MLB commissioner Rob Manfred spoke on Thursday about the uncertainty surrounding Steve Cohen's bid to purchase a majority stake in the Mets.
"There are kind of two things that are out there," Manfred said, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. "The first is that there is not going to be a transaction. My belief is that's accurate. The second is exactly what happened with respect to the transaction, and I can tell you -- and it's based on conversations with the buyer and the seller on an ongoing basis -- the assertion that the transaction fell apart because of something that the Wilpons did is completely and utterly unfair."
On Thursday evening, MLB Network's Jon Heyman reported that "the deal is dead," while also saying that there is a belief Cohen will now "have trouble ever buying any team."
MLB - non-Mets - sources with knowledge of the Cohen negotiation said it wasn't the five-year transition of power that was at issue, SNY's Andy Martino reported Thursday, saying that part of the transaction was a done deal in writing months ago.
Martino added that there was some thought that Cohen was trying to drive down the price late, and noted that while the deal is pretty much dead right now, stranger things have happened than a revival of negotiations.
A report late Wednesday in the New York Times shed light on the snag the potential deal had hit. It had been reported Tuesday that Cohen was close to walking away from the table.
The Times reported that while the deal hit a snag, the sources they spoke with "cautioned that the deal could still go through."
The Times added: "While the dispute is very real, they said, both sides could also be jockeying to gain leverage in a final deal."
As he concluded his comments on Thursday, Manfred would not definitively say the deal was dead.
"All I can tell you is right now, my belief is there is not going to be a transaction," Manfred added. "My soothsaying isn't great. I don't know what's going to happen. As of right now, it's my belief that the transaction is not going forward."
