5
2011
Delcos: Will There Ever Be A New Culture?
An article by 
We heard a lot about the Mets’ culture changing when Sandy Alderson was hired as GM and Terry Collins as manager. The atmosphere changed t0 a degree, but the Mets’ talent level remained roughly the same with once again, the pitching faltered and took the team down with it.
Looking back on the season there were three significant story lines outside of the newness of the front office and manager. The first half when the Mets found themselves over .500, the swirling question was whether, or when, they would deal Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez.
When the pitching went south it was about the thinness of the rotation and weak bullpen, highlighted by not having a closer, who was in Milwaukee because the team feared Rodriguez’s option.
The season was played against the backdrop of the Mets not being able to re-sign Jose Reyes because they wouldn’t want to – or don’t have – the resources to retain the All-Star shortstop.
All three were about money and the Wilpon’s legal and financial troubles because of the Madoff Ponzi scandal. The Wilpons received positive news in the courts that would reduce the damages, but those damages would still be significant. And, it doesn’t help that the team has a $25 million debt to Major League Baseball.
You can change the manager, general manager and upper management and that could change the culture somewhat, but real change begins with ownership and that hasn’t changed. With the budget always an overriding issue, we can never expect things to really change and Mets being an elite franchise.
About the Author: John Delcos
I am an active member of the BBWAA and have covered Major League Baseball in several capacities for over 20 years, including ten in New York working the Mets' and Yankees' beat. I covered the Baltimore Orioles for eight years and the Cleveland Indians before that. I currently serve as an editor and senior staff writer for Mets Merized Online. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
Last updated: 06/19/2013
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John…
I understand having a budget…but if the Mets can’t afford to re-sign Reyes, I have to wonder:
Where is the Citigroup naming rights ($400 mil over 20 years; $20 Mil per season) going?
Where is the SNY revenue going?
Where is the attendance revenue going?
Where is the concession revenue going?
Where is the merchandise (clothing/souvenir) revenue going?
Where is the MLB Extra Innings team shared revenue going?
Where is the MLB.tv internet service team shared revenue going?
I don’t expect the Mets to compete with the Yanks, Red Sox and Phillies in player salary since they play in a much smaller media market…but when you can’t re-sign your own best ever homegrown positional player, after you’ve already trimmed a lot of fat out of the budget, while still generating a ton of revenute, it just doesn’t make any sense…Enough with the Madoff excuses, there is relatively no excuse not to re-sign Reyes, other than from an injury perspective…
Look at the contract that Troy Tulowitzki just signed; look at the contract that Hanley Ramirez signed while still arbitration eligible (and both have had significant time lost due to injury)…Look at what Derek Jeter has gotten paid since 2001, or what ARod signed for with the Rangers…Reyes may not in the same offensive class as those other shortstops, but he’s still an elite offensive shortstop…and the bar for an elite offensive shortstop has already been set, maybe not the length of contract, but the going rate per season has been…
Is it really about “Reyes isn’t worth it” or “he’s asking for more than the going rate”? Or is it more about “making up for the mistakes of the Mets Management’s past”?
It is expensive to run a team, especially when attendance falls off a cliff.
And the Mets/Wilpons leveraged to the max to finance Citifiled. Most likely it is that debt load that is killing them.
Is it the debt load that the Wilpons undertook building Citi Field that is causing the revenue problem or the fact that they took that debt load thinking it would be paid off by fans paying outrageous prices for the cost of a ticket, admission, parking and everything else? The Wilpons cut themselves off from the fan base because the average fan can no longer afford to go to a Met game at all/
Also, how much more did they both add to the cost of the new ball park by fashioning it after a shopping mall and how much has that commercialism which dominates the park has turned off the fans? Not to mention catering to the more affluent while only have one escalator go all the way to the upper promenade which only has two sets of restrooms for those sitting in the “cheap” seats who are also restricted from using most of the entrances in order to get into the park at all.
I’ll answer one at a time:
“Where is the Citigroup naming rights ($400 mil over 20 years; $20 Mil per season) going?”
It is going to pay down the debt incurred to build the Stadium.
