4
2011
Lets Focus On Spring Training, People!
An article by 
Thankfully, spring training is around the corner. Everyone is preparing for another season of Mets baseball. This is the time of year that I love the most. (Besides the Daytona 500, and E3 Expo).
There has been plenty this offseason to talk about (Chris Young, Sandy Alderson, Terry Collins, etc), but the main talk of the offseason has been mainly about the Wilpons and their mega million dollar lawsuit from the trustee in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.
We all know this is going to go on for a while, and its going to get nastier before it becomes better. With spring training around the corner, lets focus on spring training and the year ahead, and not the Wilpons’ current financial troubles, people!
I understand that this will be a huge deal, and that the Wilpons are more than likely going to have to sell stakes in both SNY and the Mets franchise itself in order to pay for a settlement in this case, but we really need to just get on board with our 2011 Mets, and see where the new season takes us. Hey, you never know whats going to happen. Remember the Reds NL Central run last year?
As Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog said during an interview on the Mets video blog On The Black with Kerel Cooper, the talk during spring training in the past seasons hasn’t been about baseball. It’s been mainly about all the off-the-field stuff instead of real baseball.
This entire saga is may even affect the players, because they are going to be playing with a cloud of uncertainty, and wondering whether or not they’ll be playing or coaching for the Mets much longer. That is something that this team doesn’t need right now.
Players like Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes, who are in their walk-years, need to be focused on playing their best and raising their stock, rather than worrying about how much longer they will play for New York.
This team needs enthusiasm, confidence, and the spirit to go out and win ballgames and try to compete in 2011. As fans, we owe them our undivided attention and support.
We now know that this current financial and legal mess ”is going to get worse before it can get better”. Let the lawyers and accountants worry about that mess, and as fans lets just get behind our team and hope for a banner season in 2011.
LETS GO METS!
About the Author: Brandon Butler
Brandon is currently a MMO Minor League Staff Writer. He is also the co-host of the Mets Madness Podcast on Talkshoe Radio. Brandon lives in Hornell, NY.
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As soon as it actually starts, I will be more than happy to focus on it. This is the hard part to get through, when the parts are in place, but nothing is happening, and just about every thing that could be hacked over has been beaten to death.
Looking forward to watching baseball and marveling at a Met driving a ball for a HR or painting a corner with a backdoor breaking ball for a called strike 3 to end an inning.
Sweeeeet……
As much as I’d like to believe the two can remain separate and one should have nothing to do with the other, I think that’s naive thinking. According to Rubin, sources ‘close’ to DWright said there are questions concerning whether or not he’ll be finishing out his career with the Mets. There were a few other comments made that implied the turmoil that seems to constantly surround this team is wearing on him – when all he wants to do is play baseball where baseball is the main focus and not the circus that’s surrounded this franchise the past few years.
Then there’s Reyes, who was quoted as saying once the season starts, he just wants to focus on baseball and not extension. Heyman reported the Mets plans are to see if Reyes can stay healthy the whole year before deciding on a contract. IMO, translation: Reyes will apparently be playing for what will be his walk year.
Beltran, who also is playing for what is his walk year, is as good as gone come mid season.
And those might not be the only ones we see gone come end of 2011 season.
As much as it pains me to say it, I believe not only has this scandal already affected operations of all things Mets, but it’s likely to get far worse before it gets better. With a possibility of potentially ownership changing hands I can only assume evaluating the team, the franchise will be first order of business and not necessarily having a competing team in the immediate future.
I don’t think the Wilpons lied to the fan base. I believe they truly did not realize in October how bad this would become. They’ve gone from saying the Madoff scandal would not affect the operation of the Mets, to now trying to get an investor to offset more $$ they will potentially lose in this lawsuit, to rumors (and I’m still saying rumors) of having to sell the team, lock, stock and barrel.
I can’t wait for the season to begin. I hope they get off to a good start in April and continue to be competitive this year. I think that’s the only way that might offset some of these problems as the season plays out.
well, simple solution MF.
Stay off the internet!
The wilpons didn’t lie?????? Jeez…. When did the Wilpons do anything but lie?
This POST article clearly shows that, IMO, pyroll was to be significantly scaled back regardless of Picard’s self-serving suit;
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/wilpon_losing_his_grip_on_the_team_839KYyGsQmnArfOY8Lsd9M
Truly the nature of our future contention outlook relies heavily upon whether the Nebish Bros(Wilpon/Katz) maintain control or not & if not, who wrestles it away, Mark Cuban? could be the most tantalizing solution as I see it inasmuch as Forbes rates his personal fortune($2B) @ 4X Wilpon’s best position Today’s Cuban version is certainly more mature than the NBA novice version as he’s seemingly learned the value of knowledgable advisors, while this certainly has not seemed to dilute either his competitiveness,fan/player loyalty or his flamboyance it certainly makes the result of mixing his deep pockets, his competitiveness, flamboyance, with the talent evaluation & team building skills of Alderson-Riccardi-DiPodesta all unrestricted by ANY salary cap as in NBA. without the Fred rules of 1)ABSOLUTELY NO LUXURY TAX INCURSION
2) BLIND LOYALTY TO SELIG’S DRAFT SLOTTING.
