The Wilponzis Are Making Us MAD-off!!

A lot of our site's readers have been waiting for us to address the Wilpons' involvement in the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme, the resulting potential effects on the Mets organization, and what it's going to do this season and beyond.  We haven't spoken up yet because this site is about positivity with our favorite team and quite frankly there is not a lot of kool-aid potential on this subject.  That being said, I was thinking about it over the weekend and this site is about pouring you a cup to try and help us get through and enjoy Mets seasons on the field.  So it's time to voice this blog's dissatisfaction with our ownership and try and give you some hope on a bad situation in Queens.

The facts are out already though they leave uncertain conclusions:

• The Wilpons were social acquaintances of Bernie Madoff and his family.
• The Wilpons did business with Madoff over a long period of time investing deferred player payments, health insurance premiums, and other costs to make back a sum of money on Madoff's seemingly fool-proof and high-return investing techniques.
• The Wilpons recommended Madoff to close friends and acquaintences touting the success that they experienced with Bernie.
• The Wilpons are involved in a lawsuit started by Irving Picard, a trustee for victims of the Madoff scandal looking to recover money. 
• The Wilpons have said they are looking into potentially selling off as much as 25% of the Mets but would not give up controlling interest.
• The Mets have borrowed 25 million dollars from MLB to combat a short term liquidity problems

Beyond that, there are a lot of claims.  The Wilpons said they didn't know Madoff was committing a fraudulent act and  Picard says the Wilpons knew or should have known about the illegal nature of Madoff's investments.  The Mets say this issue will not affect anything on the field for the team while everyone talks about how the team will be sold, the payroll will be slashed for next season, and how the hopes of re-signing Jose Reyes (who will be a free agent at the end of this season) are slim to none.

At the end of the day, I don't know what's true, but I do know this - when you're in charge, you're responsible.  You're responsible for the decisions you make.  You're responsible for those you put in your organization to make decisions for you.  You're responsible for the good times, and you're responsible for the bad times.  Therefore, I'm going to agree with Irving Picard and say that the Wilpons should have known what was going on.

In baseball, we blame management all the time for bad decisions.  Why did this pitcher not get pulled before giving up the game tying home run?  Why would you sign this player to so much money and so many years with a history of inconsistency?  All of these questions have answers based in research and decision-making by the appropriate leader.  Well, when these people are wrong they pay the price. 

The Wilpons are ultimately responsible for all these decisions.  Why are we paying Ollie and Castillo so much money still?  Omar Minaya made a bad decision and he was hired by the Wilpons.  Why did Willie Randolph get fired in the middle of the night?  Omar and the Wilpons made a bad decision.  Why is the Mets' minor league system ranked 20th by Baseball America?  Bad scouting hired by bad management hired by the Wilpons.  Either these guys are bad with gut decisions or they are really bad at doing research properly.  Either way, they are responsible.

When it comes to their involvement with Madoff, the same applies.  Either these guys did not take the proper diligence researching what it was about Bernie that made him so magical with his returns or they thought wrongly with their gut.  Either way, this is their fault for not making the right decision.  I think all of it ties together - I mean, it's easy to see how someone who'd invest 15 mil per year in Oliver Perez without taking a closer look wouldn't look closer into an investment situation that seemed too good to be true.  These guys are just not good at this and it's time for them to go. 

As Mets fans, we've gone through a lot of rebuilding years.  This looks to be another one.  Looking at the success rate, it makes you wonder what the problem is.  You can look at the one constant here - the ownership.  So while it's not my place to talk about the legal matters of the Wilpon family and whether it be Donald Trump, Mark Cuban, Bobby V, or someone else coming in to own the team, I'll say my kool-aid I take away from this is that maybe the jinx will be gone soon.  Maybe it's the Wilpon's karma that made Timo not run out that hit in the World Series, made Beltran miss that curve ball, made Castillo miss that popup.  And maybe we'll have a real fresh start soon.  Either way, we'll keep hoping the Mets can put together a good campaign with all this going on in the background and we'll keep pouring that kool-aid.  Drink it up.