealth. Will it be heaven, or something else?

By now, you all know that Mets owner Steve Cohen has gone batshit loony on spending - unfathomable wealth will do that - and baseball's competitive balance is about to explode, as it did n the 1970s, when a certain fellow named George took over the Yankees.

In recent weeks, Cohen has committed $806 million to nine players, including one or two that might be worth it. For posterity, here's the list:  

Carlos Correa, 12 years, $26 million per year.
David Robertson, 1 year, $10 million.
Brandon Nimmo, 8 years, $20 million.
Jose Quintana, 2 years, $13 million.
Justin Verlander, 2 years, $43 million.
Edwin Diaz, 5 years, $20 million.
Adam Ottavino, 2 years, $7.5 million
Kodai Senga, 5 years, $15 million
Omar Narvaez, 2 years, $7.5 million

So it goes. This is the world we built. We've seen the rise of a multi-billionaire aristocracy with godlike excesses, uncontrolled whims and absolutely no restraints. Musk treats Twitter as a toy. Zuckerman runs Facebook down a VR rabbit hole. Bezos fires rockets, Putin kills thousands, the Saudis dismember their enemies, and Trump is Trump. So what if Cohen flings money at players who don't even have a position. Get used to it. One of these days, earth will spawn its first trillionaire. Let's hope he buys the Yankees. 

Night tremors:

1. Looking at the above list, sorry, but I see no dynasty. Correa's .291 and 22 HRs are great for a SS - good for a 3B. Robertson and Ottavino are past their sell-by dates. Verlander and Scherzer are getting mail from AARP. A Japanese pitcher? What can go wrong? 

Of course, the Mets will make the 2023 playoffs. This is Oprah, folks. You get a car, and you get a car, and you get a car...  Come October, who knows? But the Gammonites are already comparing this year's Mets to the 2004 Yankee dream team - when A-Rod arrived and moved to 3B - as if that is a ray of hope. 

The Yanks went five years before winning a world series, and in the meantime, they suffered the most humiliating collapse in sports history.  

If Cohen follows the path of George Steinbrenner - as he seems bent to do - 2023 could be a Bobby Bonilla-level shit show, with the tabloids constantly carping about underperforming stars. We've seen it. History is dirty, but it practices recycling. 

2. Whatever happens this year, Cohen will never stop. If the Mets crumble in July, he will go for broke at the Aug. 1 deadline. If the Mets fail in October, he will double-down next winter. That could mean Ohtani. Eventually, Cohen will buy himself a championship, and then- if we live long enough - we'll see how it sits with him, when he learns, as Bukowski told us, that money is piss and the sparrow is immortal.  

For the next few years, the Yankees will play second fiddle in New York. Our era of dominating the back pages will end. But we could still get lucky. Look at the Jersey Giants.

3. I keep waiting and wondering... where is Boston? Strange -the Redsocks' apparent willingness to be dominated by - gulp - San Diego? (I realize that the city lost its beloved NFL franchise, so its fathers desperately have rallied behind the Padres.) Still, I keep waiting for Boston to rear up and buy somebody, anybody. (They did get the Japanese outfielder, so there's that.) But on almost every top free agent this winter, we heard whispers that Boston might jump in. Never happened. 

How do they let Bogaerts go, two years after trading Mookie? 

Did their owner suddenly become poor? Or in this new world of egos, did their billionaire simply get bored? 

That's the trouble, Met fans. Take my word: The team that lives by the whim, dies by it, too.