Wilpons, Collins Win; Mets Lose
On this second to last day of the 2011 season, the Mets made news off the field, with Terry Collins getting a big vote of confidence and a huge victory for the Wilpons that likely means they will be the owners of the Mets for a long time to come.
The judge in the Madoff lawsuit against the Wilpons and Saul Katz tossed out most of the counts against them. The key part is that trustee Irving Picard will not be allowed to go after the $700 million in principle and $300 million in fictitious profits that he wanted. Instead, he will be allowed to sue for as little as $83.3 million. That is the amount that they withdrew from their Madoff accounts over the past two years — a time limit set by the judge.
However the judge did rule that if Picard can prove that the Wilpons and Katz were “willfully blind” to Madoff’s scam, then he can go back and get further profits — anywhere from $300 million-$400 million.
This all means a settlement is likely to be reached, which the they will be able to pay by selling some real estate and other non-Mets holdings.
And by the way, the judge also allowed the Wilpons to pursue their claim that they are actually due $160 million from the Madoff estate. That money could be used to sign Jose Reyes and a good starter!
In other news, the Mets picked up the 2012 option on manager Terry Collins’ contract.
“Terry has done an excellent job of leading and motivating this team with his preparation, energy and enthusiasm during a challenging season,” Sandy Alderson said in a news release. “He has developed strong relationships with our players and the club’s resiliency is a testament to Terry’s approach. We are confident Terry is the right man for the job as we build a winning and contending team for the future.”
Although I question some of the moves Collins makes, he did manage to hold this team together through all of the injuries, so I guess he deserves this.
On the field, the Mets lost 5-4 in 13 innings. Jose Reyes went 3-6 and is now batting .336, giving him a slim one-point lead over Ryan Braun for the NL batting crown going into the final game of the season.