Wilpon to SI: Mets are “Bleeding Cash”

Fred Wilpon is back in the headlines once again.  Just a day after his controversial comments toward Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran, Fred Wilpon opens up about the Mets financial troubles in a new article for Sports Illustrated written by Tom Verducci. 

In the article, Fred Wilpon tells Verducci that the Mets are “bleeding cash”.  Wilpon added that the Mets could lose up $70 Million this year.  

The Mets principal owner said that he could raise $200 million within 3 weeks by selling a stake in the Mets, in which $25 million of that money would go back to Major League Baseball for its emergency loan. 

The key part of the article was when he mentioned to Verducci that Sterling Equities would be willing to discuss a settlement in the lawsuit by trustee Irving Picard. 

Also, as Joe D speculated this morning, the Mets payroll will take a substantial hit according to part of the SI article posted on ESPN.com.

If the Mets’ payroll is roughly $140 million this year, that means $98 million next year. And if $65 million comes off with Reyes’ departure and because Francisco Rodriguez doesn’t vest, only about $23 million gets put back in next offseason — with the need for a shortstop and a closer. And that’s not even taking into account raises to other players.

“That’s fair,” Wilpon told the magazine. “If you invest your $100 million properly, as most clubs that are competitive are in that range . . . I think that we have to see what Sandy [Alderson, the general manager] wants to do, and Sandy wants flexibility. And I’m trying to give him the ultimate amount of flexibility. He’s going to have to make those decisions . . . The answer to your question is yeah, that could happen.”

Actually, Joe said $25 million would get re-invested, not far off from the $23 million dollar figure in the quote.

I haven’t read the full article, only parts of it, but the one thing I can state is the fact that the Mets, per the title, are paying the price.