14
2011
A Bridge To Nowhere
An article by 
As you may have heard or read on this site a couple of days ago, the Mets received a $40 million dollar bridge loan to help them buy time until the sales of those $20 million dollars stakes to individual investors start materializing.
It was Bank of America who kicked in the dough, and it needed approval from Bud Selig which he undoubtedly gave.
I’m really getting tired of Uncle Bud’s continued efforts to keep this hopeless sinking ship we call the Mets afloat. If this were any other team, MLB would have already stepped in and asumed control as they have so many other times before in the last two decades alone.
The New York Mets franchise is on life support my friends – we’re running on fumes. The Wilpon’s are either too proud or too stupid to let go of a franchise they can no longer afford to keep. The longer they hang on, the more tenuous and the more dire the circumstances become.
The Mets need a new owner with a desire to win and pockets that are deep enough to save this franchise from what it has become; a small market team playing in the number one sports mecca in the world. Even many of the fans have embraced this concept which is sad in and of itself.
We deserve an owner whose passion for New York style baseball is surpassed only by a competitive spirit and a thirst for a championship – and not one that is five or more years in the making. We deserve an owner who can hire the right people to do the right job in this – the largest and most passionate baseball market of them all.
Everything you have seen since the construction of Citi Field which was built on the backbone of fictitious profits and ill-gotten gains, has been all smoke and mirrors.
From the hiring of Sandy Alderson which was the result of a quasi-takeover by Selig as a condition of the first $25 million dollar loan, to the ongoing efforts to weaken the product on the field under the guise of some miraculous transformation in 2014, has been nothing short of a pretense and a flimsy one at that.
All these ruses combined with everything else are all intended to serve one purpose alone, and that is to keep the Wilpons in charge and in the driver’s seat – a seat they should have abandoned long ago.
This $40 million dollar bridge loan that Selig approved for the Wilpons’ only delays their eventual exodus, and invites even more heartache for a fan base that has suffered for far too long and deserves so much better. We have been a patient fanbase, but our only reward has been to see a once proud franchise fall into the depths of a new philosophy that is intended for the likes of baseball’s poorest and smallest markets.
To me, that is a suffocating realization of just how far we have fallen. They say a picture is worth a thousand words…
(click to enlarge)
This is where the New York Mets are right now as a franchise… Under our current ownership the future is bleak and tumultuous at best. And to those of you who think a new GM has changed our direction and set us on path to championship caliber baseball in 2014, I have a bridge I want to sell you.
This unaltered political cartoon originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in November of 2006.
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 | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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Joe D,
Can I ask you question?
“And to those of you who think a new GM has changed our direction and set us on path to championship caliber baseball in 2014″
Do you think it’s POSSIBLE that from an MLB standpoint, its best to create as much talent in the farm system for the future so that when/if/hopefully a new owner gets settled in by say 2014, they are able to actually spend $ and surround these younger kids with guys who have a proven track record?
I think it’s more realistic to think if MLB is focused on the eventual selling of this team that making the future an optimistic one paired with the ability to actually MAKE money for a new owner is in their best interest no?
What is a more attractive selling tool? A team bleeding money because of overpaid aging veterans who have finished under .500 3 years in a row, or a team with a young core of guys like: (in a perfect world) Davis, Duda, Harvey, Familia, Wheeler, Fulmer, Mejia, guys like Puello, Lutz, also Gorski maybe, maybe Kirk, and Havens, Tejada, Flores
To me that’s a more attractive purchase than the current situation. So isn’t it possible that Sandy is here to do 2 things
A) Get the future of the franchise in terms of the talent on the right track
B) Create a more attractive franchise to be bought by creating a team that has their spending under control which gives a new owner more freedom to get creative with their money rather than handcuffed by previous mistakes?
yup. owners that are getting ready to sell do this all the time. slash the payroll to make the team more attractive to the new owner, who will come in and build as they see fit.
