Forbes: Mets Worth Over $100 Million Less Than Last Year

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• Dennis Ribant March 24, 2011 at 8:22 am

  I cannot wait for all the financial “geniuses” who write here to disparage another intellectual article knocking the Met ownership.
• K Maxx March 24, 2011 at 9:58 am

  The Wilpons ran a proud franchise into the ground. Not only do I hope they sell, but I take confort that not one penny will go to them and it will all go to the banks.
• t agee March 24, 2011 at 10:25 am

  What is really the point in selling 25-49% of the Team? Just so the Wilpon can hang onto a majority stake? What does that do for the Fans?

  Finally plan A-X (bringing ageing players here on their last contract), Plan Y (bringing other teams rejects here to ride out THEIR last days) and Plan Z (rushing anybody who MIGHT be able to do anything for minimum wage from the minors) appears to be no longer a part of the business plan, just how is the Wilpon going to go about putting a GOOD TEAM on the field?

  Spending top dollar on International amateur free agents? Drafting and SIGNING the most talented possible prospects in the June Amateur Draft?

  They didn’t do that when Shea was selling out night after night in the mid-late 80′s, the late 90′s or 2006-2008. A couple of exceptions to the rule here and there but basically a skeleton approach with the meat excepted to come from other teams former All-Stars who mostly provided fat and gristle instead.

  Where are OUR Omar Vizquels’, Robinson Cano’s and Pedro Martinez’s? If we can’t sign them at least we could have traded for some promising young prospects when we were out of it early in 2009 or at the deadline in 2010. Hell with eleven losing seasons in the last 20 years we could have done it at almost every year.

  Everyone knows what the NYY and Red Sox ONLY goal is, do you know what our main goal is? Supporting the Commissioners precious slotting guidelines. That’s one of the big reasons we have so many “holes” to fill every year, and then despite spending plenty, we wind up getting sometimes the worst play of anyone in the Major Leagues at those positions on top of it if they can even stay on the field at all.

  So what are the chances this thing gets turned around in a sane, sensible and pragmatic way? We resign Reyes and Wright, win 82-92 games a year while waiting for Omar’s and Sandy’s reinforcements and then continue reinvesting in the future? or is it going to morph yet again right back into fitting a Mo Vaughn here, a Vince Coleman there and a Luis Castillo, Jason Bay, Billy Wagner, Jeremy Burnitz or Bobby Bonilla somewhere else?

  Maybe it really is time for the Wilpon to move out of the way and let someone who will commit to the one thing that pays off the best, spending behind the scenes. Spending without the fancy back page photo op with a beaming Wilpon reeling in yet another soon to be on the disabled list, shell of their former selves expected to excite the Fan Base into a spending frenzy.

  Not some self absorbed, attention starved, all about me type of owner. Just a good businessmen that understands that in order to grow your business you need to lay out some seed money and that when those seeds start to get going you then buy twice as much and do the same thing. You just keep doing the same thing religiously, good times and bad. Hire professional’s to develop your investment and stay out of their area of expertise. Content yourself with nothing more than veto power over trading of the farm or forfeiting first and second round draft picks to safeguard the future viability of the franchise. Leave everything else to the pros.

  Before you know it, if the people you hired have done their jobs, you got only three things to worry about. The rule 5 draft poaching some of your highly rated prospects, where to invest all the cash that’s rolling in and how to find tickets for all the people you know in October.

  Fred and Saul, no matter what the reasons, the results under your leadership have been hideous. Not through lack of effort or resources but hideous nontheless. The one time you hired someone to dig yourselves out of the hole that you had dug, you fired him as soon as you were back on level ground and went right back and dug yourselves another hole. Spurning the draft, spurning IFA’s jumping on the quick fix, crashing, promising to mend your way and then doing the same damn thing again. Three times now. Three times now you’ve spent us into a death spiral all the while upholding the integrity of the slotting guidelines and not properly overseeing the IFA department.

  The Met Fan is not piling on, we understand you tried. We give you credit for that and we wish you well with things your going through now but we never wanted a 36 year old Alomar or a 40 year old Alou. We wanted those guys ten and fifteen years before we got them, and we wanted OUR Team to find them, not someone else. We didn’t want a DH in lieu of the 19th and 36th best amateur players in the country, why would we? We play in the NL. We want an ownership we have confidence in, that has weapons other than just a big wallet to hit other teams with. Owners with foresight and the balls to stay the course.

  What are the chances of Alderson being given the time to do it for the longhaul once he gets you back on level ground?

