Photo: NY Times
Steve Cohen is a Mets fan. He’s a billionaire and pending a majority of 29 other owners, has ownership of the team. That last hurdle of approval should come in November when MLB owners meet.
A perfect time in November to take over. First, though, a process of building the billion dollar Steve Cohen Empire in Flushing. The expected approval is a matter of dollars and cents and MLB will look at this transaction as a financial gain for baseball.
You spend $2.4 billion, a record sale for a North American professional sports team, and MLB will say thank you. This is all about revenue and more the better for MLB.
Mets fans got their wish and the Wilpons, with 5 percent of the team, will no longer be a nightmare. Cohen, the lifelong Mets fan, has the money to spend.
However, months before this is all signed, sealed and delivered, will Steve Cohen, the 64-year old hedge funder, become the prominent owner? Will the baseball operations and all that money deliver?
Deliver, and not an evil empire. Mets fans want their owner to spend the money, and deliver the missing links via free agency and trades. They have not seen a World Series championship since 1986 and are tired of the mediocrity.
Mets fans are tired of being teased and playing second fiddle to the cross-town and so-called Evil Empire in the Bronx.
Some that know Cohen, and many in his financial loop, said today that the Mets will be in good hands. They said, he is a lifelong Mets fan. That passion led to Cohen’s continued pursuit after that first attempt to purchase the Mets went out the window.
So, here we are. The Mets should have their new ownership in place and it should be, as expected, an interesting offseason. Different with a global pandemic and baseball at a very uncertain juncture when it comes to teams spending after a 2020 season of financial losses.
Mets fans are itching for J.T. Realmuto and valuable pitching. They swamped social media Monday, said goodbye to the Wilpons. They asked Cohen to spend and give them a winner.
But, Steve Cohen the big spender has to do it wisely. And it begins at the top.
Said a baseball insider, and one who has been around ownership and front office changes, “Can he hire the talented people and to turn this franchise around? Most fans think it is all about spending money. It’s about spending money for the right fit to complete the puzzle for your ball club.”
He has seen GM’s come and go along with personnel when changes at the top are in place with the Orioles, Rangers and Braves.
First step, he said, is getting a real baseball official to run the ship. Time will tell if this means lame duck status for GM Brodie Van Wagenen and front office personnel.
Time will tell about the manager Luis Rojas.
Doc Gooden was an instrumental piece of the Mets 1986 championship. The Wilpons, he said, did their best to put a winning team on the field and thanked them for his opportunity.
“They were good to me,” Gooden said when reached by MMO. “It’s going to be weird not seeing them around.”
Gooden said what is obvious. Steve Cohen will need to be surrounded by the proper baseball people. He cited the Yankees as an example and how the Steinbrenner regime spent money.
“Everything starts at the top, be surrounded by good baseball people as we know,” Gooden said. “Look at the Yankees. Steinbrenner spent. They won surrounded by great baseball people and built from there.”
Surround and hire the proper personnel.That is what Steve Cohen has to do. The early consensus, he will be a viable and welcome addition to New York.
Then again, time will tell. Because in the end it’s about Mets fans and their wish to have a competitive and winning team on the field.
