Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon gave an interview to reporters, among them ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin, who helpfully transcribed Wilpon’s answers. When asked about how the team’s sale of minority shares was going, Wilpon said:
Mets’ Fred Wilpon Talks About Minority Shares, David Wright, And Cash On Hand
And we’re proceeding with bringing in partners. We have seven partners … in terms of groups. We have seven whose money is in escrow because they’ve been through major league baseball. We have two that are ready to almost finalize in Major League Baseball, and a couple of others that are in the process. It’s a real process. If you have three, four people in your group, everybody is vetted. They’re all in there. And we hope to be able to close that out shortly.“Good thing they have a “real process”. Because you surely wouldn’t want a phony one. Regarding his team in 2012:
Well, you know, you always want to feel good and optimistic. I think what Terry [Collins] and Sandy [Alderson] have said is that we’re going to surprise a lot of people. I think we have very good players.
What would you expect an owner to say? That his team is awful and is likely going to finish last? That’s for us writers to say, not a team owner. It was almost silly to even ask. He was asked about keeping David Wright, and didn’t answer that, but he loves Wright:
I think there’s no finer guy. He’s just a very fine young man. Any of us who are old enough to have him as a son would be proud to have him as a son.But perhaps the most telling note about the team’s finances was tweeted by a different reporter, Andy McCullough:
Asked how his financials were, Fred Wilpon pulled out a wad of cash with a $5 bill on top. “OK,” he said. “I’ve got fives.”
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughSL) February 27, 2012
Fives. Well, that’s good. Maybe he’s on his way to buy some MegaMillons tickets with those fives. He could use that money.
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