It’s War! Settlement Talks Break Down

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• Mr North Jersey February 3, 2011 at 5:21 pm

  “Sheehan said the leaks didn’t come from his office.”

  What else is he supposed to say that they did?

  “Defendants cannot cry confidentiality to this court while publicly attacking the complaint ”

  In other words: “How dare they publicly complain about the confidential items that have been leaked. They should privately leak their complaints to the public like everyone else is”.
  • Donal February 3, 2011 at 5:39 pm

    And then lawyers wonder why people hate them.
    • Des February 4, 2011 at 10:52 am

      David Sheehan, a lawyer for the trustee Irving Picard, is simply putting his bosses interest first and hoping the process works out in his favor. There are many good lawyers but their first responsibility, within ethical and legal constraints, is to their client.

      Full disclosure: I have two daughters who are lawyers and I raised them to be good people. Admittedly, there are some unscrupulous lawyers as there are tainted folks in any profession. Look at Washington.
• Des February 3, 2011 at 5:38 pm

  I’ve often criticized the Wilpons. But in this case I’m four square behind them. Over a long period of time they invested with a man they knew professionally and through their mutual social activities. Their sons grew up together and went to the same high school. They viewed him as a friend because almost everyone agrees Uncle Bernie had an ingratiating personality.

  Was the Wilpon group guilty of knowing the money was illegally generated by Madoff?
  Was the Wilpon group in a financial conspiracy with Madoff?
  Was the Wilpon group earning an unrealistic, excessively large return on their investment?

  The government is being heavy handed unless one of these questions can be proved affirmatively.
  • t agee February 3, 2011 at 5:44 pm

    I agree Des.
  • baby al February 3, 2011 at 9:15 pm

    the government was heavy handed when they nailed al capone(thats how they got him).the feds are indurate.wilpon was better off keeping his mouth(daily news)shut.freddye must think he can bluff picard like he bluffs his met followers.mike lupica can’t help him…selig can’t help him…alderson can’t help….every reporter on the daily news he pays can’t help either!wilpon will try to spin facts as is his wont.u listen to him des and u will be screwed into the ground.if the wilpon mob could only find prospects the way they find ponzi schemes.
    • t agee February 3, 2011 at 9:59 pm

      It’s not the Govt going after the Wilpon’s and they are certainly not Al Capone either. The Feds may be “indurate” but their not involved here. Why bring them into anything? The trustee gets a percentage of whatever he brings in and he’s drumming up publicity for a book deal in order to get paid a 2nd time, can a movie deal starring Robert Deniro as Irving Picard be far behind?

      Delusions of grandeur by a man obviously invigerated by dragging the victim of a ponzi scheme into court and trying to extract as large a finders fee for his own 401K as possible as well as the maximum amount of publicity he can garner.

      I hope Fred forces him to lay bare his assets before the whole world just before he kicks his ass from one end of Centre st to the other.
      • baby al February 3, 2011 at 10:34 pm

        if picard finds the wilpons culpable the feds will get involved as they did with madoff.its all in due process.freddye doesn’t kick ass he kisses it… check his record!all picard has to do is walk in with a yankee hat on and freddye will fall to his knees.a person such as yourself who constantly says that freddye should not spend money on fee agents is either a wilpon or a wilpon plant.the fact that u call freddye a victim proves that point.poor little freddye wilpon victim indeed!.mark my words if freddye doesn’t buy himself out of this the feds will be around eventually.thats why he wants to settle…to make it go away!
      • Harry C February 4, 2011 at 8:30 am

        Hey agee fo a gut who agreed with Des, why are you now disagreeing with him? He said its the gov’t you agreed and now you write a book disagreeing!!!! Stick yto your long drawn oput boring incorrect demands for a team of all minor leaguers. Its a lot better than no doz.
        • t agee February 4, 2011 at 9:05 am

          I figured he just accidentally used the wrong word and I agreed with his general thought. I don’t feel the need to correct or attack someone over a something so minor. Baby Al on the other hand brought up the Govt going after Al Capone, not the same thing. Not at all.

