What Mets owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon can do to make up for this offseason

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Mets COO Jeff Wilpon attends batting practice prior to a game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field on April 21, 2015 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Mets COO Jeff Wilpon attends batting practice prior to a game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field on April 21, 2015 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images)
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NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 13: New York Mets COO Jeff Wilpon speaks to the media prior to a game against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on September 13, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. The Mets defeated the Marlins 4-3. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Scale back Jeff’s Influence

The best-run teams are the ones where ownership does not grab headlines. Unfortunately, Jeff Wilpon, despite not making many public appearances in recent years, has made enough headlines with his actions than with his words.

Criticisms of the way the organization has been run since the Wilpons took over have largely been placed on Jeff Wilpon. In fact, critics and baseball insiders have said he was the most meddlesome executive in baseball, short of former Marlins president David Samson.

His detractors have said that Wilpon runs the team like he is the general manager, that everyone responsible for baseball operations is strictly there to take the heat off of him. With the public perception that Wilpon is an outsider who thinks he is a great baseball mind despite his very limited experience and lack of expertise, it’s no wonder his siblings and relatives want nothing to do with him and want the team sold.

Obviously, as chief operating officer, he is in charge of the daily operations of the team, but his father and his uncle are the Chief Executive Officer and President of the team. As we saw, the deal to sell the team to Steve Cohen fell apart over Jeff Wilpon’s inability to understand the concept of relinquishing ownership, and as a result, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz have to be embarrassed by his actions.

Jeff may be an adult, but the truth of the matter is that he bleeds into areas of the team’s operations that he really should not, and if all it takes is for Fred and Saul to establish boundaries that limit Jeff’s meddlesomeness, at least until the anticipated sale of the team does go through, then fans will greatly appreciate the move.

Considering Jeff was able to purchase an eSports team in the Overwatch League in 2017, and considering how surprisingly successful the New York Excelsior has been under his watch, it’s hard to believe that he can’t keep busy and stay meddlesome if his father and uncle were to hypothetically scale back his role with the team.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel for long-suffering Mets fans though. The Wilpons are planning on selling the team, and it would seem like the day a sale is finally announced will come sooner than fans think.

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Until then, fans can hope and dream that in their swan song, the Wilpons will do the right thing, and run the Mets in a dignified manner.

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