I just skimmed the Sports Illustrated Article about Fred Wilpon and I came away bored. It’s like New Yorker Article Lite.
I don’t really care about Fred’s money, real estate, upbringing, etc….so I guess this wasn’t the article for me.
Two articles along the same lines makes me believe there was a Wilpon PR strategy which appears to have majorly backfired, at least in terms of the sports page.
Two things that I thought would interest you guys…
The payment was based on the return Bonilla would’ve received had he invested the $5.9 million at an interest rate of 8% (which was just below the 8.5% prime rate at the time).
Why would the Mets make such a deal? The Bonilla money would be invested with Madoff, from whom the Mets expected the usual 10 to 12% return, or two to four percentage points above the rate they guaranteed Bonilla. “We were going to make money on Bobby Bo’s $30 million,” says one official who was at the meeting. “I remember the chuckling in the room.”
…
The relationship between Wilpon and Doubleday, who lived three miles apart, had grown so toxic that they rarely spoke—except when Doubleday wanted to complain about Jeff Wilpon, who had risen to the title of Mets COO. Says Fred, “There’s no question there were not good vibes between us. Today I see Nelson, and it’s not a problem. I don’t have animosity toward him today. He hated Jeff. He didn’t like Saul. He didn’t like anybody in my family. He liked Judy. Everybody likes Judy.”