Speaking as the resident Texan here, when Houston was getting their implosion on and looking to sell, they wanted to reduce the number of long term commitments as best they could, allowing new owners to have flexibility in how they wanted the team to progress going forward. Granted their farm system was and is the absolute worst in baseball, making the turn around time much longer before they can expect to become respectable, but the same theory of reducing long term debt and increasing short term financial flexibility would seem to be fitting the bill for what you propose.
Sure you could ask me two questions if you want, lol
Do you think it’s POSSIBLE that from an MLB standpoint, its best to create as much talent in the farm system for the future so that when/if/hopefully a new owner gets settled in by say 2014, they are able to actually spend $ and surround these younger kids with guys who have a proven track record?
Yes, stocking the farm with talent is the hope and quest of all 30 MLB teams and not exclusive to the current Mets. That’s just common sense. The Mets are using this as a ruse that something extraordinary will happen in 2014 with the Mets, and I’m simply saying that there’s nothing grand going on here, just the same things you see in Pittsburgh and Kansas City year after year.
To me that’s a more attractive purchase than the current situation. So isn’t it possible that Sandy is here to do 2 things
A) Get the future of the franchise in terms of the talent on the right track
B) Create a more attractive franchise to be bought by creating a team that has their spending under control which gives a new owner more freedom to get creative with their money rather than handcuffed by previous mistakes?
That’s not a Sandy thing, that an every GM in baseball thing. No GM runs the team with the intent of getting their team on the wrong track.
Their methods may differ but their goals are one and the same. Alderson’s only post seasons came when he had a Top 3 payroll in MLB and so it’s no lock that he’s in his element right now.
Why do so many fans think Alderson is the only GM that wants to build their farm and put the team on the right track?
I thought the point in question was more along the lines of “is his real assignment to get the pig gilded for sale, and not to worry about trying to win in 2012″?
that is the difference between a prep for sale scenario and what all other GMs are doing (trying to win now also).
any: You got what I’m trying to ay, thank you. In reply to your comments Joe.
“Yes, stocking the farm with talent is the hope and quest of all 30 MLB teams and not exclusive to the current Mets. That’s just common sense. The Mets are using this as a ruse that something extraordinary will happen in 2014 with the Mets, and I’m simply saying that there’s nothing grand going on here, just the same things you see in Pittsburgh and Kansas City year after year.”
I think you missed an important feature to my question. The difference between Pitt/KC restocking the farm is that I am asking if the Mets are doing it so that a new owner can come in and SPEND money where holes are left.
Think of it this way in a hyopthetical world.
Lets say all of the happenings we’ve seen lead to a new owner who wants to win and his 1st offseason was this winter but he had guys like Duda-Davis-Tejada-veteran Wright- plus Harvey-Familia, Wheeler, Fulmer, Mejia, guys like Puello, Lutz, also Gorski maybe, maybe Kirk, and Havens, Tejada, Flores.
So you have a roster with a young core that expands FURTHER than “Wright and Reyes.” They aren’t a championship team but they have good young talent spread across the field, and now that a new owner is here he can spend $ to fill those holes. You’re not going to see a team with a 25 man roster fully homegrown in NY.
Wouldn’t a new owner look at that and know that if they have $ to spend that bringing in some veteran free agents like a Reyes, Buehrle etc.
“That’s not a Sandy thing, that an every GM in baseball thing. No GM runs the team with the intent of getting their team on the wrong track.” – I meant financial track.
I’m asking if its possible that the plan is to make the Mets a MORE attractive purchase to a future owner by cutting the payroll, and stocking the farm with closer to ready prospects?
I think you missed an important feature to my question. The difference between Pitt/KC restocking the farm is that I am asking if the Mets are doing it so that a new owner can come in and SPEND money where holes are left.
They’re doing it through no choice of their own. The last thing on Alderson’s mind is getting the team ready for new owners. You are reading far too much into this and are trying to transform their feeble efforts into some grand gesture.
The Mets cant spend, period. This whole restocking the farm thing is becoming absurd. All teams restock the farm through the the draft. Nothing particularly special is going on in Flushing. Alderson, as I first said a couple months ago, may not even be here after 2012 season.
