Feb 17, 2025; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto (22) catches a football during a spring training workout at Clover Park. Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
MLBRadioBy Sam Neumann on

Tuesday marked the moment WFAN officially ran out of things to talk about. Less than two weeks after the Super Bowl, and with everyone already in spring training mode, Gregg Giannotti went on a hat-related rant that would make Colin Cowherd proud.

While Cowherd’s trademarked backward hat complaints aim to flesh out signal callers and J.J. Redick, for that matter, Giannotti’s more concerned with the actual hats themselves.

And apparently, the Mets’ new spring training hats featuring Mr. Met in sunglasses and an orange hat are just a bridge too far.

To Giannotti, this fashion statement is the ultimate offense, turning Steve Cohen’s team into a “joke again.”

Yes, the Mets — the same franchise that signed Juan Soto to the richest contract in sports history — —are now a laughingstock because they designed a playful, fun spring training hat. According to Giannotti, it somehow saps the excitement of Soto’s arrival. Because, apparently, a quirky hat is enough to overshadow one of the biggest moves in MLB — and Mets — history.

“These hats that they’re wearing — I think they make them look like a rinky-dink team,” he says. “With the Mr. Met and the orange hat. Like, I’m sorry. I love the Mets. I grew up a huge Mets fan… I just don’t want it to look like a cartoon, minor league team.

“When Juan Soto came out as a Yankee in spring training, you were like ‘Oooooh.’ He comes out here; he puts on a Mr. Met with sunglasses and a hat that’s orange. It looks like we’re a joke again. Like, just have the regular hats. I’m sorry.”

Well, first off, it’s spring training.

And second, Giannotti’s take seems to be more of an outlier.

In fact, I’ll be in Port St. Lucie later this week and might pick up one myself.

“This is the thing that we’ve been trying to shake for the longest time, being the little [brother],” Giannotti argued. “You’ve got this player for three-quarters of a billion dollars, and the first day he’s out there, and you’re all excited to see him, and he puts on that silly ass hat. It just feels weird.”

What feels weird is not acknowledging that the Mets used fun, gimmicky marketing like this to fuel one of the most improbable runs in recent baseball memory. They were left for dead, and with a little help from Grimace, OMG, the Playoff Pumpkin and the power of friendship, they ran roughshod over the National League.

They were two games away from their first World Series appearance in nearly a decade. And then they signed Juan Soto.

So, who cares if the hats are a little quirky? The Mets are having fun, and in the process, they’re building a sustainable contender.

And if that means wearing a hat in spring training that features Florida Mr. Met — so be it.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann