Does MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred blame Steve Cohen for ruining competitive balance? Latest comments provide insight

Do MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and Mets owner Steve Cohen have issues with each other?

The owner with the loosest wallet redefined spending in free agency this offseason when he signed Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Diaz, Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga and others to major contracts.

He also nearly landed Carlos Correa on top of all of them, so he was not worried about the spending restrictions in place.

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Do MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and Steve Cohen disagree on spending?

Is MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred mad at Steve Cohen for this? It doesn't appear so, but Manfred did admit that there's an issue with balance in baseball.

Manfred said via The New York Post:

“What Steve spent in the offseason was completely consistent with all of our rules. He perfectly had every right to spend those dollars."

He went on to say that it did have negative effects:

“The downside is spending at that level, particularly at a level that kind of steps away from everybody else, emphasizes a problem that baseball, since I started in 1987, has grappled with. And that is the disparity in the revenues that are generated in our markets produces a challenge in terms of competitive balance.”

Rob Manfred gave Steve Cohen credit for wanting to win, something other owners might not or aren't as willing to go after it as the Mets are.

Does MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred blame Steve Cohen?

The Mets have a projected MLB record of $375 million in payroll this season. It shatters the previous record - Cohen's 2022 Mets who spent $298 million in one season on their stars.