DRAMA KING
Met owner Cohen proves he welcomes spotlight
Judging by the hype and hoopla surrounding Steve Cohen’s ownership of the Mets, it wouldn’t have seemed righteous if his negotiation with Francisco Lindor went down smoothly, sans the media drama that accompanied it.
The final countdown to Lindor’s $341 million, 10-year deal morphed into a larger-than-life, high-stakes production. When the credits rolled, Cohen was listed as co-star as well as producer. If he has any Hollywood pals, they had to love it. Any day now, Cohen will announce on Twitter when the movie’s soundtrack will be released.
This is not to suggest Cohen orchestrated a scenario designed to allow the Mets to suck all the media air out of the room as Lindor’s Opening Day negotiating deadline approached, leaving the Yankees gasping for air — and back pages — through their own Thursday opener at the Stadium.
Yet that’s what happened. Cohen would not purposely do that, would he? After all, what self-respecting multi-billionaire would be unusually concerned about bathing in stardust and publicity while schooling the unwashed masses on how he handles his business? For the few who were not paying attention, Cohen didn’t exactly go underground during the process.
If the Mets boss wanted the Lindor negotiations to be buttoned up, conducted on the down-low, why would he once again take to Twitter during the process and, in at least one case, take the media to task.
Last Wednesday, when SNY, the television home of the Mets, tweeted that the two sides were “brainstorming” to find a way to close the “gap that exists in negotiations,” Cohen shot it down, tweeting: “I don’t see a lot of brainstorming going on over here.”
There was leakage about the now famous Lindor/Cohen Saturday dinner, which Cohen, again on Twitter, confirmed saying: “The ravioli wasn’t very good.”
If Cohen didn’t want to take all interested parties inside the process and build suspense, why would he also tweet: “What do (you) think Lindor will accept? I’m going to crowdsource the answer” And if he didn’t want his spin on things to dominate why, as Lindor’s deadline approached, would he decide it was a swell time to do a half-hour one-on-one with Mets RadioHead Wayne Randazzo?
And when reports said Lindor turned down a Mets offer of 10 years at $325 million, Valley of the Stupid Gasbags, who had mostly been leaning toward Cohen, painted a doomsday scenario where Mr. Smile would be demonized by the fans and media if he entered the season without a new deal AND didn’t produce on the field. The same scenario will likely hold true if Lindor, with the mega contract, doesn’t meet those high expectations.
Cohen? Off his performance expectations are high for him too. He’s positioned himself to become the most transparent team owner in New York. Outside of non-baseball issues (i.e., GameStop), nothing has kept him from setting a tone on Twitter or, on occasion, taking to the microphone.
What’s going to happen if he does an inning of shtick in the Mets SNY booth and offers a suggestion to Luis Rojas ? Or starts micro-analyzing games? Or moaning about an umpire’s call? What happens if even under new ownership, something very Metsish happens? What happens then?
That’s easy. Mets: The Reality Show. Produced by Steve Cohen.
DEALIN’ DARLING
Ron Darling must have been doing some heavy snooping.
Tuesday, after reports surfaced Lindor had turned down the Mets offer of 10 years at $325 million, conclusions were drawn that a
GETTY deal would not get done. Darling told SiriusXM’s Christopher (Mad Dog) Russo that it definitely would.
“Yes, a deal will get done. The Mets have to make it work. They want Lindor,” Darling said.
The SNY Mets analyst said “it would’ve been a mess” for the Dodgers if they had not signed Mookie Betts, long-term, prior to the 2020 season.
“And it will be a mess for the Mets if they don’t get Lindor signed,” an adamant Darling said.
As for Doggie, well, he had been predicting Lindor would not cut a deal with the Mets, and was headed for free agency. Woof, woof.
THE LATE SHOW
Turner Sports has often been praised for its hoop’s studio talent (Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley), but not much for its excellent use of valuable time.
TBS late-night postgame shows for the NCAA Tournament are where the action is. The latest example was provided early Wednesday morning after UCLA stunned Michigan 51-49, Tuesday night, to move on to the Final Four. The show was eye-popping. No chance of being mugged by the Sandman.
There was plenty of analysis, interviews and shtick from the postgame crew. Unlike CBS’ NCAA hoops productions, which have to get off the air fast so affiliates can get to local newscasts, TBS can take its time and push the envelope in late-night.
The same long studio postgame shows produce similar results on TNT’s NBA coverage and TBS’ baseball postseason.
YUK RADIO
With ESPN-98.7s “The Michael Kay Show” starting an hour earlier (2 p.m.) it seems reasonable to expect the cast, Kay, Don La Greca, Pete Rosenberg, to come out firing electric opinions — or an angle that’s not already been picked apart by Gasbag Nation.
Yet during Wednesday’s opening, for reasons known only to Kay (and obviously blessed by DLG and Rosenberg) they quickly presented a tale of Big Head delivering a tongue-tied farewell to Mike Greenberg during a morning appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up!”
This was either a Kay exercise in alleged self-deprecating humor, or he, and his compadres, thought it was hilarious radio. All that’s subjective. It didn’t make us laugh. Yet all that is cool. The mystery here is why the crew let this bit go on for nearly an hour? Did they think actually think it was funny enough to invest that kind of time in? They didn’t need to fill time, did they?
Anyway, as long as the powers that be of these stations are set on turning “all-sports radio” into “Daffy’s Chuckle Hut” stuff like this is going to happen. How far will it go?
Well, when the normally sportscentric, rational Marc Malusis (WFAN), on the air, tells cohost Maggie Gray he once considered wearing an adult diaper to a concert so he wouldn’t miss a song, it pretty much tells us a race for the bottom is well underway.
AROUND THE DIAL
After 10 years at WFAN, John Jastremski signed off for the final time Friday night. J.J. is headed for The Ringer Podcast Network. Through his years at FAN Jastremski stayed true to himself. He is all about sports and, unlike many of his colleagues, didn’t destroy the audio blueprint he grew up listening to . ... Commenting on the alleged Kevin Durant-Michael Rapaport “feud,” CBS Sports Radio’s Damon Amendolara asked THE essential question: “Why would K.D. even care about what Michael Rapaport has to say about him?”... Terry Collins offered plenty of energy and insight during an hour-long Thursday edition of SNY’s “Baseball Night in New York.”