Eno Sarris of Amazin’ Avenue reported last night that the New York Mets have hired a consulting firm called CRG Partners. The significance? That’s the same consulting firm Tom Hicks and the Texas Rangers hired in 2010 (a) to put them into and help them through bankruptcy and; (b) to eventually help sell the team to Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan.
A little after Eno’s report came out the Mets confirmed that they hired CRG. But they disputed any suggestion that this has anything to do with a bankruptcy or a sale. Rather, it was “to provide services in connection with financial reporting and budgeting processes.”
Could be. There are a lot of reasons to hire a turnaround firm and if the Wilpons don’t plan to sell they can’t be forced to unless everything completely crashes. But as Eno points out in his report, such firms make the biggest money when they help orchestrate something big, not when they come in and help a business optimize their TPS reports.
It strikes me that the thing to watch here is when and if the Mets finally manage to sell off those minority interests they’ve been trying to sell in order to raise cash. Sandy Alderson said yesterday that he believes that’s going well and deals could close this month, but it’s been taking a while and nothing has been announced.
Know who else tried to sell minority shares to save themselves and couldn’t? The Texas Rangers. Then they hired CRG. So, you know.
