New York Mets Paying for Their Old Mistakes

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• Patrick July 2, 2011 at 7:03 am

  Greg Pomes says, they should pay Bonilla even more, cheap small market Mets.
• t agee July 2, 2011 at 7:55 am

  A big part of the reason we reacquired Bonilla was in order to get rid of Mel Rojas who was Steve Phillips first trade acquisition. The Cubs looking to dump Rojas 3 months after signing him to a 3 year 13.5 M dollar contract did exactly that. They dumped him on us.

  After a year and a half that can only be described as Schowenweissesque and desperate to get out from under the remaining 4.5 M Phillips exchanged it for Bonilla’s remaining 5.9M from the Dodgers.

  One bad trade became two bad trades. The second bad trade then became 1.2 M less that we have to work with every year. All to stink up the joint and even play cards in the clubhouse during the playoffs all because we can’t ever develop our own RFer we have to go out and get someone else’s reject and hope it works out.

  This is one of the top 10 examples of Monkeyball at it’s finest.
  • METS62FAN July 2, 2011 at 11:40 am

    T; THIS BONILLA DEAL SHOULD BE EXHIBIT A IN DISPRIOVING PICARD’S DEPICTION OF WIPONS AS “KNOWLEDGABLE FINANCIERS! HA!

    CASE DISMISSED!
• The Stache July 2, 2011 at 9:23 am

  There’s $30 million that could have gone toward Jose Reyes down the drain.
  • Metsie July 2, 2011 at 9:42 am

    Not really…Do the Math on the financial issues….

    Projected 70 Mil in losses this year.
    Minus Bonilla’s money? now 40 Mil in losses.
    Current Payroll = $140 Mil.
    Attendance can only support 100 Mil Payroll.

    Still means cutting 40 Mil of Payroll.

    They will resign Reyes and clear that money the need to by trading K-Rod and Beltran. (They already saved 20 Mil on Castillo and Perez.)

    The financial problems of this team are a result of lack of attendance not Bobby Bonilla! Yesterday they set an attendance record for Citi Field and why?
    Because the Mets have been on a hot streak and played the hated Yankees. People actually bought general admission (SRO) tickets yesterday.

    If we fans would stop playing pessimistic nostradamus and merely went to games all year round instead of just when the team is on a hot streak there would be no financial issues, No reason to trade or not keep Reyes and K-Rod and there even would have been enough money to put a competitive Bid out for guys like Cliff Lee and Crawford!

    We can complain about how the team has spent the money in the past but the financial problems are pretty much our doing! We refuse to go to the games that pay the bills and sign (or re-sign) the players we want them to sign.
    • paul nassau July 2, 2011 at 11:49 am

      I’m not sure I buy your argument. Fans come because a good team is on the field, not vice versa. And the good team comes from a wealthy owner who can take a loss of millions a year, especially when the value of the team goes up. (See George Steinbrenner)
      Pops
      • Metsie July 2, 2011 at 12:29 pm

        Ok here is what your not getting….

        SURE fans come out to SEE a GOOD TEAM. And if we don’t have a GOOD TEAM to draw fans to pay the bills, How can you MAKE/KEEP a good team without the resources?

        Can’t overslot because you can’t afford to.
        Can’t buy FA’s because you can’t afford to!
        Can’t KEEP Jose Reyes because you can’t afford to!
        Can’t keep those lucky slot or underslot draft picks that prove to be MLB Stars because you can’t afford to resign them or even pay their arbitration salary!

        Now I’m not trying to say you don’t have a right to think that if they suck you have a right to not attend the games.

        But what I am saying is if we are so concerned with how the lack of finances is going to hurt the ability of this team to sign, re-sign and to KEEP players that will help constitute a team you will be willing to see, Then you really have no right in hell to complain about those finances or the predicament they find themselves in because of it!
        Util you yourself do whatever it is YOU can do to solve the problem and make it easier to solve the problem you really need to look at yourself instead of blaming the Owner, the Ponzi Artist, the GM or the money situation they are working with…

        Because WE ARE THE CAUSE!

        And I include myself in that as I have moved away and can not go to as many as I used to. I worked more games than I actually attended last year!

        Our “They Suck! Don’t Go!” attitude is what is losing the team money, not their spending habits, bad Contract Signings or Bernie “Made Off”!
    • METS62FAN July 2, 2011 at 12:01 pm

      Metsie, I prefer to pictuire it this way as there is not enough “known parameters” to consider a relaionship between attendance & payroll vis-a-vis P&L.

      THE ANTICIPATED TIGHT PARAMETERS OF THE 2012 PAYROLL BUDGET IS 100-120M.

      90% OF THOSE SITES THAT TRACK PAYROLL REFLECT THE METS’ 2011 PAYROLL NUMBER @ 143M .

