Alex Rodriguez and hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen are considered the two finalists to purchase the New York Mets. A-Rod and his fiancee Jennifer Lopez would bring the big headlines, but Major League Baseball may prefer Cohen.
MLB is concerned about A-Rod’s group yielding the same early results that Derek Jeter did with the Miami Marlins, according to Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic. A-Rod and J-Lo have put together an impressive group of potential buyers, but they don’t have access to cash like Cohen. That is a concern for team owners and league executives.
As one source described it to Kaplan, MLB is not “too keen on another Jeter/Marlins where they had to scrape their last nickel to pay the purchase price.” The belief is that Cohen would be less likely to slash payroll the way Jeter’s group did in Miami.
“Especially for a major market club that already has such large operating losses. Cohen’s checkbook is even more valuable in a COVID and post-COVID environment,” Kaplan’s MLB source said.
Jeter only contributed a small portion of his own money to the $1 billion purchase of the Marlins. Rodriguez and Lopez plan to invest hundreds of millions of their own money. It remains unclear if that will be enough, and final bids are due on Aug. 31.
Kaplan noted that Cohen’s firm has dealt with multiple discrimination complaints, so some within MLB have concerns about him. Three team owners actually said they will not approve Cohen if he wins the bid. One of Kaplan’s sources wondered if the Mets are only keeping Cohen in the running to drive up the price.
Mets owners Jeff and Fred Wilpon had a deal in place with Cohen earlier this year that went sour. One recent report claimed they dislike Cohen and would prefer to sell to A-Rod.
