Under The Knife 7/29/24
It Was Holding You
News came out last week that Steve Cohen, owner of the Mets, had purchased 5.5 percent of Sphere Entertainment, a holding of Charles Dolan, the owner of the New York Knicks. The Sphere has been a raging success in Las Vegas, becoming an instant landmark in a city filled with them. Cohen’s Point72 fund recently disclosed a similar 5 percent stake in Fox Entertainment in March.
Cohen’s rich. He buys things, as does his fund. Some thought this is a simple investment and full disclosure, I have some shares in SPHR, though far, far less than Cohen. Others saw this as getting in with Dolan, the unloved owner of the basketball club and one that’s going to need a new stadium before too long.
MSG (the company, not the building) was given a five year license to continue to operate MSG (the building, not the company), which is the shortest ever. The state of New York wants to redevelop the Penn Station area, including big new buildings, and at best, they may need to build an arena across the street. The address is iconic and moving it elsewhere is almost unthinkable, but Manhattan real estate prices are similarly unthinkable. If Madison Square Garden wasn’t in Madison Square, would it still be iconic?
Regardless, Dolan isn’t in a rush to sell his team, just as his older brother is slow-playing his sale of the Guardians. The arena is an issue and with Cohen’s Citi Field site in Queens having a tough time putting a casino in, might there be a plan B? The easy play here would be to have Dolan threaten a move to Queens. I’m curious if there’s more here.
MSG isn’t just a basketball venue, but also the home of the Rangers and Billy Joel, plus other concerts. Could Cohen and Dolan put another iconic venue in Queens? How would a 50-story Sphere look next to Citi Field (and LaGuardia)? The Vegas Sphere isn’t built for sports, but could it be in a CitiSphere? That I don’t know, but I know the NHL Draft looked amazing there and having a second one, in NYC would be a draw. And maybe a good investment for Cohen. I mean, a baseball is a sphere too.
For now, on to the injuries:
KODAI SENGA, SP NYM (strained calf)
The UTK Flash already went out so there’s not much more to add here besides noting that Kodai Senga is on the 60-day IL. The Grade III strain is confirmed to be high and away from the Achilles, so once healed, Senga should be able to start a relatively normal off-season. I’m not sure how much of a plus that is, but Senga flashed that the arm is still very, very good.
Between the shoulder and now the leg, 2024 is a loss for Senga and makes things very interesting for his future. He’s a possible ace, with one great season and one lost to injury. He’s in the last year of his deal, with two player options following it. He’ll be age-33 as a potential free agent, so the Mets might have to lean on their med staff to make a decision on an off-season contract offer. If he’s in January looking good, with no sign of the arm issues, he’s worth at least what the short term deals we saw last year were, except on at least a three year deal.
The other issue is that the Mets don’t have potential aces coming. They’ve had little success getting their expected studs from the minors to the majors, with their whole rotation acquired externally. There’s arms coming, not aces, so if it’s not Senga, it will have to be someone like Blake Snell, Frankie Montas, or Shota Imanaga, who are the best of the under age-35 starters expected to come available that same off-season.
MIKE TROUT, OF LAA (torn meniscus/rehab)
“We can’t make him do anything.” It was a telling quote, a bit of an aside from Ron Washington, but clearly noting the frustration that Mike Trout is in no rush to come back from his meniscus injury. Trout isn’t yet running after his knee soreness in his first rehab start, a couple doctor visits, and a couple MRIs to check in on the knee.
Trout told the media that there was “scar breaking up.” I spoke with three orthopedic surgeons, including one of the best in the world, and asked “what scarring?” Scarring simply doesn’t happen in that area and all were similarly dumbfounded. The worst case scenario would appear to be that the trim of his meniscus wasn’t effective in relieving the symptoms, but pulling the remaining meniscus is a timeline of a couple weeks from the minor scope. None of this should rule Trout out for the season, but there’s indications that’s where he and the Angels are. If you blame that entirely on context, I’ll buy it, but I sure wouldn’t buy a ticket to see it.
Trout was very slow to come back from his calf injury a couple years back, then from the wrist last year. Add the knee to the list. A fourth year where a Hall of Fame career is going to miss significant time and not racking up the counting stats that could make him inner circle. Trout is some 250 homers behind Ken Griffey. At similar ages, Griffey had eight more years to play, including two years over 30 homers, but never less than 13. Trout is at 10 this year and it’s unclear if he’ll be back at all.
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