We Were Bamboozled!

31 Comments + Add Comment

• benny agbayani September 1, 2009 at 9:35 am

  couldn’t agree more
• theonlymaskman September 1, 2009 at 9:51 am

  Great article. The Wilpons are using the Mets as a cash cow to maintain their life style, just as Madoff used their money to maintain his. What goes around comes around. It has been a season of lies to protect the bottom line. Who comes up short in all this is the Mets fans, who thought they were rooting for a professional team instead of the reality in which charlatans are taking us to the cleaners.
• METS62FAN September 1, 2009 at 9:56 am

  CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
  GREG, AS LONG AS YOU REFUSE TO ACCEPT THE “RULES” OF NYM FRANCHISE, YOU WILL CONTINUE BEING A DISGRUNTLED/DISASISFIED FAN. I’VE POINTED OUT NUMEROUS TIMES, THE NYM WILL CONYINUE TO FOLLOW FRED’S VOW TO “NEVER PAY A DIME IN LUXURY TAXES” WITH A PAYROLL OF 149M FOR ’09 AND A LUXURY TAX THRESHOLD AT 163M THE MAXIMUM AVAILABLE TO BE SPENT WAS 14M, HOW DO YOU PROPOSE TO FIX ALL THOSE INJURIES, 75% OF INFIELD, 120% OF ROTATION,33% OF OUTFIELD, 50% OF SETUP ON 14M. PERHAPS IT’S NOT SO MUCH LYING; BUT OPTIMISTIC LESSER TIME FRAMES PASSED ON.
  ARE THERE PROBLEMS? CERTAINLY. A ‘FULL INVESTIGATION’ INTO THE OBVIOUS DISCONNECT BETWEEN PROGNOSIS & ACTUAL MUST BE COMPLETED IN MUCH THE SAME STYLE AS BERNAZARD WAS INVESTIGATED. PERHAPS, THE TRAINING STAFF IS MUCH BETTER SUITED TO ROUTINES AIMED AT INJURY AVOIDANCE THAN INJURY RECOVERY. I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING MORE THAN OUR POSITION PLAYERS WERE INORDINANTLY HEALTHY FROM ’06-’08 & SEEMINGLY NEVER RECOVERING IN ’09.
  I DO BELIEVE THE ‘LIE CARD’ IS PLAYED MUCH TOO FREQUENTLY AND IRRESPONSIBLY IN TODAY’S SOCIETY. SINCE TO ACTUALLY “LIE” IS TO DELIBERATLY MISREPRESENT FACTS YOU KNOW FOR CERTAIN TO BE OTHERWISE. IF THE FRONTOFFICE WAS CLEARLY INFORMED THESE INJURIES TO REYES,BELTRAN, DELGADO,ETC. WERE TRULY SEASON ENDING & FANS WERE FED THESE OPTIMISTIC RETURN DATES, THEN YOU WOULD BE ABSOLUTELY JUSTIFIED, IF THEY ONLY RELEASED THE MOST OPTIMISTIC MEDICAL PROGNOSIS, THEY ARE GUILTY OF BEING TOO OPTIMISTIC, NOT LYING. IF A DOCTOR TELLS YOU YOU HAVE UP TO 6 MOS TO LIVE & U DIE AFTER 7 OR 5 WAS HE LYING? OR IF YOU STATE U HAVE 6 MOS. TO LIVE ARE U LYING? NO & NO. PERSONALLY I’VE NEVER MET A DOCTOR WHO DEALS IN ABSOLUTES REGARDING PROGNOSIS. MOST DEAL IN RANGES. REPEATING THE MORE OPTIMISTIC ISN’T LYING UNLESS YOUR STATEMENT FALLS OUTSIDE SAID RANGE.RECOVERY PERIOD OF PLAYER X IS ANYWHERE FROM 3 WEEKS TO 3 MOS. RELEASING A STATEMENT THAT “PLAYER X MAY REJOIN THE CLUB IN AS LITTLE AS 3 WEEKS” IS NOT A LIE IN MY BOOK. BLACK & WHITE IS EASY OUTLOOK; BUT USUALLY IMPRACTICAL IN A GRAYSCALE WORLD.
  BACK TO WHAT 14M FIX WOULD DEFINITLY CHANGE THE OUTCOME?
• Satish Ram September 1, 2009 at 10:27 am

  This is a great read. There’s alot of people feeling like you, myself included.