      DUE TO HAVING ALREADY ECHAUSTED THE DEBT DUE BETRAN, CASTILLO & PEREZ(18.5M+12M+6M = -36.5M), THE START # FOR ’12 BASED ON ’11′s ENDING WITHOUT ANY ADDITIONS WOULD BE $106.5 WITH REYES AS 11M OF IT+ K-ROD AS 12M OF IT. A REYES RESIGNING, EXTENSION ONLY ADDS THE DELTA BETWEEN THAT 11M & WHATEVER HIS NEW SALARY(PROJECTED @ 20M OR A 9M INCREASE FOR HIM TO REMAIN)
      ALSO K-ROD’S CURRENT 12M AUTO-ESCALATES VIA HIS VESTING OPTION FOR 2012 TO 17.5M, IF NOT DEALT, IT ONLY ADDS 5.5M. SO, IF WE DON’T DEAL REYES OR K-ROD(LATTER UNLIKELY) ALDERSON’S ESTABLISHED PAYROLL MAX COMMENCES @ 121M(143M-(36.5M+9M +5.5M))GIVE OR TAKE, NEARLY THE EXACT 120M ALDERSON HAS PROJECTED AS MOST LIKELY TO OCCUR. CERTAINLY THERE ARE A NUMBER OF MINOR VETERAN CONTRACTS EXPIRING SUCH AS PAULINO & CAPUANO MORE THAN LIKELY THEY ARE EITHER EXTENDED AT NOMINALLY THE SAME COMBINED LEVELS OR THEY ARE REPLACED FOR MUCH THE SAME MIN EXPENDITURE FOR ’12 AND ARE OF LITTLE CONSEQUENCE, FOR THE MOST PART THE OTHER 1Y DEALS ARE ON PLAYERS TOO INEXPERIENCED TO QUALIFY FOR ARBITRATION, THUS THEY ARE EXTENDABLE @ FRANCHISE CONTROLED SALARY OFFERS(MURPHY,TEJADA, TURNER, THOLE,PARNELL, NIESE, GEE, ETC.)

      PELFREY, MAY HAVE CERTAINLY EARNED HIS WAY TO A POTENTIAL “NON-TENDER” ala JOHN MAINE, LAST OFFSEASON, AS THE LAST ROSTERED OVERPAID(3.9M) BORAS’ CLIENT
      • Metsie July 2, 2011 at 12:41 pm

        Hey 62,

        Like it or not the above post does address what your saying…

        It doesn’t really matter if he manages to balance the payroll to the attendance coming in. If they don’t compete the whole season then LESS tickets will be sold next year compared to this year!

        So your pretty much just chasing a terminal patient with CPR until it is dead.
        And at that point, the point with the lowest attendance even possible in a city this big, The hole in the Finances will be so huge that it will take another decade and a half to recover from it.

        Sandy’s projections are based on the notion that Attendance holds steady. If they drop more then the 100M number will have to be hit to break even and that means no Wright after no Beltran and no K-Rod.

        It’s all up to us!
        If we want them to not have a firesale then we had better start selling out from now till the ASB and trade deadline!

        If they can’t compete with 140M payroll then they sure won’t compete with a 120M payroll. Not by subtracting their best relief pitcher their biggest bat and just keeping Reyes.

        On this point as much as I disagree with Jessup on the Reyes issue he’s right about one thing. If reyes is all we are going to keep then keeping him isn’t going to help, just not hurt!

        Who is going to drive him in? Wright? Where does the money to sign him come from in 2012?
• theonlymaskman July 2, 2011 at 9:29 am

  This is a pretty good example of how not to come to grips with a problem in the ‘here and now’ but instead kick the can down the road and in the process magnify a problem to greater proportion. It’s just another example of the lack of business acumen by the Wilpons. The Mets should follow the example of the Dodgers and declare bankruptcy. By doing that, the debt to Bonilla can be absolved in bankruptcy court and Bonilla will then receive what he truly deserves which is nothing. By doing this, the Wilpons will confirm what we already know that they are both financially and intellectually bankrupt. In light of their lack of any business skills, I fully look forward to David Einhorn maneuvering them into a corner and taking the team in entirety a few years down the road. Then we will finally be able to progress as an organization.
• Alan July 2, 2011 at 10:16 am

  When you see the details of a Bonilla deal you have to wonder that the financial status of this team has been shaky for a long time. Why would anyone want to turn a 6 million dollar debt into a 30 million dollar future albatross? It is so obvious that our owners were spending money to line their own pockets investment wise for years. Yes, they spent money on payroll be it wise or unwise but for years 3 million in attendance goes a long way towards paying those salaries. The big money that MLB teams get is from the TV and Radio deals that begin with FOX and ESPN then for the local cable and regional networks. It’s a no brainer!

  The question that we as fans should be asking ourselves is whether owners should spend big time on players to try and win it all or whether owners are satisfied being second rung teams as long as they are lining their own pockets. The answer is…..
  • theonlymaskman July 3, 2011 at 9:42 am

    Exactly, and the answer is lining their own pockets, especially when it is the Wilpons who are under discussion. Your are right that this Bonilla financial story underlines the sorry state of how the Wilpons run this franchise. Don’t face reality now, but put it off to the future. Eventually the chickens come home to roost. And Bonilla is clucking very loudly now. This really tells you that the primary need for this franchise is an owner who has the team as #1 in his heart and not lining his pocket off the fans. I’m all set for Dave Einhorn as sole owner. Could he be worse?…nope, not possible.
• jessep July 2, 2011 at 9:47 am

  Nobody would have cared about this if the Madoff scandal never happened. Therefore, I really don’t care to be honest