
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.