“Where is the SNY revenue going?”
SNY is a sepreate company with it’s own partnership of owners and can not use any revenue other than it’s normal licencing fee for broadcast on the team. Time Warner probably owns as much of SNY as the Wilpons do! Sterling has equity in it and maybe even controling interests in SNY but the money made is totally seperate from the Met Finances!
“Where is the attendance revenue going?”
“Where is the concession revenue going?”
“Where is the merchandise (clothing/souvenir) revenue going?”
Attendance is way down, Season Tickets especially. There are not enough Season tickets being sold to cover the expenses and the walk up sales are way down as well! All three are related. The overhead for concessions, merch and food are high plus all those ushers who take you to your seat who generate no income but the tips you give. Add all the security and other ancillary workers who do not generate income and it is quite easy to lose money.
And don’t forget how much the insurance per game must be to be covered for a crowd of such numbers! There are a lot more payouts than just the Player Salaries!
“Where is the MLB Extra Innings team shared revenue going?”
“Where is the MLB.tv internet service team shared revenue going?”
1/30th of it goes to the Mets, The rest goes to the other 29 Teams!
It’s not a lot of money trust me! They certainly don’t share in any of the ad Revenue the MLB network and web streams make!
Our main financial issues are due to the low attendance, Not Madoff, Not trouble with Wilpon and certainly not Player Salaries.
We stopped going to see them until they show us they are worth going to see again!
So we basically caused the financial problems they are having due to our own lack of support!
Well, the culture has changed IMO. the team seems to be run in a much more businesslike fashion (value driven). Decisions are now more likely to be made after cost/benefit analysis than for back page splashes, and they are looking at years to come not just 1 season.
Agree with the FO plan or not, it has changed.
The only change in cultur see is we went from signing Free agents who had histories that said they should help us improve to signing rehabbing, retread, reclamation projects to one year deals with no sense of a long term commitment to anything!
Even if we had hit on someone we would not be willing to keep them or lock them up long term because their success would immediatly increase their cost to oout of our Small Market budget range!
Lets suppose Capuano (the closest thing to a signing success under the new culture) had won the Cy Young. Would we even consider signing him at the numbers he would command on the market?
Doubtful!
We went from trying to sign contributors to signing cheap bandaid fillers and while band aids don’t require commitment they also don’t do anything for the LONG TERM VIEW people are using to sell the current culture!
We talk about the failures of the past spending and we use Castillo, Perez and Bay as shining examples of how spending fails. But the truth is Castillo got only 8 Mil per year and pretty much played like an older 8 Mil per year player should. Go spend 8 Mil on someone now you won’t get much more than castillo did!
Sure there are risks to taking a chance on signing someone with a history of good numbers and there will be failures that result. But we talk about those failures as if they were the ONLY signings we made and they most certainly are not!
Three failures and then factor in Beltran, K-Rod, Valentin (3.8m), Hernandez (12m), Glavine (10.5m), Alou (8.5m), Castro (4.6m), LoDuca etc etc….
Compare that to the signings under the new culture.
Boyer, Bucholz, Carrasco, Hairston, Harris, Paulino, Young and the only thing close to a decent signing Capuano with the 4.5+ ERA and losing record!
Sure you spent only 7 Mil and most of it was wasted!
None of it is going to serve another season without spending even more money and none of them actually deserve to be resigned based on thier 2011 performance!
NOT ONE SIGNING made in 2011 does anything for the long term!
Yet we keep being told that the culture has changed from buy now to long term view.
If the culture is thinking long term it can only be because they are not doing any planning long term and they know that by buying and building the way there are we won’t be winning anything until the cows come home….TO MARS or the BLUE MOON!
The new cultuire as I see it is to TREAD WATER, Spend nothing past a year and just sell off anyone who has a modicum of success for 5 year away maybes.
And we are not even getting good value there either!
Wheeler by himself straight up for an all star?
Two PTBNL players for K-Rod? PLUS we pay a good portion of his salary?
Two POSSIBLE picks for letting Reyes go but only if the right team signs him and not one who has picks protected in the draft?
