Once upon a time, Alex Rodriguez was in a heated bid against Steve Cohen to buy the New York Mets. Along with his ex-fiancee Jennifer Lopez, the two had a good chance to buy the franchise. A-Rod was a fearsome presence on the field and retirement from baseball didn’t mean he gave it up entirely. But of course, as we now know, the former couple ended up losing the bid.
Steve Cohen was reportedly favored more by the Wilpon/Katz family. And while A-Rod and J-Lo expressed dissatisfaction with the same at the time, there doesn’t seem to be any blood between them now. In their bid, the ex-couple made bold statements regarding their plan for the team if they got the ownership. One such promise was that they would lead the Mets to a World Series championship in the next decade or less. And apparently, A-Rod still stands by it.
Alex Rodriguez predicts World Series win for the Mets… but not the Yankees
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Being a former member of the Bronx Bombers, one would expect A-Rod’s unconditional support for his former team. But in a recent talk with Michael Kay of YES Network, that was not the case. The two were discussing Edwin Diaz and his recent injury during the World Baseball Classic celebration on Kay’s podcast.
When Kay asked if Rodriguez thought the Mets could recover from this, he said, “I think they can overcome it because I think they have the best owner in the game and the best manager in the game.” The former shortstop went on to say, “A combination of resources and Buck Showalter’s brainpower… my prediction…is…that they’ll win 2 championships in 7 years…When you have the resources like Cohen and you have the intelligence and the grittiness of Buck Showalter, he’s always going to find a way to win. So I bet big, big on the Mets.”
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A-Rod may not be running the front office for the team as he wanted, but he still backs the Mets. Even at the cost of upsetting the Yankees fans.
Rodriguez had big plans for his Mets’ ownership
On another podcast appearance a few years ago, A-Rod talked about the failed deal and his own scheme for the Mets’ future. Talking to Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman on The New York Post’s baseball podcast: The Show, he said, “It’s good to know that (Cohen and I) had a lot of similar thoughts in thinking about analytics and leadership.”
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He added, “Buck Showalter was gonna be my guy. David Cone would’ve been my pitching coach. I would’ve definitely had Al Leiter involved.” And Rodriguez has no regrets about his Mets pursuit. When baseball failed, the former Yankee teamed up with businessman Marc Lore to obtain part ownership of the NBA team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. And this time, his bid turned out to be a successful one.