  By the way, i’m curious about something. The Mets have great doctors –> So it’s the training staff’s fault? Because are they the ones that make the judgements?
  • Ace September 1, 2009 at 10:39 am

    Sam, although your right the Med staff does make the medical judgements, or diagnose the players injuries. It is the Management of the organization that ultimately decide what the future of the player will be. The med staff report to management. In addition, the same management (I use the term very loosely) decides what they say to the media, and the fans with regard to injuries and the severity of those injuries. IMHO, that should be more transparent to the fans so we are not left in the dark. But f course, if they tell the truth about the severity, they know the fans would apply pressure and make demands to trade for more talent which we now know will not happen.
• Ace September 1, 2009 at 10:34 am

  Greg, I agree the lying on the part of management is past the point of ridiculous. Besides what you mention, Omar says one minute Putz should be back soon and thext we hear he is out for the season. What about Santana? Didn’t Omar say he couldn’t recall any injury concerns with Santana in the spring even though he made public statements about it on the record? Clearly money saving is the motivator in his moves to get players and prospects, or lack of getting them. However, this does not explain the constant lies. I think most everyone is at the same conclusion re: Omar, and he has lost all trust with the fans. (even though there are some Omar defenders still, they are clearly in denial or on medication)Omar is nothing more than a used car salesman, whatever he has to say to get you in this lemon, or in Mets fans case whatever he has to say to keep the turnstyles spinning.
• 4Swoboda4 September 1, 2009 at 10:44 am

  While I do agree with the basic thought in your rant, there are a few things that I strongly disagree with. First, your second sentence: “Most people believed that once the Mets signed Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez that all the problems from last year were solved.”

  Many people — maybe. But MOST peole — not sure about that. While noone could have forseen this train wreck, I never thought this was a championship team and thought that all the focus on the bullpen was smart but that there were too many other holes and question marks.

  Second, your allegations that all the Mets brass did was lie. Frankly, that is giving them too much credit. If they did lie, it would mean they were smart enough to know what was going on and intentionally conspired to fool people. I have a different view — I don’t think they have a clue, that they were telling us what they thought about players coming back and just never got hold of the real situation. Frankly, I think Minaya is a moron and should be fired …. he’s not a liar, he’s an idiot.
  • Ace September 1, 2009 at 10:54 am

    Good point about K-Rod. Even when they announced bringing him on i wasn’t convinced all of our problems on the mound were solved. We needed ,and still VERY much need starting pitchers, and Ollie was clearly not the one, and with all of the money saving decisions Omar has made, why pay him so much? However, a small disagreement w/you on Omar. I totally agree w/you, he is a blithering idiot. However, he is a liar too. I believe he did have a clue on some of these issues such as the injuries, but he lied to cover them up for various reasons.
• Rick J September 1, 2009 at 11:21 am

  The Wilpons must go! Their statement saying that the team “will be family owned for the long term” is very scary to hear. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
• Bartleby the Scrivener September 1, 2009 at 11:23 am

  Is this post serious?

  Are any of the posts on this “Mets Blog” serious?

  (I’m not kidding: if this entire blog is one massive Klawbait then I will gladly leave my $5 dollars at the door)

  So now we are accusing the family that has consistently maintained one of the Top 3 payrolls in all of baseball for the past decade and just built a beautiful half-billion dollar new stadium of being cheap?

  I’ve got news for you, if you feel slighted by this organization then stop buying tickets, watching the games on tv, etc.

  We’re all frustrated with how this season has turned out for a myriad of reasons, but let’s cool it with the ad hominem attacks with premises that are clearly not supported by the most rudimentary of facts.
  • Ace September 1, 2009 at 11:27 am

    Are you actually serious? With everything being reported everywhere you actually think the Wilpon’s are free spenders? You must be kidding.
    • AYE September 1, 2009 at 11:42 am

      The mets are free spenders. Guess having one of the top 3 payrolls in ther whole of baseball make them cheapasses. The mets are super free spenders, they have been for the past 3 seasons. They just unfortunately do not how to spend money WISELY.
  • mark September 1, 2009 at 11:32 am

    Are you the idiot? You have an opinion or disagree then say your piece. There are hundreds of opinions on this site and your idiotic opinion is just one of them. I can’t stand when someone just leaves a blanket comment that he ignorantly applies to an entire readership and staff of bloggers. Show some class and leave your immature insults and overt ignorance at the door.
    • Bartleby the Scrivener September 1, 2009 at 12:09 pm

      Since you brought it up:

      Where does the inflammatory accusation that “the Wilpons don’t care about the fans…it’s all about the money to them. They lied to us…all for the almighty dollar” fit on the scale of “blanket, ignorant comments.”????

