New York Notes: Wilpon, Sabathia, Torrealba

There seems to be no shortage of on- and off-field baseball news coming out of the Big Apple these days. Here's some of the latest out of New York …

• High-ranking baseball people are concerned about whether the Wilpons will be able to keep the Mets in the wake of the ongoing Madoff fallout, writes Jon Heyman of SI.com. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, a "friend and ally" of Wilpon's, according to Heyman, will give Wilpon a long leash in sorting through the mess, but some are doubting whether the Wilpons can withstand a loss worth half or even a quarter of the $1 billion that Madoff trustee Irving Picard is seeking.
• The Yankees may actually benefit if CC Sabathia opts out of his contract after 2011, writes Joe Sheehan of SI.com. Typically, opt-out clauses are considered player-friendly, but because of Sabathia's injury risk due to his body type and age between 2012-15, the Yanks might do well to let Sabathia walk and spend the money elsewhere, according to Sheehan, especially with some promising pitching prospects on the way up. One interesting hypothetical posed by Sheehan: Let Sabathia walk, move Mark Teixeira to full-time DH duties and sign potential free agent Albert Pujols.
• The Mets won their grievance case with catcher Yorvit Torrealba, writes Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. An arbitrator ruled that the Mets were within their rights to call off a three-year, $14.4MM agreement they had reached with Torrealba following the 2007 season upon conducting a physical which caused them "concerns" about the condition of Torrealba's throwing shoulder.