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MLB needs to force Fred Wilpon to sell New York Mets

By Michael Pallas |
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 03: Jeff Wilpon, Chief Operating Officer of the New York Mets, looks on during batting practice before the game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves during Opening Day on April 3,2017 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 03: Jeff Wilpon, Chief Operating Officer of the New York Mets, looks on during batting practice before the game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves during Opening Day on April 3,2017 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

MLB needs to treat Fred Wilpon like the NBA did Donald Sterling, forcing him to sell the New York Mets.

The New York Mets are in financial disarray, and according to their owner, it’s because he’s stuck under the Bernie Madoff scandal. According to Fred Wilpon, the Mets can’t spend as much as the fans want to, because of the payments he has to pay out to the victims of the scandal. If that’s true, then MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred needs to step in and force a sale of the team.

It’s one thing to be an incompetent owner like Woody Johnson. It’s entirely another for your personal dealings to interrupt professional ones. There’s a “best interest of the league” clause in the contract of the commissioners, and this would fall under that category.

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Having both New York teams be successful would be in the best interest of MLB. However, that can’t be the case if the Mets truly can’t build a competitive ball club. Some would say this would be a slippery slope, but truly it’s not.

You can’t just throw out every single incompetent owner. That said, the Madoff scandal effecting one of baseball’s dominant markets is a black eye for the league, and it needs to be dealt with.

I am not saying that Wilpon should be banned for life like Sterling was. That would be ridiculous. His actions were not as damaging to the league as Sterling’s racist rants. That said, forcing him to sell to an owner that at least has the means to at least attempt to put a competitive team on the field makes sense.

The Mets will likely be out of the MLB Playoffs again in 2018, and it’s due to the inability to put a competitive team together. Now is the time for Manfred to do something about it.

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