15
2011
Not Everything Is What It Seems
An article by 
Sorry for the short hiatus, I’ve been under the weather, but I’ve remained engaged and tuned in and I’m working on a blockbuster of a story. For now, let’s talk about this:
Yes desperation is a good way to describe it.
When last I spoke, I mentioned that to the Mets, signing Jose Reyes is worth far more to the organization that just stolen bases and runs scored.
Reyes is the number one marketable asset the Mets have and a 100% genuine brand they can bank on. David Wright might be the face of the franchise and the Mets #1 poster boy, but Reyes puts fannies in the seats and dollars into the Mets’ coffers. Wright does not do that.
Last week I said “relevancy equals more fans and more fans equal more money” in response to Alderson’s statement that “the Mets will increase payroll as the team performs better”. How does the team perform better when you keep getting rid of it’s best players?
The Mets thought they were being cute when they decided to move up the renewal date for season tickets to November 7th. At the time I said that was preposterous and that most fans won’t budge on renewing until they know whether Jose Reyes would be re-signed. Because as I’ve said all along, Reyes sells tickets.
Reyes also sells millions of dollars worth of jerseys and other apparel, not to mention the fact that Reyes outpaced David Wright in National marketing initiatives and advertising runs.
If the Mets think fans are rushing out to buy Ruben Tejada jerseys in 2012, they are sadly mistaken. Sorry Ruben, no knock on you, just stating the facts.
You all know that I never expected the Mets to sign Reyes (I had my reasons why), and I won’t be swayed by recent comments by Sandy Alderson intended to suggest they are still in it. They aren’t. Alderson is simply doing his job which includes keeping the fanbase from going into a panic. That’s what good GM’s do.
The fact as I know them is that they have never been in the Jose Reyes derby. Sure, we have seen some half-hearted gestures, but it’s mostly smoke and mirrors. In not one of their 2012 roster projections and scenarios, was Jose Reyes’ name included at shortstop. This is just one of a few things a reliable source told me. Not one.
They can’t sign Jose Reyes. Even if all it would take is $60 million. It’s not happening. Payroll must come down lower. Slashing it to $100 million is not nearly enough to satisfy the banks, the debt collectors and the folks at MLB who want their $25 million dollars back.
There is something amiss with this franchise. Can you see it?
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 23 | 18 | .561 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 19 | .548 | 0.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 22 | .476 | 3.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 23 | .410 | 6.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 31 | .262 | 12.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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2.Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
3.Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies
4.Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
5.*Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies
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MLB Licensing 2010 Club Rankings
Based on sales of all licensed products for the 2010 calendar year
1.New York Yankees
2.Boston Red Sox
3.Los Angeles Dodgers
4.Philadelphia Phillies
5.Chicago Cubs
6.St. Louis Cardinals
7.Chicago White Sox
8.Atlanta Braves
9.Minnesota Twins
10.Detroit Tigers
When you’re a team playing in NY and you’re not Top 10 in licensing sales or even have a player in the TOP TWENTY in jersey sales… to me, you’re doing something wrong.
It takes more than a local fan base to top these charts in my view. I’ve always contended that Jose Reyes is more of a local star rather than a national star.
Wait until the 2011 player rankings come out. Reyes was injured for two seasons prior. And if you don’t think winning a batting title is not national, nothing I can say will convince you other wise.
By the way, I see eight former batting champions on your list.
So you’re saying Jose Reyes will crack the top 20? If he doesn’t then what does that mean about his national presence?
I doubt Freddy Sanchez or Bill Mueller’s jersey cracked the top 20 because they won batting titles?
Comparing those two to Jose Reyes? I think what I’m saying is that you are relying on outdated info to make a point and wait until the 2011 marketing statistics come out. How can you realistically expect Reyes to be on a 2010 top sales chart? Did your chart really prove anything in the context and relevancy of Jose Reyes’ value to the organization today – in 2011? A lot has happened in 12 months.
To be fair Joe, that data will be skewed.
IF Reyes signs with the Marlins, his jersey is going to FLY off the shelves down there. Everybody who wants a brand new Marlins branded item for the holidays will get a Jose Reyes one.
Frankly if he signs with the Marlins and is NOT on the top 20 list I’d be shocked.
You also see World Series winners and MVPs up there.
You also see a lot of guys who make a lot more than Reyes is asking for too!