      Riddle me this, if the Wilpons only cared about “maintaining their lifestyle” (as this “article” posits), wouldn’t they just sell the team right now for the hundreds of millions of dollars they would receive and go sailing around the world with the Gatsby’s for 6 weeks instead of steadfastly standing up to accusations of them needing to sell the team to the hoards of prodding media members right now?
      • Ace September 1, 2009 at 12:17 pm

        You cannot be serious! If so, you are very short sighted. The simple anser to your “Gatsby sailing” question is to try to make up their considerable losses. Your defense of the wilpons is stunning. There are still a few defending Omar but I have not seen anyone defending the great ownership of the Wilpons. Your original post is inflammatory at best, and if this is what you are bringing to this site i say leave your $5 dollars at the door as you put it. hell, you can leave for free. I’d rather argue with caps lock, at least he shows some inteligence even if it is masked by obstinance.
        • Bartleby the Scrivener September 1, 2009 at 12:44 pm

          So let me get this straight: it is your contention that to “recoup their losses from the Madoff fallout,” the Wilpons are going to nitpick at the fringes of the Mets’ payroll (a couple million saved by dumping Wagner, another million saved by cutting Livan, and couple hundred thousand dollars saved in non-bonues to draftees, etc.) instead of just alleviating themselves of the supposed headache that is owning the Mets and cashing in for what would be an excess of $1 billion dollars by selling the team all together? That makes perfect sense. Why didn’t I think of that?

          In addition, I’ll double-down with my original $5 and wager that you have no idea what “inflammatory” means.
      • Peter R. September 1, 2009 at 1:11 pm

        The Wilpons want to rollback payroll to the pre-Omar levels. Suggesting that the Wilpons are not cheap or otherwise they would sell the team is faulty logic.

        They can still be cheap and unwilling to sell. Most baseball owners do that.
    • Kay September 1, 2009 at 1:35 pm

      and starting your rebuttle with “Are you an idiot” is showing class?

      This site is getting nuts, god forbid someone has a different opinion then the masses, then they are the idiot. The blind hatred on this site is out of control now, people are not even thinking clearly. I swear every article is written with the same thought, in different words.
  • Shamsky September 1, 2009 at 11:43 am

    The ability to read and write or transcribe, is not evidence of intellectual acuity. You undermined your entire ability to make a valid point by preceding it with your ignorant and insulting preamble.
• Shamsky September 1, 2009 at 11:59 am

  The premise of this post is to suggest that the Mets maintained a rosy and ultra-optimistic outlook for the returns of Beltran, Reyes, Maine and Delgado, and used that as the basis for not making any significant additions at the trade deadline. That is an absolute fact that is undeniable.

  On more than a dozen occasions, Minaya said as much during the days leading up to the non waiver trade deadline. Here is a quote from the Daily News on July 7th:

  “I’m not making deals for players at positions where our players are hurt. What do I do with a Delgado when he comes back if I were to trade for a first baseman?”

  He maintained the illusion the day after deadline passed by suggesting he had several things on the stove and many options would be there via waivers.

  Again, that never happened and he used that period to shed $3.5 million salary by trading Billy Wagner for two very unimpressive prospects. The two first round picks the Mets would have gotten by keeping and offering Wagner arbitration would have been dramatically better than what the Mets received.

  All those moves were intended to cut costs. Keeping the myth alive of “help was on the way”, was intended to keep Mets fans coming to the park.

  The Mets knew in July that the season was over for Maine, Delgado and Reyes. If money wasn’t motivating their decision not to be honest and come clean, what was?

  The true intellectuals and visionaries are those who saw the transparency. Any other opinions are merely signs of blind loyalty.
  • Ace September 1, 2009 at 12:07 pm

    Great post BTW…one thing to add to your comment-”Again, that never happened and he used that period to shed $3.5 million salary by trading Billy Wagner for two very unimpressive prospects. The two first round picks the Mets would have gotten by keeping and offering Wagner arbitration would have been dramatically better than what the Mets received.” would be that one of those two unimpressive prospects is on waiver claimed by the Yanks?
  • mark September 1, 2009 at 12:11 pm

    Dude!! You said it better than I ever could. Awesome comment!
  • Peter R. September 1, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    Nice post.
• alan September 1, 2009 at 12:11 pm