Funny the justification for accepting only Wheeler was we would get nothing for Beltran if he went FA and yet we risk that same scenario with Reyes if lets say the Marlins sign him.
I see no long term view in this new culture, what I see is a revolving door roster that seems to think it can replace with MiL anyone that shows even a glimmer of being good because we let them go for a refusal to spend (moneyball) or for picks!
If the new culture is the draft is the only important thing then lets demote them to be the scouting department and get a GM who is prepared to WIN not just 5 years from now but EVERY YEAR!
And is more willing to waste 7 Mil on one good player who takes up only 1 of the limited 25 roster positions instead of this quantity of crap who does nothing and even if it does is a free agent at the end of the year!
If they TRULY want to build from the Minors then start NOW!
Don’t go and get 5 cheap retreads in FA, Give that money to a guy like Reyes and promote those MiL guys to fill in the holes we currently have because at least if they have a good season we get to keep them and they will contribute to the LONG TERM Views people say this current culture is trying to have!
If the culture says we aren’t going to win anytime soon than I would rather LOSE with the Kids no one thinks are worth anything than to let reyes go in the name of signing Free Agents who aren’t worth anything!
If your of the opinion that we are going to suck then lets suck with what we nhave so when one of the bandaids does NOT suck we have a tradeable or long term answer that doesn’t require being resigned at the end of the year!
Use the limited money on keeping the player who DO contribute and play those Minors like Flores or Neuenhuis in CF because what coulod it hurt? Them? Us? Our 2012 chances? Isn’t the consensus here we have NO CHANCE in 2012?
If we are going to apply a culture of abandoning competition by buying retreads I would rather we not buy retreads and test the kids we have already no one seems to think much about!
What difference does it really make if you think they are ready or not?
Cause how can you ruin what you have already declared will never succeed?
I don’t understand your comment about the lack of long term planning. It looks to me like for once The Mets are stock piling high level pitching in an attempt to build a seriously strong rotation in a year or two. Suppose that the Omar pledge to base the team on pitching and defense was a Wilpon idea that he didn’t see as valid then look at how the minors are being put together the past year or two. This looks like a long term plan in the making to me.
Dude they got rid of two really good players and got ONE pitching Prospect between them!
ONE!
Where is the REST of the STOCK that could constitute a PILE?
And is Wheeler going to be in the rotation in a year?
Who is and where did we get THEM from?
Did we not get them WHILE we were spending on these past primers Like Beltran? K-Rod?
Really they are past their prime? Sure didn’t seem that way to me last year!
Is Reyes PAST his prime or just entering it?
No Reyes is not past his prime. Beltran is although he is still very effectivethe same with Krod. I do see that alot of our high quality minor pitchers were drafted by the Omar administration but the point is I don’t think they wil be traded away. Trading Wheeler for half of a season of Beltran IMO was a smart move not just financially but for the team. Krod I am not upset with cause well, I’m not a big fan he put to many guys on base and would have cost the team a ton, his salary will become Moot in my opinion if the front office fails to sign Reyes because then the money saved is not being put back into the team. When I was speaking of the band aid higher cost FA and trades I was speaking of Alou, Pedro, castillo, Benson. Not Beltran and not even Krod ven though that option was rediculous. I guess the point is I am trying to be patient with a rebuilding process that has to come from the Minors up. With the cost of mediocre pitching th minors have to be the source for everyone including the highest spenders. Sure the spenders have their Sabathia or Santana’s but there are four more spots and we just aren’t as lucky as the Phils to hire three aces and two of those on a serious discount. I do see the growth though and it is obvious tht you do not. I hope for the sake of the team that I am right though and in another two years The Mets will begin to be a championship team every year instead of the ups and severe downs of the past twenty years.
Well Nathan first off let me point out that neither K-Rod or Beltran actually WERE past their prime when we signed them. Thats just the crap that people say for NOT resigning them not any indication of what they were WHEN we signed them And if they are both still productive that tells you pretty much what you need to know about the IMPORTANCE of PRIME as an arbitor of who is a successful player and who is not!
