By default, Steve Cohen will be the new owner of the Mets. With the news that A-Rod’s team is opting out, MLB braces itself for Alpha Man.
Steve Cohen is Donald Trump raised to the third power. Too rich, too self-loving, and used to getting his way, Cohen is poised to become the owner of one of the professional sports’ most prized possessions – a team in New York City.
With the stunning news that the Alex Rodriguez team has been forced out of the bidding, Cohen emerges as the Last Man Standing in the bidding to purchase the New York Mets.
As expected, the sale of the Mets has nothing to do with competence and everything to do with money. Steve Cohen crushed and maimed all comers in the bidding to the point where J-Lo (Jennifer Lopez) had no choice but to cry, “no mas”.
Releasing a statement on her social media accounts, she states:
“Alex and I are so disappointed!!” was the message posted by Lopez, whose group had planned to submit another offer for the team by Monday. “We worked so hard the past six months with the dream of becoming the first minority couple and the first woman owner to buy her father’s favorite Major League Baseball team with her own hard-earned money. We still haven’t given up!! #NYForever.”
Steve Cohen: The Next Battle
And with that, when major league team owners settle in to cast their votes approving the sale, they will be forced to accept Steve Cohen into their exclusive club.
This, despite severe misgivings regarding past business practices and recent reports of misogyny and discrimination suits on file against Cohen.
Major League Baseball rules state that seventy-five percent of the 30 team owners must vote in favor of the sale to Cohen. Quick math says that’s 22.5 owners, and 23 when rounded up.
Put Steve Cohen in any room across America, and I’ll guarantee there will be at least eight people who will dislike him immediately.
Hand out flyers in the room depicting Cohen’s conviction for insider trading charges in 2013, and who knows how many owners will rebel when they read further that:
His company paid $1.8 billion in penalties” and was required to stop handling investments for outsiders. Cohen “escaped criminal indictment himself despite being the living, breathing heart of S.A.C.
That scenario had already taken place when, in 2011, Steve Cohen was rebuffed in his bid to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers, even though he made the highest, and the investigations had not yet turned into a conviction.
But Guess What – None Of It Matters
But guess what? None of it matters because all the stars have lined up perfectly for Steve Cohen this time. Remember, we’re talking about the Mets and not the Dodgers now.
MLB and its owners recognize the situation the Mets are in – losing $100 million a year under the auspices of Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz.
They also can see the dysfunction within the organization brought on by the pair. If they need a reminder, they can pick up any newspaper today to learn of the latest Mets fiasco and the dastardly reaction to it by Fred and Jeff Wilpon.
Therefore, no one wants to see a mistrial declared, forcing everything back to square one. Steve Cohen is the pill MLB must swallow, and it’s only a matter of business that causes them to do so.
Mets fans can care less. All they see is the glitter and gold falling from Cohen’s pockets and the prospect of free-spending to attract the best talent available in baseball at any given time. Think George Steinbrenner.
Steve Cohen And The Next Chapter
And so, thy will be done, and Steve Cohen will be installed as the new owner of the New York Mets franchise.
MLB will keep a close eye on his doings, and owners will come to realize that given the choice they were handed, they made the best choice for baseball in avoiding an even worse situation if the Rodriguez team had won the bidding.
Had the J-Rod team succeeded, they would have bought the team on an untied shoestring. Their team was tapped out, and that’s what worried MLB and its owners even more than Cohen’s character misgivings.
That fear is erased, and if nothing less, Steve Cohen’s presence means the Mets will at least be financially stable for years and years.
For Cohen, even by default, a win is still a win. He’ll take his lumps in the days leading up to the owners’ vote, and move on from there just as he’s always done in his successful business ventures.
Finally, for the Mets – well – that remains to be seen.
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.