  Bamboozled? No! It is time for some of you fans to come to terms that baseball is all about pitching. Other than Santana we have not had a starter pitch solidly for an entire season since the first year that Pedro played in NY. John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, Ollie Perez have all shown flashes but none should be labeled as dependable be it injuries or a lack of mental toughness causing the problem. El Duque and Livan Hernandez gave us a veteran that was injury prone and a veteran getting by for 4-5 innings on guile alone. The late season failures of our bullpens in 2007 and 2008 proved that they were overworked because of the starters not getting deeper into a game. Five plus innings does not and will not GET THE JOB DONE!
  Being that good starting pitching does not grow on trees we have a serious problem. To get a good starter we would have to trade one of our core players. Reyes until healthy is no longer so valuable. David Wright and Carlos Beltran are the only two options with Carlos’s overall value a bit questionable because of his injury history. David is the Met’s poster boy so he is going nowhere. The bottom line is having to overpay for older, or less accomplished arms which is exactly what we have done. As crazy as it seems, Omar had to sign Ollie and Derek Lowe’s numbers have not been so good and he is too old for a long term deal.

  Unless the team packages a few players there will be no trade for a stud starting pitcher. Until we find out this offseason about the $$$$ situation that surrounds the Wilpons, all we can do is hope for the best. If the team and it’s assets are as valuable as estimated than selling the team can happen but would take a while to do. By the time the winter meeetings arrive we will better know what is in the near future. PATIENCE REQUIRED!

  AND STOP BLAMING OMAR MINAYA FOR THIS.
  • Ace September 1, 2009 at 12:41 pm

    It’s completely baffling why there are still people defending Omar! after all that we have seen this year, it is really amazing. I do agree with you on the pitching issue. But who do you think is responsible for hiring the pitching staff?
• Met Maniac September 1, 2009 at 1:57 pm

  I think it’s funny how personal some Mets fans take it when you throw some criticism at Omar Minaya who has been inept all year and has now diminished himself to GM in name only. Wilpon calls the shots now and Minaya goes nowhere without a front office shadow.

  Minaya’s claim to fame is Beltran, Pedro, Delgado, Santana and K-Rod. However none of ti’s possible without the Wilpons millions. Any GM would have made those same aquisitions had they been fortunate enough to have Wilpon’s fat checkbook.

  As for Minaya’s trades, therein lies his true testament to failure. The devil is in the details.
• sarge September 1, 2009 at 6:35 pm

  Wow I once thought that you could have a civil discourse and agree or disagree here on all things Mets but some emotions are running high and the name calling is getting ridiculous. Agreeing with Kay, this is getting out of hand when two people disagree and turn this into their personal IM aor twitter page instead of just posting your thoughts, respecting others and maybe trying to find something good in the team we love to follow. The Wilpons will be who they are, not cheap, but lacking in foresight and someone to build the farm system so this year does not repeat and also spending the money they do spend wisely but they are not cheap so please stop it cause money is not the problem the past few years and this year. The injuries were rough and what could they bring in with a limited cap to their payroll and as Met 62 posts there were not too many options left for Wilpons.
• sarge September 1, 2009 at 6:38 pm

  Also Gregg, what evidence do you have that Mets lied? Or are you just throwing this post out there to see what sticks? Please post some facts and comments that you can show are lies but do not let the fact, as MET62 stated, that Mets did not add payroll and made up comeback dates to keep fans in Citi field unless you have proof not wild ideas or emotions.
• Lifelongmetsfan September 1, 2009 at 8:34 pm

  “Omar, Jerry and the Mets tried to sell us on how good Daniel Murphy was going to be for this team but that was a bust!”
  WTF are you talking about! Myself and several other people made multiple responses to posts last year claiming that Murphy was this or that! Ridiculous!
  Myself and several other posters were ridiculed because we saw Murphy for what he his projected was last year. To claim that the Mets had planned on Murphy being the starting 1st basemen is stupid.
  Just please stop all the dopey comments and simply see things for what they are. Murphy is going to be a good solid off the bench left handed part time player for some MLB team. Most likely NOT the New York Mets.
  Angel Pagen is a good solid 4 or 5th outfielder depending on the team BUT not a starting player. Omar Santos appears to be a good #2 catcher but not a good first option.
  As I said last year Luis Castillo is 2x the player Daniel Murphy is.
  Remember last year all the dopey postings about Murphy taking over 2nd base for Castillo. DO people now understand the value of a Luis Castillo player who produces runs???! As oppsed to a mediocre left handed hitter with little power and run scoring ability like a Daniel Murphy?
  Yhe Mets don’t want Daniel Murphy playing 1st base every day!
• sarge September 1, 2009 at 11:09 pm

  Good post Lifelong. I just hope that Murph does something with his at bats in Sept to make his making the team next year easier for Mets and fans.
• Twitted by maggie162 September 6, 2009 at 7:48 am

  [...] This post was Twitted by maggie162 [...]