The Mets and Madoff

02/07/09


I can't believe my eyes. Sometimes I really can't believe my eyes.

Ben Shpigel, of the New York Times writes, “The Mets have not been acting like a team in financial distress. Before Madoff’s arrest in December, the team signed reliever Francisco Rodríguez to a three-year, $37 million The Mets also added the $5.3 million salary of reliever J. J. Putz in a trade. The Mets had baseball’s second-highest payroll last year at $137.8 million, and it will be slightly higher this season, their first at Citi Field…‘Their signings in the off-season and their moving forward, as they were going to, with the new ballpark is further evidence that their situation is good,’ said Bob DuPuy, the president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball.”

Excuse me if I am wrong but did the Mets not sign these players "before Madoff's arrest"? How can one bring proof that the Mets are not acting like a team in financial distress from the fact that they made these illustrious signings, if this was all done BEFORE they even knew that they might have been in monetary deep water? "...And their moving forward...with the new ballpark is further evidence that their situation is good" - Um, what did you expect them to do? Tear the park down? Rent a baseball field from a local Queens high school to play their games in while the brand new Citi Field sits there to collect dust? Wow, they're actually going to play in the park that they built! They must have ZERO financial troubles. And I thought a proof was actually supposed to prove something. Silly me.

The article continues, "'Nothing we’ve been told tells us there will be any impact on the franchise,' said Dupuy". Right, because if I am Fred Wilpon, the first thing I am going to do is to let the public know that I've been scammed out of $500 million. That wouldn't make me look like a complete idiot, now would it? Mr. Dupuy, does the acquisition of 10 minor leaguers not "tell" you that there might be some sort of financial setback? Unless, the Mets are putting all their money into their scouting department and have come up with the knowledge that these players are rising stars. Wow, I actually got a tad excited there for the upcoming season. Uh, that feeling has since passed.