          Not that it has anything to do with the topic I posted about but yes I do want to build and develop through the draft and have a few options coming up prepared to play the position we have coming available. Keeping the best one to start and using the rest for the bench and trades. We haven’t tried that strategy since Mrs. Payson Passed away in the 70′s. Perhaps that’s one reason we have only gone to the post season two seasons in a row once in 50 years.

          When you so rarely get to the post season (7 times in 50 years) and you build teams that can not sustain their success you wind up with the kinds of results we have had. Results that suck.

          90 wins in a season should not be something outer worldly for the NY Mets but the facts are that we have won 90 three times in the 20 years since Frank Cashen left (he won 90 six times in seven years after building through the farm)

          We’re one and done IF we ever make the postseason. Even if we do the freaks and dinosaurs that we bring in here are only into one thing, their paycheck. That’s why they play cards in the clubhouse during playoff games.

          Continue to clamor for your freaks and mutants Harry and enjoy your occasional season over .500. I’ll take the team built the right way with guys who won’t be playing cards when we get to the playoffs or undermining the manager during the season.

          Sorry you didn’t get a fancy bauble under the tree this year Harry. All your friends must be shocked that Mo Vaughn wasn’t under your tree wearing a skimpy little outfit from Victoria Secrets so you would have something to talk about with your friends all winter long.

          Talk about this Harry. If spending money on someone else’s aging dinosaurs was so successful how come we have only won 90 games 3 times in 20 years?

          90 games. That should be a modest goal at best for a team with a top 5 payroll every year. 90 games and your freaks, mutants, dinosaurs and cromagnon men are more likely to lose 90 than win 90 and you want to keep doing the same?

          You and Mo deserve each other. Hope you make each other very happy.
          • baby al February 4, 2011 at 10:06 pm

            free agent spending is good on the right free agents.for instance don’t pass up on a rod then sign vaughn,bunitz robbie et all to make up for it a few years later.don’t let strawberry walk and make up for it by picking up vince coleman …bonilla later on.piazza was going to be passed on to…doubleday checked the wilpon mob on that one.thats the same doubleday who said on the way out the door”THE WRONG PERSON IS BUYING THIS TEAM”.truer words were never spoken.i must now read my e mail.feddye wilpon sent me something about how honorable his family is.freddye says he as not spending on the mets because of picard..hey freddye be a man for once in your life..take your medicine like madoff(your idol) did.
        • Des February 4, 2011 at 10:20 am

          Harry C. — Are you having a bad day, or are you always so irascible? If you want to get an education in being difficult, you’ll always have fertile ground here on MMO, since we fans are entitled to our opinions, and many will be contrary to yours. We express our opinions freely.

          I’m not particularly impressed with your logic but I am with your name calling. Keep it up. I’m having a slow morning and I could use some more entertainment.

          P.S.: If you want to disagree with class, see my friend, baby al. He might be able to bring you along. LOL
  • Harry C February 4, 2011 at 8:28 am

    Hope they give you some of their ill gotten fruit Des. People make profit form ill gotten schemes and you support them. wow…. Barnum was wronf a sucker isn’t born every minute. A total moron is. And to show your ignoreance displayed sao proudly in your argument is the fact that you are so clueless in this matter you think the gov’t is pursuing this. Its not Wilpon licker and lover… Its the true victims of the ponzi scheme and the lawyer for their legal and rightful trust. So root for the wicked, and continue to support the mediocrity that has become the Wilpon Mess I mean mets.
    • Des February 4, 2011 at 9:57 am

      Harry c. — It’s either illegal or it’s not. Hopefully you understand that because an allegation is made, that in itself proves zip, zero, nada.