Under the guise that it’s always darkest before the dawn & that in 1980 Lorinda deRoulett’s initial Doubleday contact was over a minority investment, “cash influx” ‘oportunity’.
I’m intrigued that depending on how everything plays out how Berni Madoff’s effigy may eventually be moved from it’s present site of hanging from a CITIFIELD lamppost to mumification in the NYM HOF, lol
While many are despairing over this year’s lack of neme recognition additions on a man for man basis it certainly appears as if while career highlights may have been surrendered higher avg career acconmplishments is the replacement…
Gone are perennial non-contributing TATIS,CORA,MAINE,PEREZ(AS SP) replaced by unremarkables yet potentially steady contributing HARRIS,HAIRSTON,YOUNG,CAPUANO & @ less fin’;l outlay & time commitments. While a potential platoon featuring 2 of MURPHY/EMAUS/TURNER @ 2B provides no hopeful bragging rights considering it would replace Castillo is certainly a likely positive even if both replacements fail miserably.
Without a doubt “feeling good” certainly requires leaps of faith; I challenge every Met fan to do what it is they are supposd to do BEST… B E L I E V E!!!
’62, I agree that the “irrational exuberance” of thinking you can contend strictly by going high end type A expensive and past their prime free agents and filling in behind them with rag dolls was about to run it’s course anyway.
The Madoff lawsuit, if anything, just hastened the process and insured no backsliding.
Mark Cuban as you say has matured as an NBA owner but one look at that picture of him on MMO tells me he is still the same guy, just a little more refined around the edges.
That picture of him says to me, OK you got me, now we’ve lost and I knew this was the one way that you could derail us but I’m still smarter than you and I would do it all the same way if I had to do it over. He’s really just a narcissist at the root and the last thing I want is an attention starved owner creating all kinds of chaos in the pursuit of self aggrandizement.
Not that you can compare the two sports but one of the things that the Pittsburgh Steelers always say about their team is that continuity is such a huge part of their success. Same owners, head coach, defensive coordinator, very few free agents and egos keeps thing running smoothly. That keeps them away from the low lows and gives them every chance to capitalize when they have a chance to win it all.
One good thing about the Wilpon’s is that they were not front and center, in your face creating constant conflict, stories, headlines until recently and that wasn’t by their choice. I wouldn’t want us to exchange one problem for a different problem especially now that through painful lesson after painful lesson the Wilpon’s may have finally gotten it or even have no other choice.
T, while u keep harping on the fringe type older F/A like Alou.Tatis,Cora I would submit the two singular contributors to F/.A disappointments were both relatively no-brainer level acquisitions ie Beltran @ age 28 & Santana @ age 29, the failure for Santana to compile more than 40Ws over 3 seasions with 3 season ending surgeries combined with Beltran’s inability to play in more than 76.23% of the games played during his contracted term(6 seasons). These players were the #1 & #2 highest paid players on the roster, commanding bet 36 & 40M per disappointing season logjamming potential payroll flexibility by themselves. As PRIME PRODUCTIVITY in MLB is defined as players between the ages of 28-32 both of these were acquired on what was supposed to be the cusp of their greatness not their deterioratrion. T, I believe u need not look further than these to crapout gambles to see why our hopes were dashed on the rockds of futility, subsequest revelations of the extent of Sterling indebtedness caused by overreliance on the false security provided by the $500M balance shown on their monthly investment balance sheet provided by Bernie(air & bubbles).
[OFF TOPIC]
“Alec (Baldwin) would like to go back in time and buy the 1969 New York Mets,” said Matthew Hiltzik, a spokesman for the “30 Rock” star.
newsday.com/long-island/towns/long-island-now-1.1732330/celebrity-mets-fans-just-say-no-1.2659938
Is that “Back to the future” DeLorean still available?
Alec….is that the Baldwin who while going through that nasty divorce, left a long rant on his 11 year old daughter’s cell phone which included calling her mother a b*tch?
If yes…yeah, he’d fit right in. LOL.
If I’ve got the wrong Baldwin, I apologize.
that was someone else I believe. But those loony celebs do start to run together!
Does the author think that Met fans aren’t smart enough to talk about the Mets and the Wilpons??? Talking about baseball only doesn’t take away the fact that the Wilpons are the biggest embarrassmnet to Met fans and to all of baseball. Know any fans who root for another team. They don’t say, how about all the sore arms you signed… They say how about that owner. You gonna give him some more of your legally earned money?
Remember the movie “For the good of the game”? Its time Fred and your lurch of a son to get out for the good of all Met fans.
Harry, I believe Mets fans (and you guys who read MMO) are the smartest fans in the league. You all know a hell of alot about the Mets, and baseball for that matter, and i think its awesome, because im the same way. I know alot about the Mets and baseball and we can talk about it here. Thats why i love MMO!