Here is the point I’m trying to get across here.
We are not actually stockpiling anything as far as future considerations all of our moves were immediate dumps with ONE resulting in a prospect.
We may or may NOT get picks for Reyes or merely get sandwich picks which is tantamount to 2nd rounders at best!
We DO have kids ready to become starters yet we are selling off guys who help us win to get MORE?
Truth is all they have accomplished is trade away or let good players go so they could do what Omar did without ANY trading!
DRAFT!
Reyes is get more DRAFT picks, Wheeler is the ONLY kid we got, K-Rod resulted in very little in the way of prospects!
May have gotten some Bull Pen help was it enough to offset the loss of a pretty damn good closer?
Will one of those PTBNL replace him in that role?
SO far they have the SAME future outlook as Omar…We are going to DRAFT our team and the only difference is they are not TRYING to win while they do that in the meantime!
It’s one thing to say our moves are going to pay off in the future because no one can QUESTION future events.
But look at the moves and other than Wheeler, which one actually sets us up as a winner in the future?
Davis, Murphy, Niese, Duda, Flores, Neuwenhuis, Harvey, Familia, Mejia, Tejada, and probably a bunch of kids who were drafted in the last two years we have yet to even try were all acquired WHILE we spent in FA on guys who made the team watchable while they developed!
Omar’s LONG TERM VIEW was buy some stars to make us competitive while he went and drafted good kids and that competitive MLB squad would give him the time to develop them properly!
Sandy’s long term view is suck until he gets enough picks to win!
Well the only reason why Omar got 6 years was because he was competitive the first 4 years!
The problem is that Sandy’s long term view will get run out of town before he has the 5 years woirth of draft picks he is going to need to get the winning team everyone ASSUMES he is going to get!
So this long term view will never see the LONG of the TERM!
And without any SHORT TERM fix for drawing attendance to the park by the time he goes we won’t have the money to do it then either!
The only thing LONG TERM about our current plan is how long it’s going to take to recover from the plan Sandy is using!
Nathan…. Wheeler aside what move have we made that is going to help in the long term?
Have we traded away any of the NO GOOD MiL players for a future prospect?
Have we aquired any free agents that are destined to be here past a year from May?
Have we done ANYTHING that will remain past 2012?
I mean OTHER than start all the Kids Omar was able to acquire while he was buying past their prime players like Beltran and K-Rod!
I see your point exactly but am wondering about how a GM goes into a franchise. As far as I can tell we drafted well and went over slot for some for the first time in years. On the other hand you are correct in pointing out that the admin hasn’t made alot of moves netting the Mets players. Now that being said how much of this year was a truely needed apraisal of what the team had? I never thought that Duda whould have been servicable in Right. If I had just gotten the job that these guys did I would probably spend a year evaluating the players before I started dealing the minor guys I saw as dead weight. My beef with the last time around was that guys were not being seasoned in the minors correctly some were being rushed ie Pelf and aother and any time something went amiss we had to trade away players to patch holes cause the farm wasnt developed. Maybe Omars work in the minors took till he was gone to come to fruition but those are the breaks I suppose.
Sure Sandy used this year to appraise.
Think about your appraisal of it and tell me who were the success stories and who were the failures?
Reyes was a success are we keeping him?
Were the two guys we already locked up a success last season? Really?
I had no problems with Sandy assessing the team and players this year but the only ones who seem to be leaving after making that assesment are the ones who did good!
Reyes, K-Rod, Beltran!
What good is an assesment if you ignore it?
He got something for Beltran and truth is he could resign Beltran right now if he wanted to make it worth it and not pay or lose anything more than if he had kept him.
Are we going to make an offer?
We could go after K-Rod now that the option is settled are we?
Is the money we are saving going to be spent on anything good or just more like Hairston and Bucholz?
And is anyone we sign part of the MASTER PLAN 5 years from now?
If not then where is the LONG TERM payoff?
Gonna buy in 5 years when there is no one coming to the park to pay for it because we signed middling scrubs to entertain them the last 4 years?