Ya, MVP awards, 3 batting titles (with well above a .337) and generally first ballot HoF careers will do that
Leave it up to jesseP to rain on any mets parade… now he’s compering bill mueller and freddy sanches to reyes… the man just hate the mets, or so it seems…
Wilpon can no longer afford his business. Hopefully he is forced to sell. Until then the Mets are cellar dwellers, queens is ghost town USA and SNY ratings will continiue to fall faster then the stock market. However you can bet on two things, Jessep defending the Mets and hot air sandy continuing to sell bs.
Will, he doesn’t defend the mets, he loves sandy and his sabermetric/moneyball ways, he’s already working on his next article about why not signing reyes is a good thing for the mets and he’ll do another article about possible players we might draft with the reyes pick..
we talked together about that months ago. the article is saved and ready to post. the mets and sandy do no wrong per jeesep even as the results show otherwise. he such a tool and talks out both ends of his mouth. the archives prove it.
Does the income generated by retaining Reyes offset the cost? He may be putting more butts in seats than anyone else on the team, but that bar is set pretty low. Will he have the same draw 3,4,5 years from now when he isn’t quite as fast and not legging out as many triples?
By then Nimmo and Wheeler should be here to save the day. At least that’s what I’m told. And if Reyes is still chopping down franchise records by that time, the base will be ecstatic.
In the meantime put a product on the field worth paying for or stop crying about money woes every other week.
By then Nimmo and Wheeler should be here to save the day”
HA!!!! good luck with that, given depodesta track records with draft picks we’d be lucky if nimmo even makes the majors…
Alex I know I told you this before but DePodesta does not make the draft picks.Even when he was the GM with LA he didn’t make the draft selections. He has input and he’s in charge of scouting and player developement but he’s not the one drafting.Chad McDonald drafted Nimmo and Fulmer not DePo.Most GM’s do not make the draft selections.Sometimes he makes the final decision when it comes down to 2 or 3 names debated in the war room but ultimately the picks are on the scouts.Same held true when Minaya was here.
So, spend now, pay later?
So, sign Reyes to a long term deal because Nimmo and Wheeler will be good? Yes, I know your answer was sarcastic, but it just goes to cement my point.
Slashing it to $100 million is not nearly enough to satisfy the banks, the debt collectors and the folks at MLB who want their $25 million dollars back.
That sounds so real it’s scary. What do you think the payroll number they settle at will be? Will they resign Wright?
Can’t wait to hear some of this blockbuster news. Very sad to see this franchise fall even deeper. It’s time for the Wilpons to get out. They have completely destroyed this franchise for years to come.
Baseball is a star driven business!
Just as broadway, Hollywood movies and Television shows are a STAR DRIVEN business!
If you do not have the STARS to draw you to the stadium you will not sell tickets!
Lets name the stars who played on our team in 2011! (Sanatana didn’t play a single game!)
Carlos Beltran
Francisco Rodriguez
Jose Reyes
David Wright
How many Stars will be left once Reyes goes?
How many Jerseys does a .254 hitter sell?
Wright may be the FACE of the franchise but he isn’t the biggest draw! Reyes is what makes seeing a met game exciting!
Now signing reyes doesn’t make the lack of stars issue BETTER! It merely maintains the draw we have!
Hope Santana pitches well and draws some more to offset the losses of 2011.
But signing Taylor Buchholz and Chris Capuano is not going to solve your lack of finance issues!
They are NOT stars!
We need a few more stars here! I don’t care if we develop them or bite the bullet and buy them! Maybe this year isn’t the time to ADD stars merely keep the few we have!
Hope Ike and Murphy can BECOME stars!
Hope with another year that Harvey and Familia become STARS!
And then there will be no money losing despite paying Reyes!
Maybe even enough to go and get one or two MORE stars!
Especially once Bay is off the book and we know if Sanatana is still a star draw or another let go!
I don’t think all of us should just be condemning the Wilpons and Sandy in this, IMO, Jose Reyes himself really does not want to resign with the Mets. Put yourself in Jose Reyes’ shoes. If you were Jose, would you want to resign with the Mets? I know I wouldn’t. The mehness and losing over the past 5 years, the now very shaky ownership, the very uncertain future of the Mets franchise, the sometimes circus surrounding the Mets, the sometimes questionable medical practices on the Mets and the constant 24/7 NY media heat on the Mets which in total IMO has got to wear on and even alienate a player especially David Wright and Jose Reyes who are front and center on the Mets and who both do like to and want to win. Plus, the homeboys David Wright and Jose Reyes ship has sailed both for the Mets and those 2 players.
