May
11
2011

Steve Cohen OUT of Mets Bidding

An article by Ben Yoel

According to the NY Post, Hedge Fund billionaire Steve Cohen is out of the bidding for the minority stake of the Mets.

In recent weeks the common report had Cohen as the front-runner for the minority stake of the team. However concerns over his trading activity have the Mets going in a different direction. Federal probes reveal inaccuracies in Cohen’s personal account at SAC Capital. This comes a little after a week that the Mets ownership had dinner with Cohen to discuss parameters of a possible deal.

The Mets have asked the other bidders who had submitted losing bids to resubmit their bids again. The team hopes to have a minority owner within the next month or so. Originally, Major League Baseball had hoped the Mets would lock up a bidder by the owners meetings. However this is no longer a possibility after the deal with Cohen fell through.

Personally I am glad the Mets are going in a different direction. Obviously there were a lot of attractive feature about Cohen such as his personal wealth (believe to be around 8 billion.) He seemed to be the perfect guy for the Minority Stake of the team since his wealth would possibly allow him to purchase the team in full one day. However the Mets simply cannot take chances on this one. Federal probes into his trading accounts raise major concerns. The last thing this organization needs is to get into bed with another Madoff like situation.

They need stability more then anything when picking the person to be the team’s minority owner. I’m glad to see they are being more cautious this time around.

About the Author: Benjamin Yoel

Graduate of St. John's University. Majored in Sports Management. Torn on where career will take me next. Considering Baseball Operations, Scouting, and Journalism. Writer for Metsmerized Online & StLucieToFlushing.com. Devout #Mets fan.

26 Comments + Add Comment

Hodges14 May 11, 2011 at 2:53 pm

This guy sounded like a creep anyhow. I would still want to see Mark Cuban buy this team above anyone else.
Metstheory22 May 11, 2011 at 4:18 pm

I would want:
Stuart L. Sternberg (born 1959 in Brooklyn, New York) is a Wall Street investor. He is the principal shareholder of the ownership group that owns the Tampa Bay Rays, and has acted as the team’s Managing General Partner since November 2005
Interest in buying the New York MetsIn February 2011 an article in Business Insider speculated that Sternberg may be a potential owner of the New York Mets. Two major factors that support theory is that Sternberg is a Mets season ticket holder and that Sternberg has expressed negative feelings about the Rays due to low fan attendance.
- Metstheory22 May 11, 2011 at 4:19 pm
  
  The above is from Wikipedia
- Donal May 11, 2011 at 4:32 pm
  
  He already owns a team. MLB rules forbid owning stakes in more than 1 team, no matter how small a stake.
  - Metstheory22 May 11, 2011 at 5:25 pm
    
    Yes he does and he can sell team and buy Mets. Boston and Florida ownwers have done it.
    - Donal May 12, 2011 at 9:20 am
      
      Lets not reenact that cluster foul up. Any deal that ends with Loria in possession of a another team to crash is never good.
Donal May 11, 2011 at 4:32 pm

So, anyone know a billionaire who isn’t neck deep in some sort of investigation or controversy?
- ben_yoel May 11, 2011 at 4:43 pm
  
  Mark Cuban…but that isn’t happening
  - Donal May 11, 2011 at 4:55 pm
    
    Nope, Cuban is under SEC scrutiny. At first he had it dismissed, but an appeals court reopened the suit back in September.
    
    And its not like he is without controversy.
- ben_yoel May 11, 2011 at 4:44 pm
  
  Or Bill Gates..then we can officially rename Citi Field “The Apple” or “Apple Stadium”
  - Donal May 11, 2011 at 5:02 pm
    
    Steve Jobs runs Apple, and remember, he was forced out of there a while back for a reason. And Apple is not the squeeky clean fantasy factory it markets itself as.
    
    Besides, Bill Gates has those pesky anti-trust issues in his folder.
    - Vince May 11, 2011 at 5:32 pm
      
      If Bill Gates buys maybe we can have nicknames for the players like Micro Soft for Jason Bay.
      - ben_yoel May 11, 2011 at 6:48 pm
        
        LOL ^^
  - XtreemIcon May 11, 2011 at 5:02 pm
    
    You’re thinking of Steve Jobs. BG owns Microsoft, the bitter, sworn enemy of Apple.
    - ben_yoel May 11, 2011 at 6:48 pm
      
      Yes Idk how I confused the 2 oops.
- XtreemIcon May 11, 2011 at 5:03 pm
  
  The investigation I can do without. But a little controversy is good sometimes. Cuban, Steinbrenner……sometimes the most controversial owners are the best ones.
- Donal May 11, 2011 at 5:18 pm
  
  Perhaps Warren Buffet would qualify, but Berkshire Hathaway seems to be investigated everytime the SEC gets bored.
  - XtreemIcon May 11, 2011 at 5:24 pm
    
    If whoever it was had $150 mil or so every year to spend and gave Sandy and Co. full autonomy, I couldn’t care less who it was. Those are the only two requirements I would have.
Harry C May 11, 2011 at 5:35 pm

Ah the parrot donutz hole tells us that every rich dude is bad, except of course for the wonderful Wilpon clan. Earning your money the hard way thru ponzi schemes is awesome. Always good to steal from other rich folks and some retirement plans, what the heck, only the head guy goes to jail. Is that wehre you earned your fifty cents donutz hole?
- Even Flow May 11, 2011 at 5:45 pm
  
  Shoo troll, shoo.
Dennis Ribant May 11, 2011 at 6:46 pm

The dude sounds perfect for Fred and the boy.
Sloatsburg Met Fan May 11, 2011 at 9:04 pm

I understand the Steinbrenner love fest but honestly, why is Mark Cuban thought of as a great owner? I know very little about the man but I want someone who wants to win above all else runnig my teams. Like the current Red Sox ownership, these guys came in and made a commitment to winning. Mark Cuban seems to be a fine man and a decent owner that takes good care of his players but he appears to want to be in the limelight more than actually winning. A good owner to me takes care of his players and promotes his franchise but wants to win first! He puts the right people in place and doesn’t worry about a players feathers getting ruffled (a huge problem for he Wilpon’s they seem to be frustrated players sometimes) or doesn’t always listen to the media. Give me Mara (NY Football Giants) type owners and Lou Lamarillo (NJ Devils) type front office.
- ben_yoel May 12, 2011 at 12:27 am
  
  You live in Sloatsburg? What’s your name? I’m from Suffern
  - Sloatsburg Met Fan May 12, 2011 at 12:42 am
    
    Paul Costilla live here now grew up in bergen county
    - ben_yoel May 12, 2011 at 10:13 am
      
      small world
Donal May 12, 2011 at 3:50 pm

Cohen back in, according to CNBC. http://www.cnbc.com/id/42921216

“APPARENTLY, COHEN HAS OFFERED TO BUY A 49 PERCENT STAKE FOR ABOUT 200 MILLION DOLLARS, WHICH IS THE CASH THAT THE WILPONS AND KATZES WERE HOPING TO RAISE, BUT HE DOES WANT SOME BOARD SEATS IN THE METS ORGANIZATION AND HE WANTS SOME SIGNIFICANT SAY OVER HOW THEY DO WHAT THEY DO. HOWEVER, VOTING CONTROL WITHIN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL WOULD REMAIN WITH THE WILPONS WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT THEY HAVE BEEN INSISTENT UPON ALL ALONG, AS WELL AS NOT WANTING TO SELL A MAJORITY STAKE WHICH GIVES YOU SORT OF THE 49 PERCENT NUMBER. ”

Looks like Cohen is just hard balling them right now, realizing he can get better terms from a desperate seller.

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