For The Baseball Operation That Is Not Affected, Mets Borrow $25 Million From MLB

This just keeps getting more ridiculous with each passing day. We were assure last year the Mets baseball operation was in good financial standing after the Madoff fall-out, which many people with a brain in their cranium didn't believe.

Then they say that although the Sterling Corp was hit hard, it in no way would affect the way the Mets do business.

Then, the Mets allow such bad contracts as Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez, and Francisco Rodriguez continue to take up space so they don't lose money on releasing the players.

This off-season they spent a lot of money on a new front office (which was needed), and arguably very little on the baseball players they needed to import...and money is no issue?

Weeks ago the Mets had a press conference saying they were looking to sell a minority share of the Mets for a mere $200 M (give or take).

Then yesterday the NY Times reported that MLB "secretly" provided the Mets with $25 M last November to keep the team functioning. The same MLB that was pushing for the Mets to hire Sandy Alderson as GM.

Actions appear so suspicious of wrong doing when it is done under the dark of night, trying not to be detected.

Questioned by reporters yesterday, Mr. Wilpon refused to answer "financial questions."

The Mets later released the following statement:

“We said in October that we expected to have a short-term liquidity issue. To address this, we did receive a loan from Major League Baseball in November. Beyond that, we will not discuss the matter any further.”

The big problem is not just that MLB bailed the Mets out covertly, but if MLB had to bail the Mets out, that only means one thing: they cannot get any more loans from lending institutions.

As Marc Ganis, a sports industry consultant said:

“The fact that the loan is coming from baseball would be a jarring event because, as with the Texas Rangers, the league is effectively a lender of last resort. It would indicate the team cannot get loans from normal commercial sources, which could be taken as a sign of very significant problems.”

As stated in an earlier post, the biggest problem the Wilpon's have isn't the lack of funds, but the lies that have been used during this ordeal.

It isn't our business as fans to know their finances, no, but by the same regard if the Wilpon's are going to address questions regarding their finances, they shouldn't be dishonest.

What drawback or fall-out will this latest transaction have on baseball? As stated in the TImes article:

“Mr. Selig’s decision to give what amounts to extraordinary assistance to one of the sport’s most highly valued teams — one owned by Mr. Wilpon, a man Mr. Selig has long regarded as a close personal friend — could anger other team owners, who might wonder why their money is being used to rescue a team with a $140 million payroll.”