Joe, I don’t think anyone feels Alderson is the only GM who intends to build up the minors. Shortsighted people are in an uproar because more of the expenses are being shifted there rather than to the Major League roster. This is a marked departure from the way the Mets have done business over the last 25 years and people are used to having a Jason Bay, Vince Coleman, Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar or Scott Schowenweiss to drool over all winter long.
That wasn’t always the case. When Joan Payson was here she spent a lot of money acquiring the best amateur talent possible and hired the right people to scout and develop that talent. Almost all of the 1969 Mets were acquired BEFORE their even was a draft so those players were available to anyone who wanted to sign them. Trades and forming platoons filled in where we didn’t have solutions.
Frank Cashen didn’t sign one single free agent. He traded off the Major league roster for additional pieces to add to his build up of the minors and then when he knew what he had traded some of his prospects to round out and fill in on the Major league roster. He did both things. First he traded for prospects, then he traded prospects to upgrade. For 25 years now we’ve only concerned our selves with trades or free agent signings that address talent shortfalls in the system rather than addressing the REASON we have all those holes to begin with.
Does anyone really believe that we would have signed Luis Castillo for four years if we had a Tejada/Havens/Valdespin performing in AA or AAA? Would we have signed an Oliver Perez if we had Mejia/Familia/Harvey/Wheeler in AA or AAA? Of course not. Those guys were signed or resigned because we DIDN’T have anyone close by. The key now is to follow up those guys with MORE guys so that our best years aren’t missing the playoffs by one game and then falling back on the same old tired mantra of “who could have known that so and so would fall off a cliff the minute we signed him?” or “who else were we going to get to play __________?”
The pendulum has shifted away from over spending for guys who hamstring your payroll and clog up your roster and play no better than a platoon made up of two non tenders and frequently don’t even do that well. If the pendulum had been 50/50 the last quarter of a century I can guarantee you that we would have made the playoffs more than 4 times.
As for the Wilpon’s, their either in dire financial straits and holding onto the team anyway possible or they are cutting back on payroll inorder to save the money they have to give back or they could be devesting the team of financial commitments in order to sell it.
There is a 4th possibility though and I think this one is the most likely. They may very well be purposely devaluing the franchise and taking on additional debt in order to get their equity in the team to zero that way the franchise won’t be of any use to Picard and they can’t be forced to sell it to pay off any liabilities in the lawsuits filed against them after the clawback is settled.
Regardless it makes no sense to blame the spokesman. Alderson was hired to shed payroll and put out the best team possible while doing so. Players know the deal. Anyone with any better options aren’t coming here. They know that for three or four years we’ll have to go with what we have or what we can get on the cheap so that just shrinks a really small pool of good available players every off season to next to nill.
For over two decades we have settled for whoever was available every off season and then spent whatever was necessary to acquire them as our basic method of procurring talent and we’ve gone to playoffs 4 times in 25 years with 3 near misses using this plan and that’s with the highest payroll in the NL so 7 times in 25 years we were in it and 18 times we weren’t and one of those times we were was the tail end of of a purposeful buildup of the minors so in reality having the pendulum stuck on this year every year has resulted in as many playoff appearances in the last quarter of a century as the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The question should really be doesn’t anyone aspire to be better than that? If your answer is yes then there’s really only one way to go about it and that’s to build your 25 in a way that doesn’t cost you one single player from future years teams and instead ADDS players to future years teams when possible. If THAT had been done around here not only would would our results have been much better, our future would be a lot brighter too and everything else would have fallen into place.
You cannot make up for the work not done (or done poorly) in the previous decade by going out and signing whoever happens to be available every year.
That’s already been proven by us 18 times in the last 25 years.
what’s a t agee post without mentioning Scott Schoenweiss? It’s mandatory by now.
So fielding an all home grown team will prevent the Mets from losing a playoff spot by one game? Just missing the playoffs only happens to teams who sign free agents and not to teams who’ve produced talent from their farm system? That’s something new.
