Mets fans have been looking for a savior for years and they hope that he has come in the form of Steve Cohen. The billionaire investor recently closed a deal to buy the team from current owner Fred Wilpon. While that deal awaits the approval of three-quarters of Major League Baseball’s owners it has already gotten one important endorsement: Mets fans’ favorite David Wright gave Steve Cohen his thumbs up.
Appearing on local sports radio channel WFAN, the former Met third baseman and seven-time All Star told Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts about Steve Cohen, “Just the passion that he has for the Mets, the knowledge that he has for the game. I think he’s going to be able to build a sustained winner, hopefully for years to come.”
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On the Mets he said, “I really would like to see the organization become a perennial winner and not just setting the sights on an NL East crown every year, but you know, winning the National League, getting the chance to play in the World Series on a consistent basis. That’s something that I’m certainly rooting for.”
David Wright is willing to take on a position with the Mets if Steve Cohen asks, but in only a limited capacity. He said, “I enjoy doing, I think, a little bit of everything, but I don’t think I could do one thing full-time. So hopefully I can continue, kind of, that relationship that I have with the organization, because I miss it. I miss talking baseball. Hopefully I can continue to kind of do that and be around the game, because I just love it so much.”
While still awaiting final approval for his acquisition of the team, Steve Cohen has already announced some new organizational moves. He will intends back former New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson and make him the team’s new president. The news was seen as the beginning of the end for Brodie Van Wagenen’s term as Mets general manager. In only two years on the job Van Wagenen has alienated Mets fans with his player moves.
But the worst case scenario for Mets fans is that Cohen turns out to be another George Steinbrenner, making one bad move after another without letting his people have the autonomy needed to do their jobs.