What im trying to say here is, when spring training comes around, the Mets need to just focus on baseball at hand in my opinion, instead of having to deal with the off-the-field drama with the Wilpons.
Its only going to affect them knowing their time in NY could be up, because they don’t know if there will be money for them to stay in NY. Like (f.e) Jose Reyes. Even if he performs greater than expectations, the Mets may not have the money to bring him back and will have to let him go elsewhere.
So the moral of my article is, deal with the Wilpons later, and lets focus on the Mets 2011 season. I do apologize if i
You summed this whole situation beautifully! See my posy below. I think I echoed your sentiments. Do you agree?
Do you the reader realize that Mets fans are indeed very intelligent and some of us actually read up on what is going on through real news agencies not just a blog site?
Perhaps coming to a blog site is a release from what is going on and want to actually talk baseball.
You are the most negative critical person, why are you here? Seriously you hate everything from the top to bottom, but yet you keep coming back and you ask about Mets fans not being smart enough?
I know I’m smart enough that after realizing I hate everything about something, I move on…….one day you’ll get it.
Brandon – I’d just like to point out that the Mets of 2011 need a clean slate at home with a staff behind them that is not trying to resolve a court case that looks to go on for years. The Wilpons need to remove themselves from Citifield and tend to their own business. If necessary, I believe MLB would provide a temporary staff to handle MLB and Mets business.
A couple of days ago I wrote about ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ and so I understand your premise – think about it.
alderson and the FO will handle the team (field) business at least. Not sure what you think that the other guys will be replaced for?
From all reports, feed and Saul don’t have much involvement anyway. and if Jeffy has to continue to stay in the background, that is a plus!
but while I agree that the owners should go into public hiding, I don’t see any chance that Selig will put in an overseer to run the team.
Thats exactly what i was trying to say Annie. They just need to do their thing, and not have to deal with the legal case at hand! I do agree they need to remove themselves from the organization.
The Mets are a valuable MLB franchise valued at 850 mil. I don’t worry about all this except I hope the sports reporters don’t pepper the players with questions about this. That will be a real distraction that will definitely affect team morale and on field performance. It may also make ballplayers want to leave the Mets when their contracts are up or ask for trades. These are my worries as a fan.
You won’t get anything out of a player but basic “the wilpons have always been good to us” and ” I see nothing, I know nothing” sound bites. Which is probaby compeltely ture, in coth cases.
Yup, you pretty much echoed what i said before!
This is the third year that most good fans know the mets didnt build a playoff team. Yeah we have to play the games and this team is certainly capable of winning 80-84 games. But as it sits its not a playoff team. If the players coaches and ownership want to compare them to sf giants, I think its unfair because this team doesnt pitch like that team. There will be quite a few teams looking for that wild card this year. Most are better than the Mets. So once again there is always next year. This team should rebuild too many competitive team in the nl and we arent getting better.
I am tired of hearing about Madoff in all the posts. Who cares about it. Look at some other team that Major league baseball had to prop up. So they will not let the franchise fail. With all this I think the team will do well with Sandy and Terry. We have a good 1-8 with Murphy and Thole. We have a good group of starters (Mets blog says 15 wins Dickey,Pelf and Neise) adding the new guys. We should win the WC. Lets focus on the team and not the Wilpons.This distraction is not going to effect team members if they play their game right and play for the fans not the owners. Lets go Spring Training.
Call me crazy but wouldn’t the Mets financial situation improve if MLB realigned the leagues. What if the Mets went to the AL East and Baltimore to the NL East. You then have natural rivalries with the Yankees/Mets and Nats/Orioles. Of course no chance for a subway series but that is a slim chance anyway. I really think a rivalry like this would bring excitement and build the fan base especially if both teams are going good. The subway series thing is slim (I know we had one in ’05 but I really don’t see one in the near future. After all when were the Cubs and White Sox in a series together?
so let me get this straight u want the mets WHO HAVE ONLY WON 3 DIVISIONS in 30 wilpon years to go to the toughest division in baseball.u want to do this so freddye wilpon can generate revenue?he will use this revenue to pay for the monies madoff stole for him.we the met fans will have the honor of watching the mets play the red sox and yanks 38 times a year!sounds like a lotta fun.the met season will end by july 1 under your plan.(EVERY FREAKIN YEAR)by the way louie think about bernie madoff and isrealIII …they have at least 3 things in common 1 they are both in jail. 2 they both ran ponzi scams. 3 freddye wilpon hooked up with both of them!wilpon the guy u stay awake at night figuring ways for him to make revenue!
I’m not in favor of realignment because so much of baseball depends on historical longevity and comparisons of records. Upset the apple cart and of bit of baseball’s magic disappears.
Disclosure: I’m still ticked off at Walter O’Malley for moving out of Brooklyn!!! Some people believe O’Malley was framed by New York’s controversial master builder, Robert Moses. To me that’s passing the buck. I love my Mets but I loved my Dodgers. The only consistent feeling I’ve had is I don’t love or even like the Yankees.