Kuzul

The Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme has been a terrible tragedy for many in the United States.  For those not familiar with ponzi schemes, it refers to a financial “investment” company, where the person running the scheme pays dividends to those investing their money with the investments that new investors make. 

Now how does this affect the New York Mets?  Well, according to the lawsuit, Mets owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon invested both team money and personal money into the team.

An upcoming lawsuit alleges that the Mets’ owners knowingly invested in this scheme, with full knowledge that it was either a scheme or that they turned a blind eye to what was probably an impossibility.

On MLB Network Radio on Monday, Jim Duquette reported that the lawsuit could be between $300 million and $1 billion, which could come close to the value of the New York Mets team, and debt payments would require a $30 million a year profit  by the Mets.

The following is a list of suggestions for the Mets to pare down operating costs in order to afford those debt payments or lawsuit judgment.

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Michael Young of the Texas Rangers made it clear that he is not happy with his current situation in Texas, where Young’s role will be reduced to designated hitter, with the signing of Adrian Beltre.

Young has long been a good sport to the Rangers.  Young came up as a second baseman, working on the other side of second base to his natural position of shortstop, because the Rangers had Alex Rodriguez.

Then, Young moved to shortstop after Alex Rodriguez was traded to the New York Yankees to play third base there.

Then, Elvis Andrus was acquired in a trade for Mark Teixeira. Once again, Young changed positions, this time to third base.

It sounds as if enough is enough for Young, Yahoo’s Tim Brown writes.

“They will attempt to trade him in the coming days, according to a source familiar with those conversations, in part because Young has grown disillusioned with his diminished role on the team.”

While Young has been linked to the Angels and Rockies, the Phillies would make perfect sense as a landing spot for Young to fill the hole left by Jayson Werth signing with the Nationals.  

Here are the top trade scenarios to land him for the Phillies.

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Alex Rodriguez has been known to upstage a major sporting event in the middle to draw attention to himself, and the 2011 Super Bowl was no exception.

While the Green Bay Packers battled the Pittsburgh Steelers, Alex Rodriguez was sitting in his luxury box with his beau Cameron Diaz. Surely, Rodriguez must have realized that he would be seen when Diaz started feeding him popcorn during the second quarter.

Previous major sporting events Rodriguez interrupted include the 2007 World Series, when, through agent Scott Boras, Rodriguez he announced he would be opting out of his 10-year, $252 million contract with the New York Yankees that he had previously signed with the Texas Rangers.

Must Read: Super Bowl Commercials Report Card: Ranking the Winners and Losers

Since his marriage broke up in 2008, Rodriguez has been spotted dating a number of women, including celebrities such as Cameron Diaz. Rodriguez is a perennial All-Star third baseman and shortstop.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Heading into the 2011 season, the Philadelphia Phillies are widely believed to be the favorite in the National League East, and maybe even the National League. 

However, to say that a team is without holes is unreasonable; in the case of the 2011 Phillies, there are indeed many questions that remain as they head to Clearwater to begin training.  On Friday, the Phillies packed up their trucks and sent the team’s gear down I-95 to Florida.

Here are the top 17 questions that remain going into Spring Training.

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Going into the 2010-2011 offseason, it was clear that the New York Yankees and New York Mets were in need of a pitching boost.

In the Bronx, Andy Pettitte was strongly leaning towards retirement, and Cliff Lee chose to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies.

In Flushing, Johan Santana continued rehabbing his arm, and John Maine left as a free agent.  Both teams were in desperate need of starting pitching.   However, neither team went for any established starter.

Here are the top pitchers the Yankees and Mets have either signed in the offseason or they may count on in 2011.

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The Phillies have pulled off some trades for some top pitching talent over the past few seasons. 

In 2008, the Phillies traded Josh Outman, Adrian Cardenas and one other to acquire Joe Blanton. 

In 2009, the Phillies traded Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald and Jason Knapp to acquire Cliff Lee. Then, in the offseason that year, the Phillies traded Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor and Travis D’Arnaud for Roy Halladay.  

During the 2010 season, the Phillies traded J.A. Happ, Anthony Gose and another player for Roy Oswalt.

As you can tell, the Phillies system has been decimated by trades and therefore there is very little talent at the AA and AAA levels that can come up to the major league club and help fill specific needs.

Here are some ways the Phillies can strategically replenish the farm system.

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The Philadelphia Phillies lost another player from their World Series winning team when Greg Dobbs signed a minor-league contract with the Florida Marlins.

This loss will really hurt the Phillies in several ways.  Fans should not be dissuaded by Greg Dobbs’ bad year in 2010; many players have a down year now and then. 

Here are the top reasons the Phillies will miss having Greg Dobbs on their roster.

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The topic of trades has been a hot debate in Philadelphia Phillies fan circles, ever since the Phillies traded Cliff Lee away to the Seattle Mariners for Philippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies and J.C. Ramirez. 

But, the Cliff Lee trade a year later may turn out to be one of the more underrated deals in Philadelphia Phillies history.  The challenges of a general manager are many, and may not be the very obvious things that a fan wants to see or hear. 

But in the end, the success of the general manager depends on how the trade has worked out long term. 

Here is a list of the 10 most underrated Phillies trades in the recent era.

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