Mets Madoff T-Shirts

Mets CEO Fred Wilpon, whose reputation has taken a serious hit in recent weeks as his legal troubles have gotten more public, vowed to exonerate his name and hold onto his beloved team yesterday. "We did not know one iota, one thing about Madoff's fraud. We didn't do anything wrong. If anything we trusted a friend for a very long time. As I told you a few months ago, that betrayal is very difficult for me because this was a man, we were friends for 35 years and investors for 25 years. Having said that, we will be vindicated," said Wilpon, while with the team in Port St. Lucie, Fla. for spring training.

Nevertheless, many "high-ranking people around baseball" are worried that the extravagant legal fees involved with fighting trustee Irving Picard's $300 million Madoff-related lawsuit against Wilpon's company, Sterling Equities, may force Wilpon to sell the team entirely. In that vein, the Post reports that banks who provided hundreds of millions in loans to the Mets have started to unload some of that debt at a discount, a sign that creditors are getting nervous about the team's finances.

But despite all the foreboding and legal woes, the Mets have begun preparing for the new season with business as usual: K-Rod is ready to pitch, Santana will be back in June, and the team even has a new uniform design.