The Mets begin a three-game series at home against the Brewers tonight. They received encouraging news on the Jose Reyes front, with the real possibility that he will be activated next Tuesday.
But what you’ll want to know about the Mets future will be taking place in a federal district courtroom in New York.
Put simply, Sterling Equities, the Fred Wilpon-led group that owns the Mets, is being sued by the trustee for the Bernie Madoff victims for $1 billion. Arriving at that figure is complicated, and I have elaborated on it in greater detail elsewhere.
Leave aside how you feel about whether the Wilpons knew, should have known, or should receive any profits from Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. The team finally has a front office in place with a solid, long-term plan.
The only thing keeping that stability from producing a consistent winner in Queens is financial uncertainty.
Put simply, if you believe the Wilpons will be unable to regain a sound financial footing- and with massive debt against the team, SNY, Citi Field, the Picard lawsuit, and a payoff to David Einhorn all in the medium-term offing, that seems like the reasonable view- hoping for more dramatic reversals to speed the transition along is the rational position.
So consider that as you read about Judge Jed S. Rakoff’s actions, whether he rules today from the bench or issues an opinion down the road. The desired result for a Mets fan is as clear as the one on the field this evening.
4 Comments
Awful hubristic to assume the only thing that will prevent that group from building a consistent winner is financial stability.
I don’t think there’s magic to it, and there’s even less magic to it when New York money is backing common-sense choices. Hence, my assumption.
I do, however, love your use of “hubristic”.
Superb information here, ol’e chap; keep burning the miidgnht oil.
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