Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Blog Archive » Wilpon Story Probably Won’t Have a Happy Ending

Wilpon Story Probably Won’t Have a Happy Ending


By Mike Silva ~ February 25th, 2011. Filed under: Mike Silva, New York Mets.

Since the news the Wilpon’s were looking to add a “strategic partner” came out last month I have maintained a “wait and see” attitude when it comes to the future of the Mets ownership. Although it’s clear the demands by trustee Irving Picard are ominous, I have never believed the Wilpon’s will lose majority ownership – until today.

One consistent theme throughout the Madoff mess has been Fred and Jeff reacting to reported news, downplaying the reports, only to have more damaging news surface shortly thereafter. When they held their press conference in January not a word was said about an MLB loan for $25 million dollars. You would think the Wilpon’s have learned the value of transparency during the ownership, clearly they have not. They seem to enjoy playing semantics with words than just give everyone the truth. Perhaps that is a result of the litigation process. Considering transparency has never been ownerships strength I have reason to believe the worst.

Today’s statement was brief and cryptic. It had a feel the “check is in the mail” when it said the loan “will be repaid in months.” Is that assuming the Wilpon’s, to quote Fred, are vindicated by defeating Picard? The history of these claw back lawsuits indicates it’s highly unlikely the Mets will go unscathed. In that case where is this money coming from? A fans worse fear would be it comes in the form of a midseason fire sale. Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran’s salary should just about cover it.

I don’t know where this story is going to lead. Honestly, I rather talk about baseball, but that’s been difficult the last four years of Wilpon ownership. What I do know is that I don’t believe very much of what Fred, Jeff, and Saul Katz say publicly. I don’t believe David Howard, who has been doing PR spin for ownership the last two years. Do I have facts to back that up? No, but this whole thing just smells really bad. That’s a shame because there are some nice vibes coming from Port St. Lucie. The Wilpon’s could be enjoying the beginning of a new era. Instead, they are in a fight for their baseball lives. One that appears to have the deck stacked against them.

Former Texas owner Tom Hicks had similar denials when reports of his insolvency first cropped up. We all know how that story ended. Unfortunately, I believe we all have a front row seat for a similar scenario here in New York. The only consolation is the Rangers made it to the World Series in the midst of their financial chaos. We could only hope the Mets have a similar ending. Even if the team does make it deep into the postseason I believe the Wilpon’s are not headed for a similar happy ending.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
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3 Responses to Wilpon Story Probably Won’t Have a Happy Ending

  1. 86mets
    February 26th, 2011 at 10:28 am

    This should mean the end of Wilpon ownership of the Mets. Key word, “Should”. There is no reason whatsoever that a MLB franchise in the biggest market in the game should EVER need cash from MLB. NEVER. That is, if they’re run half way competently. Which obviously the Mets are not and have not been for quite a while. I can only imagine what the owners in KC, Pittsburgh, and other small markets are thinking right now about MLB loaning cash to a New York franchise carrying a $140 million payroll. However negative their thoughts, I cannot blame them one bit. I’d be mad too. Bud Selig needs to convince Fred Wilpon to sell this team for the good of both the Mets and the game. One can only hope.

  2. Johnny
    February 26th, 2011 at 11:35 am

    If you read the court documents that have been leaked you get a better picture of what the Mets and Wilpon’s business structure looked like.

    With 476 accounts with Bernie Madoff, Sterling Equities was more of a shell than an actual business. The fact that the Met’s Madoff accounts brought the team $90 million speaks volumes. That was a huge injection of “revenue” (stolen money). There are two scenarios. 1. The Wilpons are broke, they used the $500 mil in ill gotten gains to prop up the Mets (downpayments for the stadium, paying for their lavish lifestyle, buying property) or the Wilpons 2. Have a significant amount of cash and sucked dry whatever cash on hand was in sterling equities or the Mets organization.

    Either way they are going to lose the team.

    Remember, if Iriving Pickard can only prove the Wilpons were victims, then he still gets $500 million (ill gotten gains) . If Irving Pickard can prove the Wilpons were complicit, he can get $1 billion (their ill gotten gains and the principle they “put down”).

    Considering the fact that Irving Pickard has brought down major billionares (Stanley Chais, Sonja Kohn) and Institutions like HSBC, all of whom had a lot more resources than the Wilpons.

  3. Stonemason89
    February 26th, 2011 at 12:19 pm

    So does anyone have any ideas as to who the next owner(s) might be?

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