Looks Like Steve Cohen’s Deal to Buy Mets is Dead
If the man who is in charge of all of Major League Baseball is to believed, then the deal for Steve Cohen to rescue the Mets is pretty much dead.
“There is not going to be a transaction. My belief is that’s accurate,” commissioner Rob Manfred said at the owners meeting in Orlando on Thursday.
Sounds believable. But then he added something that just does not pass the smell test:
“I can tell you — and it’s based on conversations with the buyer and the seller on an ongoing basis — the assertion that the transaction fell apart because of something that the Wilpons did is completely and utterly unfair.”
Hmm, that doesn’t sound right, does it? It also flies in the face of every other report that says the Wilpons did indeed do something. The New York Times wrote:
The dispute centered on the Wilpon family’s desire to retain control of the team after surrendering majority ownership, as well as on the schedule of payments Cohen would make, according to two of the people.
The New York Post elaborated on that:
Cohen was informed by Fred and Jeff Wilpon that their plan was for Jeff to maintain total operational control of the Mets throughout the pre-agreed-to five-year transition period and then maintain a senior role within the organization even after Cohen took over.
Yeah, that sounds about right. Fred wanted to make sure Jeff had a job after it was all said and done (like he would need it after getting his share of the $2.6 billion). But I guess Jeff has to do something, and according to the quote of the year from a former Mets staffer, “This guy has never done anything in his life other than play a week of minor league baseball and work for his dad. The Mets are his life. He can’t do anything else.”
So a billionaire who was promising to open the vault to make the Mets a winner was thrown away so a poor little rich kid could have a job.
And you wonder why so many people are saying they are done with this team. I can not and will not go that far, but it is indeed getting harder and harder to root for this franchise.