New York Mets fans, he is here. Steve Cohen and the Wilpons made it official. The sale is done and now it’s up to baseball owners to make it official in November and that should be a cinch.
Depending on how this transpires, and there are no skeletons in the closet, Cohen and the Mets will begin business. The agenda is simple. Mets fans want their ownership to spend money and this could top the millions and millions spent by the Steinbrenner regime across town.
Baseball will permit the spending. So will fans at Citi Field, those who say their team have not been spenders under the Wilpon regime. So, perhaps, as time will tell, there could be a baseball spending war in New York that has never been rivaled off the field.
Steve Cohen is a Mets fan. He’s a billionaire and pending a majority of 23 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.
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.
They are itching for J.T. Realmuto, 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.
“Can he hire the talented people and to turn this franchise around because most fans think it is all about spending money,” said an insider who has been a part of ownership and GM changes with three teams.
He said, “It’s about spending money for the right fit to complete the puzzle for your ball club.”
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 contacted. “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.”
Time will tell. It starts at the top and money does talk. Steve Cohen has the money but will he deliver?
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Photo: Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire