Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

Cramer compares the Mets to homeowners facing a large mortgage; the Madoff losses are a fixed cost they can work around.

Legendary baseball statistician Bill James puts the matter more starkly. “Poverty is a fantastic discipline,” he writes by e-mail this morning, “In general, it is very good for teams to be forced to make choices. An excess of resources leads to laziness and poor decision-making.” (For proof of that last point, see the past half-decade of Mets teams.)

via Meet the Moneyball Mets – Businessweek.

So the Mets had too much money?  Oh mainstream media I love you.

The owners of the Mets have closed deals to sell 12 shares of the team and have repaid their $25 million loan to Major League Baseball, a $40 million loan to Bank of America and additional club debt, according to sources familiar with the sale.

via NY Mets close deal to sell 12 minority shares of team, have repaid $25M loan to MLB  – NY Daily News.

Howard Megdal has been quite passionate about this subject.  In today’s article he has three major observations, I share one of them…not to omit the other two, but because it’s bad blogger etiquette to grab more than I already have.  So read Howard.

The settlement is far from getting the Wilpon group out of financial difficulties. Remember, the sale of minority shares in the team- often ascribed to the lawsuit, or “uncertainty” from the suit, as it was described by the Mets when it started- is not intended to pay any settlement at all, and never was. The $200 million is intended to pay off current pressing debts like the $40 million bridge loan due back to Bank of America, $25 million due back to Major League Baseball, and a portion of the $430 million debt against the team due back in 2014. That portion was $100 million when the deal to David Einhorn nearly went through last summer, and there’s no reason to believe it would be less now.

via The Wilpon Settlement: What You Need To Know | The LoHud Mets Blog.

I see – folks are going to continue to be negative.  Here’s Ian O’Connor on ESNY NY

The Mets are a big-market joke with small-market bottom lines, and Wilpon’s dreadful decisions in business and baseball are to blame.

…

For Mets fans, normalcy is a team in the world’s biggest, noisiest marketplace that slashes payroll by more than $50 million. Normalcy is a team that can’t afford to keep Jose Reyes while sharing a city with the Dream Team Yankees. Normalcy is a team that can’t keep its employees out of trouble or its fragile players out of the tub.

Normalcy is a team staring at its fourth straight losing season and a projected plunge into last place.

via New York Mets — Even when Fred Wilpon wins, he’s a loser – ESPN New York.

The Mets get to play the season before they have a fourth straight losing season, right?

And this has been asked before by others but ponder these questions…

– what if Carlos Beltran fouls off a pitch?

– what if Tom Glavine doesn’t pitch the worst game of his career?

– what if someone can save one of 30 blown saves when Wagner got hurt?

– what if Ollie throws a gem in game 162?

I’ll even add this – what happens if Ike Davis and David Wright don’t crash into each other?

I agree, even when the Wilpons win they are losers…because the mainstream media won’t let go of the venom.

Let’s play some baseball and see what’s what.

..

I don’t care if the Wilpons own the team or not.  I don’t recall ever meeting Fred or Jeff and I definitely have never met Saul Katz.

A zillionaire is a zillionaire.  Wilpons sell, Dolans come in.  Or an investment bank.  Or Hurley from Lost.

Someone richer than you will own the team.  That doesn’t make them smarter.

The stupid Wilpons may be stupid…but the stupid Steinbrenners were stupid too for 15 years and that fanbase gave a standing ovation when George was kicked out of baseball.  Now he’s a saint and there’s a Lincoln Monument to him in the fake new place.

Winning will forgive anything and everything.

Let’s play baseball.  Maybe Johan has 18 wins in him.  Maybe David has .300/30/100.  Maybe Ike does too.  Maybe Duda does too.  Maybe the game has slowed down for Niese.  Maybe Murphy is a .320 hitter and can get by at second.

If the Mets win all the folks who are spitting venom now will be writing books about The Miracle Run of the 2012 Mets.

I call you names now, and I will call you names then.

Let’s Go Mets.  See you April 5th.