If not for an excellent and much needed post from Faith and Fear in Flushing, I probably would’ve forgotten about Ed Kranepool.

For those like myself who had forgotten, the Mets first real phenom is in trouble. He has two failing kidneys, and he needs a transplant. To keep paying his extensive medical bills, he has undertaken selling his personal memorabilia.

To be fair, as noted in a Newsday column, Kranepool did not notify the Mets of his illness. Why would he with their strained relationship.

The strain in their relationship goes back to when the Wilpons were desperately trying to hold onto the Mets. As reported by the New York Daily News:

According to Horwitz’s account, Kranepool was critical of the Met owners selling off chunks of the team in an effort to raise funds in the wake of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme the Wilpons were tied up in, saying to Jeff: “I hear you are selling shares in your team. I don’t want shares. I want to buy the whole team so I can run it better than you and your father.”

It’s an account Kranepool denies, but it doesn’t matter. Mostly, it doesn’t matter because it’s likely what the Wilpons believe to be true.

If it wasn’t this, it must’ve been something else because there is obviously some personal animosity between the Wilpons and Kranepool. Why else would the Wilpons fail to at least contact Kranepool in the more than half a year subsequent to discovering he was gravely ill?

This isn’t to say the Wilpons owe Kranepool anything. There is no obligation to pay his medical bills. There’s no obligation to do anything even with the Wilpons owning a team and television network that could be put to use to help Kranepool.

For example, recently, the Mets held a blood drive where donors received a pair of tickets to a 2018 Mets game:

Still time to save lives at the @Mets blood drive – til 5PM at @CitiField Fans that donate will receive a pair of tickets to a 2018 #Mets spring game. See details here https://t.co/DZyH5WhXNv pic.twitter.com/RBreQW4vAv

— NY Blood Center (@NYBloodCenter) January 10, 2018

No, the Mets aren’t obligated to do anything for Kranepool. However, just because they aren’t obligated to do anything, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t.

A man is gravely ill, and the Wilpons haven’t even reached out to him. While running drives to search for a donor or even using time on your airwaves has a cost, it doesn’t cost the Wilpons anything to check in on Kranepool. The fact they don’t even do that is sadly telling.Whatever the perceived slights and bad blood, it’s time for all to put them aside. It’s time to see what everyone can do for Kranepool.