The Wilpons Are Victims

I think I came to a realization today - the Madoff scheme did have an impact on the Mets operations. It gave the Mets owners the impression for many years that they had the money to first buy out Nelson Doubleday and then run the Mets. I think we're seeing that without those fake funds, they can't run the club.

In that way, Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz, Jeff Wilpon, and even the millions of Mets fans in the world are all victims. The Wilpons were victims of Bernie Madoff, but instead of losing their life savings or losing their charity fund, they're going to lose their ballclub.

Now, this doesn't impact how anyone should look at the Picard lawsuit. They should have to give back the money they "made" from Madoff. The problem is, they've invested it in the New York Mets, clawing from the, whatever it is, 5% they had in 1986 to the 99% of the club that they're cited as owning now. So they should have to give back sell off a portion of the club.

The problem is that the Wilpons aren't the ones coming out and saying this. Their names are getting dragged through the mud by the lawsuit and from all of the other dirt that the New York Times digs up and prints. Don't get me wrong, I don't like the current Mets owners, and I wish them enough harm to have to make them go away, and I'm not defending anything their lying asses have said or done. But they're victims. They're victims who still have money (well, I'm starting to wonder about that given how they're begging their Buddy Selig for cash after getting a loan, all since the end of last season).

With all that, the Wilpons have made some stupid decisions. Citi Field. Citi Field ticket prices. Obstructed views at Citi Field. Oliver Perez (wait, that was actually Omar Minaya). Omar Minaya (wait, he actually wasn't bad at first). The end of the 2007 season (wait, that was Willie Randolph's fault). The end of the 2008 season (wait, that was Jerry Manuel's fault). The 2009 season (ok, that was Omar's and the trainer's faults). The 2010 season (Jerry again). But the buck stops here.

Fred Wilpon needs to step up to the plate. I don't think he's going to admit that mistakes were made with Citi Field or with the past half decade, but he does need to man up and say that he lost a big source of revenue (at least on paper, being the profits from his million Madoff funds; and I mean "lost" in that he doesn't have these accounts any more giving him money), it's caused a lot of financial problems with the club (hence the loan last fall and the begging for more money now) and this is why he needs to sell of what really should be at least 60% of the ballclub. He needs to admit that if he has to pay back the money that he made of Madoff (the money he used to purchase in full and then run the Mets), then he would need to sell off the rest of the club (poetic justice). He needs to quit hiding around the fact that he's a victim and man up to both the truth and reality.

Otherwise we're all going to be vicitims of something.


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