Mets owner Steve Cohen made waves at spring training on Monday when he declared that the team will never name a captain while he's the owner.
"As long as I'm owning the team, there will never be a team captain," Cohen said. "That was my decision. My view is, the locker room is unique and let the locker room sort it out, year-in, year-out. There will never be a captain. I've felt that way all along."
There was a belief last season thatFrancisco Lindor would eventually be named team captain -- a possibility that was discussed by both Lindor and manager Carlos Mendoza in 2025.
Speaking on Thursday, Lindor weighed in on Cohen's decision.
"I respect it," Lindor told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. "This is definitely a Steve, front office type decision. I respect it. At the end of the day … being named captain or not, I’m still going to act the same. This is not something that’s going to make me somebody different. So I respect it. I’m glad he put everything to bed, so that way we can stop talking about this. And move on."
Lindor added:
"It’s not where they want to go. I respect it, I understand it and I’m on board.
"It’s just one of those where it’s like, I’m going to focus on baseball. I feel like we’ve got leaders [without] captains and all that stuff. The clubhouse is the clubhouse. Let’s just play baseball, and let’s focus on winning."
Before their recent offseason overhaul, the Mets' clubhouse had a handful of position players who had been there for a significant period of time.
That included Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso.
Nimmo, who debuted in 2016 and was a mainstay in Queens for 10 seasons, was traded to the Rangers this offseason for Marcus Semien.
Alonso, who debuted in 2019 and became the team's all-time home run leader last season, left as a free agent to sign a five-year deal with the Orioles.
The risk is real when it comes to other players being miffed by one guy being named captain -- whoever that captain is. It's also a figurehead kind of title, so it's hard to argue with Cohen's reasoning behind not naming anyone while allowing the clubhouse to function as a unit.
In addition to Lindor, the big names in New York's clubhouse in 2026 will include the returning Juan Soto as well as newcomers Semien, Bo Bichette, and Jorge Polanco.
Since the team's inception in 1962, the Mets have had just four captains.
Keith Hernandez was named captain in 1987, becoming the first one in team history.
In 1988, Gary Carter was named a co-captain and shared the title with Hernandez.
Both Hernandez and Carter left the Mets after 1989, and the next captain was John Franco, who served in the role from 2001 to 2004.
David Wright, the most recent captain, held the role from 2013 to 2018.
There are currently just two team captains in baseball -- Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Salvador Perez of the Royals.