And of course the obligatory mention that none of Sandy’s moves so far have been bad. They’ve all been the best possible player acquisitions he could’ve possibly done.
Another long drawn out t agee conspiracy theory post with the same result – second guessing.
Followed in short order by the rantings of a individual with a serious personality disorder who lacks the brains to keep that defect to himself instead proudly displaying it for all the world to see.
We are all embarrassed for you and by you.
I think putting out your plan for a practically all homegrown team with by 2013 in the majors meaning no trades or FA signings is more embarrassing. And you did that a couple months ago so trades have already been made so that’s shot.
I also think that making excuses and blaming the FO for all the tough losses on the field the Mets have encountered over the last 25 years is more embarrassing
I think deflecting accountability from the actual games that happened during that time to a 25 years too late solution is more embarrassing
I think being a chronic second guesser despite all the literature you’ve read up on shows a definite lack of understanding and more of a case of sever in-denial is very embarrassing and shows a mental deficiency.
I also think that being a proven liar like yourself more than once here is even more embarrassing
Actually, I found Agee’s comment to be quite compelling and he does bring out some very important points that sometimes get lost in all the noise.
Sure, a couple of points regarding the financial aspect of his post but as for baseball wise? No, his concepts are practically all fantastical
Don’t you see Joe?
What Frank Cashen did back then is the way to do it, all the time. Don’t you realize that? It has nothing to do with that circumstances are different for each era of Mets baseball you want to discuss, it doesn’t matter.
t agee has it all figured out 25 years later that the way Cashen did it is the right way. Never mind the fact that if Mookie Wilson strikes out in 1986 (and he k’d a lot it’s a miracle he didn’t k) t agee would be saying 42 years instead of 25. And we all know how savvy Joan Payson was in developing those minor leagues back then (saracasm)
Nice well thought out post. There is no 100% proven formula to produce a WS or every team would follow it. However, what we do know is what the Mets have done for the last decade has not worked and it was time to try something different… enter Sandy Alderson. You don’t have to like his methods but a reasonable person would have to understand the thought process.
Yep it sure would have worked batter if Beltran or Valentin only got a hit in 2006, If the team was able to drive in a couple more runs in 2008 or save a couple games in 2007.
And if we did not have historic injuries (to this day) it sure would have worked better but hey Sandy Alderson has flown in with his Superman’s cape and SAVED THE DAY!!!!!
And so far getting rid of Beltran, KRod, Reyes has been nothing short of the workings of a major Super Hero.
And all his player transactions since he’s arrived? All the right ones and no mistakes. PERFECT
Whew, I am so glad that we have enabled you to see the light. Another lost soul is saved!
yep, good for you that you used snark to get out of responding to my post. Typical.
“And so far getting rid of Beltran, KRod, Reyes has been nothing short of the workings of a major Super Hero.
And all his player transactions since he’s arrived? All the right ones and no mistakes. PERFECT”
Looks to me if the snark is on the other foot.
ok since u have no response to my post i’ll accept it as that you know but won’t admit that i am right.
t agee –
“Does anyone really believe that we would have signed Luis Castillo for four years if we had a Tejada/Havens/Valdespin performing in AA or AAA?”
We had no alternative other than the deposed Kaz Matsui at the time. Houston and the White Sox wanted Luis Castillo too. Houston offered the same annual salary per year for three years. Consequently, Omar went to four years and a tad more money. It broke the tie. We were in dire consequences and to this day I think Omar did the right thing. Of course if we had good prospects the planning likely would have been different.
P.S.: Ignoring some people is a sound strategy.
When Omar traded for Luis Castillo he had only three drafts under his belt and none of the players he bought in were close to major league ready. Only now are we seeing the fruits of those early Omar years. Castillo batted almost .300 that season and when he became a free agent it was either re-signing him, or giving a multi year deal to Orlando Hudson. They went with the know commodity and Castillo played hurt in 2007 after multiple knee surgeries that offseason. THAT’S WHERE OMAR SCREWED UP.
