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By Adam Rubin
ESPNNewYork.com

The Wilpon family, stung by losses and litigation stemming from convicted swindler Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, is considering selling a minority stake in the New York Mets to infuse cash into the organization.

Principal owner Fred Wilpon and chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon announced Friday they had hired former deputy baseball commissioner Steve Greenberg, managing director of Allen & Company, to explore “potential options including the addition of one or more strategic partners.”

The Wilpons are looking to sell a 20-25 percent share in the team, but any sale would be limited to a stake in the team and not SportsNet New York or the stadium.

Regardless of the outcome, the Wilpons added, they intend to maintain majority controlling interest in the Mets.

The Mets have vigorously asserted that the team has not been affected by the Madoff affair, so Friday’s announcement that an infusion of cash from other investors is needed marks a deviation from past statements. The team has committed only $8.1 million in major league contracts this offseason, although the Wilpons still estimate the club’s payroll will be in the $145 million-$150 million range this season because of past contract commitments.

“Regardless of the outcome of this exploration, [Wilpon-owned] Sterling [Equities] will remain the principal ownership group of the Mets and continue to control and manage the team’s operations,” the Wilpons said in a statement. “The Mets have been part of our families for more than 30 years and that is not going to change.

“As we have said before, we are totally committed to having the Mets again become a World Series winner. Our fans and all New Yorkers deserve nothing less.”

The Wilpons and Sterling Equities were sued Dec. 7 by Irving H. Picard, the trustee charged with distributing money to victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, the organization acknowledged. The sides have been in settlement negotiations to recover ill-gotten gains. Some estimates say that Madoff swindled more than $20 billion from investors, but reports indicate one Mets-related investment fund turned a $47.8 million profit as a result of the scheme.

“We are not permitted to comment on these confidential negotiations while they are ongoing,” the Wilpons said in their statement.

Still, Fred Wilpon has acknowledged being a personal victim of Madoff, whom he trusted as a close friend. He became part-owner of the Mets in 1980 and bought out partner Nelson Doubleday to gain full control in 2002.

“I would say the Madoff issue, certainly for the people in this room that represent Sterling, their [lost] money ‘smarts.’ There’s no question,” the 74-year-old Wilpon said in October. “You don’t like to lose money that is just stolen from you. But the betrayal is something I’ll never, ever forget. I’ll go to my grave in that one, as will [team president] Saul [Katz] and Jeff and the rest of our partners. That was a total betrayal of us. We were investors for something like 25 years.”

Greenberg acknowledged Friday that selling a controlling interest would yield a premium, but said: “We’ll have a robust level of interest even in a minority [share].”

Greenberg said plenty of teams have minority partners. He said that minority partners usually aren’t added once a a group has sole ownership, but he noted the National Football League’s New York Giants are an exception.

“The Yankees from the beginning of time have had minority partners,” Greenberg said. “… It’s not that unusual.”