According to multiple reports hedge fund manager Steve Cohen is once again close to becoming majority owner of the New York Mets.
Cohen, whose initial $2.6 billion offer fell through back in February, is said to have won his latest bid after Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez dropped out of the process, leaving Cohen the top bidder. According to reports Mets President and co-owner Saul Katz played a key roll in pushing talks toward Cohen.
It is not clear how the deal will work out this time, as Mets are currently in negotiations with Cohen, but word is Jeff Wilpon, who played a key roll in killing the deal the first time was not part of the negotiations this time.
When Cohen and Wilpon's last met to negotiate, the Wilpon's wanted to remain part of the power structure and refused to give up control of the Mets television network, SNY. Earlier this summer Cohen made a $4 billion offer to buy not only the Mets but the network. It is not known at this time what influence the Wilpon's will maintain once the sale goes through. It is also not known at this time whether or not the Wilpon's will keep SNY or if Cohen will take control of it as well.
There was concern earlier this summer about Cohen's past troubles with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but it was not enough to prevent him from winning the bid to buy the ball club.
The news comes just a day after the Wilpon's and their General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen were engaged in a huge public relations disaster when Van Wagenen was caught on video accusing MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred of forcing the Mets to play a game against the Marlins when the players wanted to sit it out to protest social injustice.
It later turned out that it was Jeff Wilpon, not Manfred, who suggested that the Mets take the field at 7:10, protest, sit for an hour and play ball at 8:10. Wilpon and his father Fred Wilpon went on to blast Van Wagenen in separate press releases where they even spelled Van Wagenen's first name incorrectly.
The spat between the Mets owners and Van Wagenen was the latest disaster in a long line of disasters under the Wilpon's ownership.
While the Mets went to three World Series under the ownership of Fred Wilpon, winning in 1986 when Wilpon was still a co-owner with Nelson Doubleday, the franchise went off the tracks when the elder Wilpon took sole ownership in 2002.
The Wilpon's were known for pinching pennies on players and free agents, ignoring the team's nearly six decade history, making horrible management decisions, such as approving the 3 a.m. firing of Willie Randolph in 2008, and the ridiculous Bobby Bonilla contract that the franchise is still paying for, and episodes of total buffoonery. Remember the Tony Bernazard shirtless fiasco? Or how about Omar Minaya accusing Adam Rubin of trying to steal his job?
Or how about giving the GM job to Van Wagenen, who was a player agent for much of his career, all while passing on more experienced and better equipped candidates.
However, perhaps the most infamous moment in the Wilpon era was their involvement in the Bernie Madoff scam that cost them millions of dollars and put the franchise in financial straits to the point MLB had to step in.
Yeah, it hasn't been great under the Wilpon's leadership, and the end is finally, mercifully coming to a conclusion.
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