Before any offshore bookmakers begin posting odds on favorites to become the new General Manager of the New York Mets (Dan O’Dowd? John Hart? Sandy Alderson? Vickie Guerrero?), now would be a good to ask, “given Wallace Matthews‘ repeated bashing of the Wilpon family, can we really believe Jeff W. would confide in the Newsday shit-stirrer?” Said question comes to mind Wednesday after Matthews quotes the younger Wilpon as saying, “he’s this close to being out of baseball,” of Omar Minaya (“holding his thumb and forefinger a half-inch apart”). With or without the damning (and dubious) no confidence vote, Wally is slightly more entitled to wonder, “why is Minaya still in the Mets’ front office?”
It can’t be because he represents the organization so well – collateral damage, you know – or because of his silvery tongue, which the Mets fear so much they kept him locked away from the media Tuesday.
“He’s not going to be very good with you guys right now,” Wilpon said, knowing full well he couldn’t be any worse than he was Monday.
Which left only one feasible answer: Bernie Madoff.
More and more, it looks like Jeff Wilpon should have been allowed to deliver a victim impact statement in the sentencing of the Ponzi scammer who cost him and the Mets an estimated $700 million.
To that, add the salaries paid to Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo and Billy Wagner and Carlos Delgado. Plus, he’s committed to Minaya through 2012. In the current state of the Mets’ finances, you think he’s about to pay a guy nearly $4 million not to run his ballclub?
He’ll hold on to this guy if it kills him, because having to pay another guy to do his job might kill him worse.
Along with all the other damage the Madoff fiasco did to the Mets, add one more example: Omar Minaya. The Mets can’t win with him, can’t afford to let him go.