Philadelphia Phillies NewsNews » Mets have Madoff to thank for no Manny |
| Mets have Madoff to thank for no Manny | |
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 Met fans who've been chewing their pillows in frustration while Manny Ramirez re-upped with the Dodgers shouldn't be angry with GM Omar Minaya. And they're wasting their rage on the Wilpon family, as well. Manny slipped through the Mets' fingers for one reason only — Bernard Madoff. Nothing's been quite the same since the Wilpons were snared in the greatest Ponzi scheme in American history. Madoff may have stolen as much as $300 million from the Mets' owners, which was a punch in the stomach to the franchise's upward-and-onward mantra. It's the very philosophy that netted them Pedro Martinez, Carlos Beltran, Billy Wagner and Johan Santana in the last four years — all free agents whom the Mets gladly over paid for. Ramirez, who grew up in New York, would've made it 5-for-5 for the Wilpons, except that when it came time to actually writing Manny a check, Madoff's scam drained the life (and the dollars) from this can't-miss fantasy. Instead, the Mets will have to settle for Daniel Murphy in left field, an interesting experiment had it not been for Manny's availability over the last four months. In any other year, the Mets would've found another $45 million to lure Manny away from Chavez Ravine, the perfect gift to a fan-base that's been suffering since September 2007. |
Clearly the Mets need one more bat in 2009. Whatever you think of their talented inner circle — Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran — they have this much in common: they've yet to win a pennant, and have allowed the Phillies to become the East's dominant team on their watch.
Cole Hamels keeps shoving it in the Mets' faces: the Mets are chokers.
"The Phillies should just keep their mouth closed and enjoy being the champions," Reyes said. "If we'd won, we wouldn't have said anything like that about the Phillies."
Manny would've changed the calculus; he would've given the Mets' new street-cred, which is why everyone was secretly hoping for ownership to change its mind.
But signing Ramirez was never going to be one of the Mets' destinies. He was too risky, too expensive. If the Mets miss out on the postseason (again) in 2009, the blame begins and ends with the scam for the ages.
Say hello to Bernie Madoff, history's No. 1 Met killer.
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Author:Fox Sports
Author's Website:http://www.foxsports.com
Added: March 6, 2009
