Add Tim McCarver to the list of people who don’t think the Wilpons will be able to hold onto the Mets.
“I personally feel the Wilpons have to sell the ballclub,” McCarver said.
The broadcaster and former player said he believes the threat of a lawsuit is too much for the Wilpons to overcome, even if they are able to sell a portion of the team, as they are trying to do.
“I don’t see how they can escape by selling a minority position, particularly when they don’t allow any control,” McCarver said during a conference call on Tuesday to promote FOX’s baseball coverage this season. “I can’t see any other way for them to go but to sell the ballclub.”
The Mets are fighting off a potential $1 billion lawsuit as a result of their possible involvement in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, and McCarver doesn’t envy anyone in the organization for whom he broadcast from 1983 until he was let go in 1998.
“It’s deplorable,” McCarver said. “I would not want to be a player on the Mets right now. Not because they are not talented enough, but because of all the questions surrounding the team this year will be about the off-the-field problems. It’s very difficult to play under those circumstances.”
McCarver said he thinks the Mets will be able to compete on the field, if not battle for a playoff spot in the NL East.
“If they finish second or a close third, it wouldn’t surprise me as far as their talent on the field,” McCarver said. “However, they are going to be asked questions about these off-field matters all year, every place they go.”
Mets fans also will have to hear about it on TV.
“It’s very difficult to broadcast under those circumstances,” McCarver said of the SNY crew of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling. “That’s just because you have to tell what you deem to be the truth. It can’t be a soap opera about the owners every day and I’m sure Gary, Keith and Ron will keep it between the lines.”