The New York Mets are still in the process of being transferred from the Wilpon family to incoming owner Steve Cohen, but that hasn't stopped details about the ownership voting process from surfacing. To recap: Cohen needed the approval of 22 of the other 29 owners in order to assume control; he ended up receiving "no" votes from four individuals.
According to SNY's Andy Martino, those four owners who opposed Cohen's ownership were Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago White Sox (who had been previously publicized as being against Cohen's ownership); Arte Moreno of the Los Angeles Angels; Bob Castellini of the Cincinnati Reds; and Ken Kendrick of the Arizona Diamondbacks. None of the four provided an explanation for their votes, either through spokespeople or otherwise.
Martino notes that Cohen's decision to hire Sandy Alderson to front his baseball operations department helped assuage the fears of other owners who were worried he would spend wildly and recklessly, thus making them look bad and/or cheap in the process. Alderson, of course, had previously served as a longtime executive with the Mets, Oakland Athletics, and Major League Baseball itself.
Once the sale is complete, Cohen and Alderson are expected to revamp the baseball operations department, including making a change at general manager. The odds-on favorite within the industry to replace Brodie Van Wagenen is Athletics executive Billy Owens.
Here's what we wrote about Owens recently:
If you read "Moneyball" then you might remember how Michael Lewis introduced Owens by writing that he was "what you'd get if you hammered Shaquille O'Neal with a pile driver until he stood six foot two." That's not a particularly kind way of describing someone, which is too bad because Owens is regarded throughout the league as a quality human being. He's a baseball lifer, too, having racked up the miles as a minor-league player, coach, scout and so on. Within the industry, he's considered one of the favorites for the Mets job if and when it becomes available.
Cohen tweeted on Thursday that he's hopeful the ownership transfer can be finalized on Friday.
