December 6th, 2019 at 8:16 am 
by Ron Cervenka On Wednesday afternoon, it was being widely reported that there was a power struggle going on between the controlling partners of the New York Mets – the Wilpon family – and their primary money partner Steven Cohen.
As noted in a New York Daily News article by Dennis Young:
The Mets announced Wednesday that hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen will “increase his investment” in the Mets, and that Fred and Jeff Wilpon will run the team through the next five years.
(Photo credit – Seth Wenig)
As Dodger fans know, Cohen attempted to purchase the Dodgers back in 2011. Had he succeeded, it is quite likely that it would be the Dodgers under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission along with the multi-billionaire instead of the Mets. After his unsuccessful bid to purchase the Dodgers outright, he became part-owner of the New York Mets. But despite his enormous wealth – or perhaps because if it – the Wilpon family refused to relinquish their long-running control of the team to Cohen – until now.
…sort of.
As noted in Young’s article:
“The Sterling Partners and Steve Cohen are negotiating an agreement in which Steve Cohen would increase his investment in the New York Mets,” the Mets said. “As part of that agreement, Fred Wilpon will remain in the role of the Control Person and CEO for five years and Jeff Wilpon will remain in his role of Chief Operating Officer for the 5 year period as well.”
The less visible benefit for the Dodgers and to every other MLB team not named the Mets is that because of Cohen’s tremendous wealth and had he become their Chief Operating Officer and controlling partner, he very well might have put together the best team that money can buy – MLB luxury tax be damned. Instead, since 2011, the Mets have finished above third place in the NL East Division only three times and made it to the World Series only once, losing to the Kansas City Royals in five games in 2015.
The irony is that regardless of his current issues with the SEC, in the eyes of Mets fans around the world, Cohen cannot become the controlling partner of the Mets soon enough.
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
According to MLB Rumors, the Mets have lost $60MM-plus in each of the past two seasons. That puts them “at the limit of debt allowed by Major League Baseball rules. According to Spotrac the Mets 2019 luxury tax payroll was $193M.
So the Wilpon family has been spending, albeit maybe not wisely, like the $29M they paid Cespedes last season. It’s tough to buy a championship. So I’m not to worried about Cohen taking over. MLB is a billionaires game already.