The tension is palpable as New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio said he will make an announcement to approve the plans for the Mets sale to hedge-fund manager Steve Cohen in the next few days, according to the New York Post.
Of course the vote to approve Cohen's sale by Major League Baseball's 29 other owners is set to take place on Friday, and it is widely anticipated that Cohen will receive the 22 votes necessary to take over the once fledgling franchise.
According to the Post, DeBlasio is expected to rubber stamp the sale, but has been cagey, leaving many to wonder if the Mayor will attempt to block the sale. According to an amendment in the Citi Field lease agreement from 2006 allows the sitting mayor (in this case DeBlasio) to deny the sale of a team to a "prohibited person" which is defined as a "person convicted in a criminal proceeding for a felony or any crime involving moral turpitude."
Hence we go back to the SAC Capital insider trader scam, where the company plead guilty to criminal insider-trading charges, and agreed to pay $1.8 billion in fines. Cohen, himself, was never convicted or charged with a crime.
If things go well Friday, Cohen gets approval from MLB owners, and DeBlasio permits the sale to go through, then the offseason proceeds for the Mets.
Cohen has said he plans to make former GM Sandy Alderson the President of Baseball Operations, which could mean curtains for current GM Brodie Van Wagenen.
No comments:
Post a Comment