  Maybe it’s time.
• Metsie March 25, 2011 at 12:11 am

  Isn’t it odd how the bad news about the Wilpons makes it into the blog everyday but the fact that Madoff Victims are trying to get rid of Picard even going so far as calling Picard a liar never got a single mention here?

  http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/iteam/2011/03/23/2011-03-23_lawyer_for_bernie_madoff_victims_says_dishonest_trustee_irving_picard_should_res.html

  Is it because that by reporting this it might hurt your campaign to smear the Wilpons the one started because they agreed to pay Ollie 12 Mil and didn’t go overslot in the past 20 years?
  • tlagee March 25, 2011 at 1:21 am

    those are really two different issues, Metsie.

    Issue #1: The New York Times is indeed smearing the Wilpons. That’s because Picard has been leaking them information and he Times, as a paper, have never supproted the Mets.

    The Daily News, however, has exclusive access to the Wilpon people and have pretty much supported the Wilpons.

    Issue # 2, the Wilpons have run the Mets into the ground. Yup, look at the team as it is currently put together. We have some good offensive players who are on the team because of past contracts and will most likely not be on the team next year. We have very thin pitching.
    • Metsie March 25, 2011 at 9:33 am

      ILA – My point was directed at Metsmerized’s patently one sides approach.

      If a story that slams the Wilpons or puts them in a bad light it is IMMEDIATLY reposted and blogged about.

      Yet when a counter story about Picard lying and witholding and even MIS REPRESENTING depositions comes out not a peep!

      Hojo I give Kudos to for giving the Wilpons equal time. The rest are all about the Wilpon Hatred.

      As for them running the team into the ground I would wait to see how the season plays out. I mean we did just beat the cardinals by a football score yesterday!

      And you know if the Picard thing turns out to be lawerlistic bull and the Wilpons win their day in court then the monetary situation won’t be bad due to anything the WIlpons have done it will be because we “Fans” didn’t go to see the games!

      All I am asking for is if this site has determined that the Wilpon situation is news worthy they should report ALL the related news and not just the ones that fit their Hate the Wilpons, off with their head point of view!
    • t agee March 25, 2011 at 10:45 am

      It really is despicable of Picard to obtain this “evidence” select (or twist) only those parts that paint others in the worst light (according to him), then file charges against them and refuse to show them this so called evidence so it can be places in the proper context. To bury competing evidence is just criminal. This whole issue is about righting wrongs. How are we righting wrongs when we have attorneys like Picard smearing people based on HIS and HIS ALONE interpretation of depositions and other so called “evidence” and then hiding that so called evidence from the very people he’s smearing with it. Some justice.

      It has been obvious from the start that Picard is trying to shake everyone down with this “knew or should have known” baloney. If the Wilpon’s “should have known” than what does that say about all the banks, all the money managers and the SEC themselves? The fact that Picard can win the case WITHOUT having to prove they actually DID KNOW is patently unfair and begs the question, why would he even include that phrase in the complaint if he then doesn’t have to prove it?

      The fact that the Wilpon’s will be last in line to recover losses in accounts in which they didn’t make money and that those losses will not be subtracted from their gains is also patently unfair.

      The nature of a Ponzi scheme is always the first one’s in make money. If they didn’t they wouldn’t stay in. They’d move somewhere else and the whole thing would fall apart right away. The Wilpon’s apparently were investing with this guy since 1986 and according to the falsified accounts making money every year. Why would they leave?

      Picard is employing these heavy handed tactics to ingratiate himself with the rich and powerful and looking down the road for a book and movie deal while threatning to smear anyone who stands in his way.

      Anyone who thinks Picard would spend even one second of his life trying to get back even a nickel lost in a working person’s 401K or IRA is deluding themselves. He’s in it for his own self agrondizement period.
      • Metsie March 25, 2011 at 11:03 am

        Well according to the article he isn’t trying to shake EVERYONE down…

        One investor (who has since died) was the initial investor and put 100 BILLION (100 times what the wilpons were said to have invested) and only were forced to give back 200 Mil!

        Wonder if we dug deeper we would find some connection between Picard and that group that Picard hasn’t bothered to tell or obscured from publication the way he lied about depositions and then witheld so no one knew he was sputing bull!

        I personally find the whole subject boring and unfair to the cause of Justice.
        Let the case play out and then comment on the decision.

        But if we are intent on covering this issue then I would at least ask them to cover the ENTIRE issue and not just those that fit into their hate wilpon agenda!