My take on David Einhorn's Mets Acquisition

 HIGH AND TIGHT


I'll be brief today. To Fred and Jeff Wilpon, be careful what you wish for.

By any realistic review, new Mets' presumptive 40% stakeholder David Einhorn is a success as a Hedge Fund Manager with Greenlight Capital, in taking $660,000 at the World Series of Poker, and as a philanthropist good-deed doer. Through any analysis, he is a very smart man.

So to summarize this deal, the Wilpons are accepting $200 Million of his money -- which will not go into the team -- for about a 40% "non-controlling" interest, one that does not include any part of SNY, but more importantly, but neither does it include any of the highly leveraged debt that they have incurred.

Mr. Einhorn's specialty is assessing risk, and he clearly positioning himself to own the entire team in the likely event that L'Affaire Madoff ends with a resolution somewhere between the Wilpons' offer of $150 Million to settle, Irving Picard's request for $1 Billion, and the $700 Million determined by former New York Governor Mario Cuomo's independent review. Splitting the difference will clearly cost them the team.

I expect Mr. Einhorn to be the last man standing, and Fred to return to his true calling as a motivational speaker. And it's all good for fans of the Metropolitans.