Couldn’t agree more.
If you were entering what some consider your prime years and a FA, would the NY Mets be your first choice?
It’s going to take some years to climb out of this hole.
Thanks, Wilpons.
I also couldn’t agree more,except I would substitute sometimes questionable medical practices with an absolute joke of a medical staff when it comes to the Mets.
In 2 years both the Wilpons and Alderson will be gone. To expedite this don’t go to the games. Don’t buy any hats and stuff. Just let them cut payroll while we cut our cash infusion that keeps them around. The more they cut back, the more we cut back. Eye for an eye.
I wish other Mets fans thought like wise. A total boycott would be Amazin’ !
“They can’t sign Jose Reyes. Even if all it would take is $60 million. It’s not happening. Payroll must come down lower. Slashing it to $100 million is not nearly enough to satisfy the banks, the debt collectors and the folks at MLB who want their $25 million dollars back.”
prove it.
Player X selling jerseys (when he really doesn’t even sell that many comparatively) is one of the worst reasons to keep a player.
I’m pretty sure Wright jerseys outsold Reyes jerseys just about every year anyway. When the Mets were good Wright jerseys were one of the top selling in the sport. Now that the team stinks, nobody is buying much of any Mets-related stuff.
That’s true,Shea was blanketed with fans wearing Wright jersey’s during Wrights first 4 years,in fact I remember seeing more Beltran jersey’s than Reyes jersey’s.I could be wrong but I think more Beltran jersey’s were sold than Reyes.
I have actually also heard…not sure if its true or not, but that money from jersey sales doesnt go necessarily to the team of the player, but go instead to MLB and then all that merchandise revenue is equally divided amongst the teams. So the Mets would get the same amount of money for a Jose Reyes Marlins’ jersey selling as they would a Mets Jose Reyes jersey selling. It might be different in the merchandise is being purchased in the team’s stadium…but I think in general the money goes to MLB as a whole, not directly to the team.
After much thought, I have decided that President Obama and Sandy Alderson have something very much in common. They both inherited a total mess from their predecessors!
I have also decided that much like the lack of intelligence of so many citizens of this country, that there are many Met fans who have had their heads in the sand for years and blame the current leadership for the current situation.
I don’t blame the fans for not wanting to go out to Citi Field when the team is bad. Going to a ballgame is expensive so attendance will suffer. Ownership is not stupid and that is why they are cutting ticket prices and offering incentive plans like smaller season ticket plans. The bottom line is that lower attendance means lower revenues right down the line. Food Concessions, Souvenirs and Jerseys…YOU NAME IT!
Ownership is not selling this team, repaying MLB 25 million dollars is not a problem. The problem is that ownership’s previous GM made lots of moves to better the team but couldn’t get the team over the top. Omar Minaya is gone and the new guy who came here knows that there is no quick fix for this organization. I am sure that he told this to Fred and Jeff and that for him to take the GM job they would need to be patient as he would rebuild by getting rid of dead wood contracts, and look to restock the minor leagues with talent that could be nurtured along till they were ready to come to the parent club.
So….Sandy is going to see what Jose is offered elsewhere before making his offer and the Reyes camp understands this as they too wait to see what Jose’s value is. If the Mets resign Jose, if David Wright and Jason Bay rebound.and Ike Davis is healthy we will have a good lineup for sure……BUT WE HAVE LOUSY PITCHING. AND THE ONLY WAY THAT MAKES ANY SENSE IS TO DEVELOP THE BULK OF A GOOD PITCHING STAFF ON OUR OWN.
Yes, a stud pitcher can be had but at what price? It is rare that a team will trade a stud pitcher who is healthy, so free agency is the next alternative. The question is why hasn’t a free agent been resigned. If he is healthy and hasn’t logged a million innings then he is a rare commodity and so our plight is one where we will have to wait a few years to be a top flight team rich with pitching talent.
Once again…….PATIENCE
another butt kissing comment about alderson… seriously these ppl here just don’t wanna admit this man wants nothing to do with winning in NY