The Mets are six months removed from entering a $162 million settlement with those affected by the Madoff scandal.
After slashing payroll by $50 million, the team is struggling to stay afloat on the field, posting a 66-81 record entering Wednesday which is good for fourth place in the National League East.
Not the ideal situation for a club in the country's largest market. Despite the downward tumble, Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig expressed satisfaction with the franchise's direction.
"I have no concerns whatsoever," Selig said in a taping for YES Network's, CenterStage. "I have a lot of faith in the Wilpons. I have a lot of faith in [general manager] Sandy Alderson.
"I don't consider the Mets a problem in any way, shape or manner. They're on the right track."
It's a sentiment that Selig never shared with former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. Under pressure by Selig, McCourt ended up selling the team for $2 million to Magic Johnson.
But Selig believed they were each separate situations.
"Yes, I have great affection and respect for the Wilpons, there's no doubt about that," Selig said. "But I felt, studying all the issues, that the Mets could make it, that the Mets could survive. After all, they were the unfortunate victims of a really difficult financial scandal, as you well know.
"That put pressure on them. But they had the respect of everybody in the game. They also had the financial power to work their way through it. I realized it would be in baseball's best interest to have patience."
For the Mets, patience will be needed in the rebuilding process.