As I have said from the beginning there is a LOT more to financial security than NOT spending!
Cutting Reyes doesn’t SOLVE the spending issue it makes it worse!
If your not drawing enough fans to pay Reyes then what makes you think your going to draw enough WITHOUT him to buy that guy when your ready to spend?
We are TREADING WATER, NO REAL PLAN save the fact that they intend to draft as many as they can HOPE they get lucky and they win a bit more and then HOPE the fans will come out to be able to afford FAs at that time!
It is not a play more like a HOPE and a PRAYER that something good happens to solve the attendance problem for them.
When just spending 20-30 More than they plan would get them some pretty good STAR TALENT to draw people to the stadium because they have high hopes!
KEEP the fans in the seats and make moves to get more and THAT solves the money issue!
Don’t and cut salary that draws and you will draw less meaning you will run out of salary to cut to stay in the black!
And once you get to that point there is no way to spend to get out of it!
An 80 Mil budget is just as capable of losing money as a 140 mil budget is!
Because baseball despite all the statistical wrangling is still a star driven business!
CC Sabathis is now the highest paid player in baseball!
Having him generates FAR MORE MONEY than what he gets paid!
The same is probably true for Reyes and Beltran and K-Rod!
Sure you saved their salary but lost all the money they MADE by their star drawing ability!
I want Reyes to be resigned. After reading your post I see your point and agree with it because well one has to agree with the facts. This administration has done very litte to increase the value of the franchise. The thing is I still have faith that they are not in the buisness of ruining the team I have followed for thirty years. I was glad when they cut ties with alot of the dead weight at the begining of the year and I have agreed with the trades they made but you are correct when you say that they have only added Wheeler and Beato to the team. The prudence of nonmoves is a little silly but when we have gone through the past three years of bad signings I am easly fooled into saying thank god we didn’t sign so and so instead of thinking man we could have used so and so. I didn’t care much for the F.A. list last year and I understood and believed the payroll problems that being said I believe that with allowing some progression of the minor guys or young guys in general this team can become good. I think a good team will put butts in the seats. Resign Reyes and then it’s a waiting game on pitching. That is only true if Ike actually works out and if the other guys pick up their game. Now you are also correct in pointing out that these are guys that came around during the Omar years. I hope that while these guys are maturing that the Alderson office will be steadily stocking the farm so that we aren’t completely relying on the guys to stay healthy. So far though your appraisal is completely apt they have done little but shed payroll I am just hopeing that that was driven because of needs. Now Sabathia does draw fans and he is worth more than they are paying him for the time being but in the end a deal like that can be a handcuff to a team that is already struggling to keep the lights on. We have a durn good ace that is making a ton of cash but he has been hurt and may not be the player he once was that is the risk of long term deals. Alderson may be of the mindset that he will not take that risk with any player and if he is then the organization has just become the Rays or the A’s only time will tell. Thanks for clearing up some of my confusion.
Most will tell you they want Reyes back…
The unreasonable folks say it as well it’s just that they leave out the fact that he needs to accept only a 2 or 3 mil raise before they want him back.
I have no problems not going out and buying FAs for the sake of buying.
I have no issues limiting our spending unless it is a player who REALLY has some sense that he is not only going to put butts in the seats, but Be a PART of the plan when the long term has done it’s job and becomes the present or for a player to make them watchable while we retain and not rush those kids we intend to draft!
I don’t see this as a long term more for the fact that I don’t see any moves being made that would ALLOW Sandy to be here long term!
Its been less than a year and people already want to get rid of him (unreasonable as it may be) and I don’t see anything in his plan OTHER than spend less that people seem to like!
He hasn’t sold off talent for mega blockbuster returns for All Star talent!
At best he will have purged three big salaries in the name of 1 Prospect, Two draft picks and two bullpen arms who are more likely to be gone by the time the TERM in long term is up!
I hope the guy knows what he is doing but what I see him doing is not LONG TERM but merely SHORT SIGHTED!
LONG term requires a LONG TERM to succeed!
And the moves he making will not pan out because he will get fired before it ever completes!
