Official MLB Owners Ranking

Fred Wilpon furthered his candidacy for worst owner in baseball this week when he ripped everyone but Mr. Met in The New Yorker, then told Sports Illustrated that the Mets are "bleeding money." He thus violated two cardinal rules of ownership. One, he criticized his own players while maintaining exorbitant ticket prices to see them play. Two, he complained about his situation. Like anyone cares about a billionaire's financial problems.



But is all that -- and the lack of a Mets world championship since 1986 -- enough to snag the worst baseball owner title? Read Off-Base's completely objective and scientifically based ranking of baseball's owners:

1. John Henry, Red Sox: In case you hadn't heard, the Red Sox hadn't won the World Series for at least a couple years before Henry took over. Now with two recent world championships and a spiffed-up Fenway Park always overflowing with "Sweet Caroline"-singing fans, Red Sox Nation is so rich and powerful that NATO should declare a no-fly zone over Boston.
2. Nolan Ryan, Rangers: Sure, this is way premature. Nolan's group hasn't owned the team for even a year yet. But when you're rating owners, premature is a good thing because, given enough time, all owners eventually do something to alienate fans (some quicker than others -- see Tom Ricketts). Although Nolan is just one of 17 investors, he's the CEO who calls the shots, and he played a major role in the Rangers' reaching the World Series.
And if a pitcher with a 5-9 record and 4.82 ERA asks for $6 million in arbitration, Nolan can tell him, "Son, back in my day, if I had an ERA over 4.00, struck out fewer than 300 batters and didn't throw at least one no-hitter, shoot, I would be too embarrassed to go out in public, let alone howl about needing a raise. I would just go home to Alvin, Texas, and build up my arm strength by installing more air-conditioning units in the winter. Now, why don't you just take our $600,000 offer, cover up those tattoos and go work on your cutter."
3. Arte Moreno, Angels The Angels have reached the postseason five times in his eight years as owner; he invests heavily in the team; and his club has passed the Los Angeles Dodgers of Divorce Court as the best franchise in southern California.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/110525_MLB_owners&sportCat=mlb