      Hey, Harry C., if you’re trying to take the high road, make a good argument. So far you haven’t.
• Joe D February 3, 2011 at 8:24 pm

  Testing comments
  • Joe D February 3, 2011 at 8:25 pm

    Testing comments again
    • Mr North Jersey February 3, 2011 at 8:49 pm

      3rd times the charm lol
      • Kelly Horn February 3, 2011 at 8:51 pm

        Woohoo!
        • Joe D February 3, 2011 at 8:53 pm

          The nesting comments shading along with the blue was a nice touch Kelly.
          • Mr North Jersey February 3, 2011 at 8:58 pm

            not to nitpick but there is one thing i do miss. that now i cant see recent comments when i am in a post
            • Joe D February 3, 2011 at 9:08 pm

              Unfortunately, recent comments are only supposed to be on main page in emagazine format, becuase none of the comments are visible otherwise.

              On the individual posts you can still refresh to see new comments on that thread.

              Sorry about your bad luck, lol
              • Kelly Horn February 3, 2011 at 9:10 pm

                Gee thanks for all your hard work…
              • Mr North Jersey February 3, 2011 at 9:13 pm

                It’s cool the page loads feel faster
              • Mr North Jersey February 3, 2011 at 10:08 pm

                Just noticed the “Categories” drop down at the bottom of page I am not sure if you always had one but i a, definitely a fan of it.

                Makes searching a lot easier imo.
            • any February 3, 2011 at 9:08 pm

              or the shoutbox.
• francis February 3, 2011 at 9:09 pm

  ugh, this crap will hang over our heads for years and years now.

  settling this out of court was the only hope.

  i guess this is why sandy’s here. to keep that budget under 100MM until the case is decided … in 2018.

  and we’ll have to hear “this has nothing to do with madoff” for another six years, as any player making over 8MM per hits the road.

  well, hopefully we’ll be more like tampa and texas than KC and the Cubs.
  • any February 3, 2011 at 9:17 pm

    it’s all posturing and gamesmanship. Actually a pretty good sign that they will settle, since neither side has a slam dunk or guarantee.
• t agee February 3, 2011 at 9:42 pm

  Francis, Either way the Monkey ball era was going to end one way or another. We were never going to win a World Series by relying on expensive and frequently injured free agents on their last contract for every need that we had the year before.

  Less and less guys will be going free agent and those that do will be a couple of years older and have a lot more competition for them. That means 7 year contracts for guys who are 31 instead of 28. Not a good deal, but we already figured that out.

  Ask yourself would you rather have had Pedro’s Montreal or Boston’s years or ours? Beltran’s KC years or ours? Delgado’s Blue Jays years or ours? How about Alou? El Duque, Castillo, Johan?, Wagner?

  Monkey ball was never going to give us any super star’s in their prime and when you look at teams that win the World Series that’s the one thing they all have in common.

  I for one am thankful that ridiculous, dog chasing it’s tail era is over with regardless of how it was accomplished.
  • francis February 3, 2011 at 10:11 pm

    our Beltran years were fine. and so were our delgado years actually. his september 2008 made up for the rest of the contract. no complaints about johan either. at the time, it was a sick maneuver.

    i draw the line on overpriced FA’s at about 31 years old.

    Jason Bay is ‘grandfathered’ in, but only because of his walk-up music.

    pedro, el duque, alou, i see where you are going. i hate that as much as you do. i guess the term they use is “don’t throw away the baby with the bathwater”.
    • t agee February 3, 2011 at 10:23 pm

      Carlos gave us a great 4 years but we had to pay him for 7. Delgado also lost part of a season and most of another. Things happen but I would have preferred their KC and Toronto days. As for the rest of them, foregetaboutit.

      Not saying I am against the big time ace FA acquisition or the perfect fit position player that glues our lineup together but this relying on who ever happens to be a FA or suddenly made available by their current team because “well who else were we going to get to play X, Y, or Z” crap has got to stop.