The Mets continue to amaze. The bumbling franchise can’t get out of its way as reports indicate Cohen will pull the plug on the pending sale…
The Mets are doing it again. Yet another embarrassing and franchise wounding episode is underway, and all fans can do is watch a move forward implode before it even gets off the ground.
The joke about the Mets is always to say – you can’t make this stuff up. But it’s never been a joke.
By now, you’ve all read the reports indicating the pending sale of the team by Fred Wilpon to Steve Cohen is on life support.
Shock is the word that first comes to mind. But when the awful truth sinks in, the next thought is a familiar one. We should have known better because the Mets have a license to screw these things up.
Mets Bumbling And Stumbling Saga
Four managers in three years have crossed through the turnstiles at Citi Field. The Mets front office, led by General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen, has loved every one of them – for a while.
How upper management tossed aside two men of excellent character in Terry Collins and Mickey Callaway, only to suffer the indignity of hiring a cheater to replace the latter.
But then, you also know of the euphoria that gripped the City on December 4 when it was announced that the Wilpons were (finally) succumbing to the only thing Mets fans ever cared about.
The Wilpons were ready to sell the Mets. And not only that, but the team was to be sold to a gregarious and flamboyant billionaire named Steve Cohen.
How good was that? Finally, an owner who gave all appearances he was willing to fork over a few bucks to put the Mets back on the baseball map.
Hope, followed by chaos. There are non-disclosure agreements binding both sides, but in New York, there are no secrets.
MLB Probe Is Necessary – Or Else
All reports, including this one in today’s New York Post, point the finger straight at Fred Wilpon for changing the terms of the $12.6 billion deal “late in the negotiations.”
There are no details yet, but we can be sure someone in the horde covering the story will scoop them out, piece by piece until – well, here’s a dream.
The dream says MLB can and should step in to launch yet another investigation to determine how and who caused the train to hit the third rail.
You’ll also recall back in December at the Winter Meetings how MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred indicated that the two sides were “on the right track” to a deal. So, what happened?
Manfred is already on the hook for placing Fred Wilpon in charge of Major League Baseball’s finance committee directly following Wilpon’s involvement in the Madoff Ponzi scheme that cost Wilpon $700 million.
Manfred needs to intervene for the same reason he wants to speed up the game and rid baseball of schemes to cheat – for the good of the game.
Moreover, perhaps Manfred and MLB need a reminder there is a building movement Congress and President Trump to remove MLB’s exemption from the anti-trust laws that are designed to prevent shenanigans of the type Fred Wilpon appears to be attempting.
Fred Wilpon can run, but he can’t hide…
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
