What's behind Mets owner Steve Cohen's record-setting spending

NEW YORK -- Just outside the window of Steve Cohen's office at Citi Field, a crane peeks its neck high into the air, finishing preparations for the installation of the largest video board ever to grace a baseball stadium. Off in the distance sits a 50-acre parking lot that Cohen envisions turning into an entertainment hub, a place people can gather before and after taking in a game with the team he has determined will be the biggest and best and smartest and winningest: the New York Mets.

Two years after buying the Mets for $2.4 billion, Cohen is settling into a number of character types -- some of them willingly, some assigned to him. For Mets fans, he is a godsend, the richest owner in the…