Could it Be?

It’s hard to distinguish the light at the end of a tunnel and an oncoming train. And with the news that Amazin’ Avenue has brought you regarding the Mets hiring “turnaround consultants”, the two might be one in the same.

“Hiring turnaround consultants doesn’t necessarily mean that the team is specifically preparing for bankruptcy and a sale — consultants like these are brought in to figure out how a struggling business can become profitable — but it further underscores the Mets’ moribund financial situation. Also, a turnaround company typically gets only a modest fee if it comes in and merely makes recommendations; it has a considerable economic incentive to push for a huge sale when a sizable commission is in the offing.”

Knowing* the Wilpons as being the stubborn folks they are, the ones whose nobility in going down with their own ship has been surpassed only by Edward John Smith, that explanation makes it seem simple to me. It’s too pie in the sky to think that the Wilpons have thrown in the towel and are ready to pursue bankruptcy and a sale. If they were too headstrong to do it before, they’re not going to start now. If these turnaround consultants from CRG Partners are brought in to make profit, the Wilpons will explore that road first. Then, and only then, when CRG looks at Freddy and says “look, unless you make the entire ballpark into one big giant Shake Shack, you’re screwed”, the b-word will be spoken in the luxurious boardroom.

What that would mean is that eventually, after the Wilpons exhaust every avenue, every dark alley, every couch cushion, and yes … every set of abandoned train tracks, we’re all going to get what we want. We’re going to get a change in ownership. Hopefully with that, financial stability and a hope of competing in the N.L. East, which is really all we care about anyway. The good part is that the same people brought in to figure out how a struggling business can sell millions and millions of cheeseburgers to baseball fans will be there to help them with the end of the line, kind of like a traveling ownership hospice. But it reads to me like a long road ahead, which is why I refuse to get excited … yet. We can only hope that by this time next year, there will be a serious light at the end of that tunnel that won’t be coming at us at 100 miles per hour. It’s coming. But the Wilpons aren’t making this quick or easy.

*I don’t know them. I know what I read. I know what I see. They’re stubborn.