I do not know about the club house culture because well I am not there but from what I can see there has been a shift in organizational philosophy. Putting some of what Metsie said in a different light, The Mets are no longer spending more than they are making by hiring guys past there prime and ignoring the results of their physical in an attempt to cover up the holes in the organization. I will try my best to not come to a judgement on the Reyes situation until it is over but IMO it would be crazy to not sign him for a very good contract. The Mets can not at this point help it if another team offers him Werth type money but if this does not happen I believe Reyes should be a Met next year. Now on to performance, during a time of change, especially one like this were time to develop minor league talent is key performance is going to suffer. I expected this and am not upset that it is happpening. Three years down the road if they are still a third place team perenially then I will jump on the band wagon and call for the Wilpons to sell the team just like some have suggested. I believe this is their last opertunity to build a winner. I think they may be trying to do it the smartest possible way and am proud of the fact that they have the forsight to take their lumps for the next season or two to accomplish the goal of a true championship caliber ORGANIZATION.
What some are forgetting is that Sandy said 2011 would be a transition year only, building toward 2012 and the Mets getting back into playoff contention. I hope he was simply touting the company line for his bosses and that he didn’t consider those he signed as steps for a better 2012 for I certainly saw them as rejects signed on the cheap just to fill roster spots. He also said the Wilpon financial situation had no effect on how he proceeded with his baseball operations. Again, I hope that was only a company line for otherwise what good general manager would get rid of his top hitter and closer when the combination of youth and veterans were making a legitimate shot at the wild card (who knew about the injuries to come)?
I think Sandy is taking the shots for the owners and though we won’t know how his draft picks will work out for a few years, his hands are tied with both what he can do and what he can say. Remember the press conference after Jose was taken out of the game he said the injury was minor and Reyes would be out for a few days only and then during a Met broadcast after Jose was placed in the DL he said he was told by the doctors that day that Jose would be out for at least a few weeks? My thought he was touting the company line and stalling because he had to and the Wilpons didn’t want to lose any more advance ticket sales for the games coming up against Philly – just like off-seasons past when we were told to expect Santana and Beltran earlier than later.
Because he chose to work for the Wilpons, Sandy might have also damaged his credibility for he has to keep the company line.
Listen, if the Cardinals can win it all with their 105 million dollar payroll and the Giants did it last year on less, what is the real excuse? Bad acquisitions, fragile stars, no plan. It isn’t culture. It is competence. Give these guys a chance.
Yeah they Pay Pujols though don’t they?
Who is your Pujols, Lincecum, Cain, Holliday, Berkman, Carpenter, Lohse, Garcia?
Where are the moves that get us those guys?
Capuano?
Bucholz?
Hairston?
They got Wheeler and what else?
TWO ALL STARS GONE and what did they get for it?
Another one on the way out who are they getting for him?
Who you taking in that 1st round with the picks you MIGHT get if the Marlins (whose picks are protected) don’t sign Reyes?
WHEN does this PLAN you say they have succeed?
HOW MUCH TIME do we need to give them?
3 years? 5 Years? 26 Years?
WHEN is the WS festivities PLANNED for?
It ishard to have a plan in place and ready to go when the previous administration pays 3 guys 60 million of a proposed 100 million dollar payroll. Face it: the team is screwed, they are not going anywhere next year. Get used to it., They may still be stuck the year after. It is clear they are looking for prospects in the draft and through trade. Do I have to paint you a picture? They are not going to sign a FA because the fans want them to.
This team is no good. We were made no good by decisions made long before Alderson. Some people here think the solution is to ignore the 60 mil we are paying three guys and spend an additional 120 to try to win now. But that is not going to happen. The money is not there. Grow up, face the facts. That is what met fans must do. Sure the Cardinals pay Pujols a lot. We pay Santana a fortune. See what happens to the Cardinals when they [ay Pujols what he wants now. Someone will have to go. We have several people who have to go on our team. Unfortunately their contracts are not up.
And we are now Worse because of decisions MADE by Alderson!
We are a far worse team without Beltran, K-Rod, soon to be Reyes and Wright as well!