Mets beat writer Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post reported a little while ago in his blog that Bernie Madoff stole $700 million from the Wilpons. That is a lot higher than the originally reported $300 million that the Wilpon’s allegedly lost. Since the scandal broke late last year the Wilpons have not publicly admitted to how much they lost and the impact it’s had on the Mets. In fact since it was first reported the Wilpons were one of many people who lost money from the Madoff scandal they have done everything they can to assure the media and their fans that it did not have any effect on baseball operations.
I think we can plainly see that the Madoff scandal has hurt the Mets. I never understood the point in denying it, in fact if they did come out and say they lost a significant amount of money, the fans and media would not be breathing down their necks as well as Omar demanding a trade or second guessing their lack of moves in the off-season.
Right after last season ended with the Mets not making the post season again by 1 game the Wilpons and Omar promised that money was not going to be an option and would go out and improve this team. They signed K-Rod not too long before the scandal became public knowledge and then their biggest free agent signing after that was Oliver Perez for 3 years, $36 million.
I wonder how much longer they can survive? Perhaps the Wilpons will have to sell their majority ownership? I agreed with Joe D’s post earlier in the day when he said “I really wish the team was in the hands of an owner who loved the Mets and all their history, and was also smarter than a fifth grader.” Perhaps that will come sooner than later?
Here is a link for Bart Hubbuch’s original blog post.
