OK Please stop with this nonsense headline:

Well, sorry of you bought season tickets and a Correa jersey because Carlos Correa has reportedly agreed to his third free-agent deal of the offseason, this one a six-year, $200 million pact to return to the Minnesota Twins. (per Yahoo via a Jeff Passan tweet)

This shocking development comes after Mets owner Steve Cohen spent his time talking to Queens residents about what to build on the parkland adjoining Citi Field.  One wonders if Steve’s multi-tasking had anything to do with the Mets finalizing the Correa deal.  It probably didn’t, but one could wonder about such a thing.

In the past, Mets owners such as the Wilpons may have been described as “Cheap” or “Stupid and Cheap” but “Uncle” Steve has much better PR people than the Wilpons ever did, so clearly Correa not signing with the Mets is the mark of a wise businessman.

Expect Correa to tell the Twins fanbase that they are the best fans in baseball, how proud he is to be on the Giants Mets Twins and that this was always his first choice and true love and it’s not about the money.  Also expect the Twins to be contracted around 2030 when this sport’s RSN money dries up and teams are left with albatross contracts.

 

Field of Schemes has a must-read piece about Steve Cohen’s town hall on Saturday.  I don’t want to excerpt too much as FoS did the hard work, and you should give them the clicks.  This did make me laugh

The presentation included very little information about Cohen’s actual plans—the man himself put in a cameo but stuck to generalities—preferring to stick to open-ended questions about what local residents would like to see built; handwritten suggestions from the masses included a “jobs training center,” “soapbox derby track,” and “community cannabis gardens.” (There were a lot of Post-its, but a quick scan of those on display revealed no one actively requesting a casino.)

Schemes also brings up that a casino combined with baseball and/or soccer and/or tennis should make for lots of traffic free streets near the affordable housing a mess.

So go head on over to FIELD OF SCHEMES

What the heck is that on the back?

“The 50 acres should remain publicly-owned parkland and if I were a billionaire, I would make a nice big donation to the NYC Parks Department so they can make a nice park” – Cody Hermann

There’s no news about Correa, but you need to pay attention to this story.

Steve Cohen held his “vision session” yesterday, ostensibly to see how the community would like to use the parkland that is the area that is presently parking….and one idea is for it to be a casino.

QNS.com reports “…However, Cohen’s plans have received pushback from northeast and central Queens civic leaders who said he made no mention of a casino and instead referred to an “entertainment” venue on “50 acres of vacant asphalt.” The civics also noted that a casino will create quality-of-life issues, traffic congestion, and an increase in problem gambling. “

Some of the ideas suggested by the attendees  – and stay with me here as I pick this apart – were “public art displayed by local artists, concerts, a safer bike route connection, a shopping mall and more green space. ”

OK – so this is exactly what I thought this would be.  If you look at the article on QNS.com  you will see that people were able to stick yellow post it notes on a board – that allows Steve’s group to “consider” ideas.

Let’s look at those ideas…

“public art displayed by local artists” – what does that mean?  We’re going to close the Citi parking lot so we can have some outdoor art displays???  That’s not happening folks.

“concerts” – meaning what?  We close the parking lot and some local band plays for 100 people?  If you mean Big Concerts there’s a baseball stadium right there, and a soon-to-be soccer stadium on the non-parkland across the street where you can have those.

“A shopping mall” – were the Wilpons there?  Might as well let the guy have his casino then.  Does this person live in America where there are tons of dead and dying shopping malls?

“More green space” – well yeah, this.  If Steve is serious about wanting to improve the area and get rid of the asphalt, then move the lot underground and create something akin to Boston Common which is a wonderful public park with underground parking.   Go for this option, it sounds great.

Then there were the people who wasted time.  One twitter user, their username suggesting they are some sort of Jets Media, asked Steve if the Jets, who co-built their own stadium in NJ would be moving to Queens.  That question is several levels of stupid.  Others asked about Correa, on which there was no update.  (Personally I thought the deal would get done on Friday night so Steve could take a victory lap yesterday).

How about this one: “I’m really looking forward to a vibrant area for entertainment, dining, dancing and a year-round use of the space,” said DJ Shug, a die-hard Mets fan

Why do we need to have dining in the park? Open a restaurant across the street then.  And “dancing” – I’d like to hear more specifics on that plan?  Are we replacing the parking lot with Studio 54?  Should we go dance after the Tuesday night Mets-Marlins game?

QNS.com reports “Uncle Steve” (your cool relative who gives good Christmas presents or something) will be holding more hearings.

Great job QNS.com staying on the case here.

For many of you I ask – why are you OK handing over the park to a billionaire?  So you can dance after Mets games?  Really think about what you’re doing here.