Baseball Guru
08-07-2002, 01:35 AM
By Barry Bloom / MLB.com
Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball's president and chief operating officer, reacted emphatically Tuesday to a counter suit brought by New York Mets co-owner Nelson Doubleday against his partner, Fred Wilpon, and Sterling Mets Associates.
"This sort of internecine squabble between the owners of the New York Mets is not good for the game," DuPuy said in a statement. "The charges levied by Mr. Doubleday against the Commissioner's Office are nonsense and a complete fabrication. This is a dispute between the two partners and has been ongoing for many years.
"The Commissioner's Office became involved only at the request of the two parties involved. Mr. Doubleday participated fully in the process and readily agreed to the use of Bob Starkey as the appraiser. The Commissioner will continue to attempt to resolve this issue and absent resolution will take such action as he deems appropriate."
In papers filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York, Doubleday suggested that the arbitrator that he and Wilpon agreed to use, collaborated with Commissioner Bud Selig to undervalue the team for sale to "manufacture phantom operating losses" in baseball's books. In that way, an artificially low value was placed on the team, Doubleday said.
For the past year, Wilpon has been attempting to buy out Doubleday under an agreement they made when they bought the team in 1986. Doubleday has been willing to sell, but he and Wilpon have been squabbling about the price.
Wilpon sued Doubleday last month to force him to accept a buyout based on a $391 million evaluation made in April by Starkey, a former Arthur Andersen LLP partner who left in 1999 to form his own company, one that has done previous consulting work regarding Major League Baseball.
Wilpon has since been trying to settle the dispute with Doubleday without success.
Doubleday and Wilpon became 50-50 owners of the team in 1986 and agreed that if either partner wanted to sell, he would offer his half to the other at a price set by an appraiser.
Although Selig is not a party in the suit, Doubleday is alleging that MLB tried to inflate losses and undervalue franchises as a strategy in their ongoing negotiations with the players association for a new collective bargaining agreement.
"The allegations that are contained in this counter claim not only are not true, but they are ridiculous on their face," said Rob Manfred, MLB's vice president of labor relations and human resources. "They make no sense in the context of these negotiations. My own belief is that the MLBPA and (Executive Director) Don Fehr, in particular, are too smart to let nonsense like this derail these negotiations.
"Don has had, since 1987, every single year, every single club, audited financial statements. They may have issues about what conclusions you draw from those numbers, but I do not think for one minute that Don thinks those numbers are manufactured."
Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball's president and chief operating officer, reacted emphatically Tuesday to a counter suit brought by New York Mets co-owner Nelson Doubleday against his partner, Fred Wilpon, and Sterling Mets Associates.
"This sort of internecine squabble between the owners of the New York Mets is not good for the game," DuPuy said in a statement. "The charges levied by Mr. Doubleday against the Commissioner's Office are nonsense and a complete fabrication. This is a dispute between the two partners and has been ongoing for many years.
"The Commissioner's Office became involved only at the request of the two parties involved. Mr. Doubleday participated fully in the process and readily agreed to the use of Bob Starkey as the appraiser. The Commissioner will continue to attempt to resolve this issue and absent resolution will take such action as he deems appropriate."
In papers filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York, Doubleday suggested that the arbitrator that he and Wilpon agreed to use, collaborated with Commissioner Bud Selig to undervalue the team for sale to "manufacture phantom operating losses" in baseball's books. In that way, an artificially low value was placed on the team, Doubleday said.
For the past year, Wilpon has been attempting to buy out Doubleday under an agreement they made when they bought the team in 1986. Doubleday has been willing to sell, but he and Wilpon have been squabbling about the price.
Wilpon sued Doubleday last month to force him to accept a buyout based on a $391 million evaluation made in April by Starkey, a former Arthur Andersen LLP partner who left in 1999 to form his own company, one that has done previous consulting work regarding Major League Baseball.
Wilpon has since been trying to settle the dispute with Doubleday without success.
Doubleday and Wilpon became 50-50 owners of the team in 1986 and agreed that if either partner wanted to sell, he would offer his half to the other at a price set by an appraiser.
Although Selig is not a party in the suit, Doubleday is alleging that MLB tried to inflate losses and undervalue franchises as a strategy in their ongoing negotiations with the players association for a new collective bargaining agreement.
"The allegations that are contained in this counter claim not only are not true, but they are ridiculous on their face," said Rob Manfred, MLB's vice president of labor relations and human resources. "They make no sense in the context of these negotiations. My own belief is that the MLBPA and (Executive Director) Don Fehr, in particular, are too smart to let nonsense like this derail these negotiations.
"Don has had, since 1987, every single year, every single club, audited financial statements. They may have issues about what conclusions you draw from those numbers, but I do not think for one minute that Don thinks those numbers are manufactured."