Steve Cohen’s New Edge Is Bringing Hedge Fund Moneyball to Mets (1)

It’s make-or-break time for Steve Cohen’s version of Moneyball.

Since buying the New York Mets two years ago, the hedge fund titan has wasted little time flexing his $12.8 billion fortune, building the most expensive roster in Major League Baseball so quickly that owners and players imposed a new cost — the so-called “Cohen tax” — for big spenders. It’s a far cry from the strategy of Billy Beane, a former Mets first-round draft pick, who popularized sabermetrics some two decades ago by making the most of a tight budget with the Oakland Athletics.

Cohen, 66, is undeterred by such spending constraints — the weakest among ...