As Long As The Wilpon Own The Mets, They Will Remain In The League Basement

The Wilpons' arrogance continues to drown the Mets.

ESPN.com-PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- After surveying his players stretching on the morning of the New York Mets' first full-squad workout, principal owner Fred Wilpon reached into his pocket, pulled out a roll of $5 bills and lightheartedly flashed them for the media.

"We're OK," said Wilpon, who has been stung by the Ponzi scheme involving Bernard Madoff, in response to a question about his finances.

During a 22-minute interview Monday morning, Wilpon went on to address the progress in the sale of minority shares of the team, the future of face-of-the-franchise third baseman David Wright, the defection of Jose Reyes to the Miami Marlins, a $52 million payroll slashing and the fate of the 2013 All-Star Game, which is planned for Citi Field but has not yet been formally announced.

Wilpon said he already has all but formally sold seven $20 million, 4 percent minority shares to investors, with Major League Baseball approval granted and the money sitting in escrow. The sales of two more shares are nearing approval by MLB, Wilpon added, while an additional two are "in the process."

In total, Wilpon said, as many as 12 shares may be sold, which would infuse as much as $240 million into the organization. That would go toward paying off a $25 million loan from Major League Baseball, pay down the first mortgage on the team and provide cash on hand for operation of the franchise, Wilpon said.

This statement comes as another shot to Mets' fans confidence. Once again, the Wilpons flashed their arrogance toward a faithful, but dying New York Mets' fan base and in doing so turned a bad situation into a disaster.

I'm sorry but there is no way in the world I, as a Mets fan, believe that the Wilpons are going to turn this ship around. I don't care who they've sold their shares too and who their banking on to save this franchise, as long as they are in a $500 million dollar struggle over the Madoff case, one they will surely lose, they will do nothing but kill the Mets.

This is New York, it's not Oakland, Baltimore or Milwaukee. The Mets are in the biggest and most demanding baseball market in the United States and they are insane if they think they can survive on money ball principles. Everyone and their mother is starting to use the money ball scheme and most of them actually have payrolls to back it up. The Mets couldn't sign their star shortstop this offseason and weren't even close to bidding for star players in the market like CJ Wilson, Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder. New York is an extremely active offseason hotbed for both Yankees and Mets, but now with the Mets bleeding cash like a hemorrhaging bullet wound victim, they are seriously swimming in the sewers.

For many of us Mets fans there was serious hope when David Einhorn offered to buy a majority of the shares a few months ago, but the deal fell through thanks once again to the Wilpons feverishly grandiose attitude. They couldn't accept the fact that they would lose the Mets in 3 years if they couldn't pay off their debts to Einhorn. They couldn't accept the fact that they weren't going to own the Mets come 2014. They couldn't back up their futile attempts to persuade people that they are actually apart of the Mets' faithful. Instead they just showed the world that their egos were simply too big.

The Mets are in dire straits. There is no shining light at the end of the tunnel. "Next year is now" becomes "next year is never." As long as the Wilpons pompously continue to own the New York Mets I will continue to have a hard time watching and rooting for them. Not because the players don't deserve a fair shot at igniting the city, no that's not true. I love David Wright, Ike Davis, John Niese and co. But I cannot sit here, take a beating from the Wilpons' conceit every year, and feel good about myself. This isn't a formal resignation of my Mets' fan hood, it's simply an angry response to a vicious situation, one that my fellow fans nor I should ever have to deal with.

It's always sucked to be a Mets' fan, now it's downright embarrassing.