He should of had vesting options to protect against the aftermath of the offseason surgeries, and he didnt do that.
In 2008 Castillo was healthy and led the team in batting and OBP but the fans already decided they hated him and they ran him out of town. I wanted him gone too actually.
Maniac — You’ve said a few things, so what’s your point? That Omar was inexperienced? That Omar shouldn’t have listened to the fans? More importantly why did you, as a smart baseball fan, want Omar gone?
Castillo had a strong finish to the 2007 season. He reached base safely in 40 of his last 46 games, and scored 34 runs in his last 42 games. In 50 games as a Met, Castillo batted .296 with 20 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. In other words, Luis performed well in the games he played for the Mets in 2007. On November 18, 1997, the Mets re-signed him to a 4-year contract worth $25 Million. Please explain why Omar should have used the vesting operation. You said Omar screwed up. But looking ahead back in November, 1997, how would Omar have known the future problems Castillo would have?
In 2008, a year that Luis was plagued with injuries and several bench stints, he hit .245 in 87 games, but still managed to steal 17 bases in 19 attempts.
Your as entitled to your opinion Des as anyone else is but I disagree on Luis.
I loved him when he was with the Marlins but when we got him he was playing hurt. Really hurt. I respect him for playing hard while being hurt and I winced myself watching him have to do a pushup just get off the ground because of his knees but that is NOT the guy you give a 4 year deal too especially at 2B and especially pairing him next to an immovable object at 1B.
2B is truly a young mans position. The number of true 2B that play well on both sides of the ball beyond 32 is almost infintismal so when you start with a guy who can’t hit the ball far enough to even advance a runner two bases when he gets a hit and needs knee surgery on BOTH knees in the off season you do not sign him for 4 years. You offer him arb and you go with the wrong guy for a year rather than live with the wrong guy for 4 years if need be.
Besides why do we have to offer more money and more years to keep Houston and the White Sox from getting him? Plus we signed him in Nov. before the non tender list even came out and no trades were explored and exactly how does a player go about preparing for a Major league season when he has both knees operated on in the same off season.
You know it’s not like Minaya was under the gun to produce a dynasty in two years. People knew it was going to take time. Everyone understood Phillips had left nothing in the farm. That’s no defense of signing the wrong guy so we have to live with him for 4 years. After Fonzie we got a good year out of Relaford, he was ditched for Alomar, Reyes was shifted there, then Kaz then Diaz ate himself out of 2B, Omar himself had to get a stop gap in Miguel Cairo. It’s like everyone in the free world was shocked to see that 2B was a quagmire. Hell even Duquette attempted to do something about it in the Benson deal (Keppinger) and Omar traded for Anderson Hernandez but this is what happens when you fail to address a position in the draft and IFA year after year after year. Same thing we’re going through right now at catcher. The answer very infrequently just suddenly materializes.
When you think of all the guys we’ve run through 2B since Fonzie left (without being offered arbitration) only Relaford played well for a full year and Valentin for 3/4. Kaz could have been resigned as the utility MIer instead of going with Valentin and then signing Castillo. That’s too much age. Omar did try a number of things. He inherited Valendia tried Argenis Reyes but even a good evaluator of talent is handcuffed when their just is no low cost solution and I think Omar did what fans do. They think of the guy as the player who turned such beautiful DP’s in FL and got OB and ran those bases but that’s not what Luis was by 2007 and although he did the absolute most possible with what he had his 2009 was as empty and hollow a .300 BA as I have ever seen in the Majors.
We tried a million wrong guys and then signed the big name and he was no better than any of them. You just can’t solve every need that wasn’t handled beforehand by whoever is available in a particular year or you wind up with a team of mutts. a Bay, a Castillo, a Bonilla, A Vaughn, a Burnitz, a Schowenweiss, ect ect ect.
You know if you have nothing to trade in order to get the right guy it really begs the question of whether or not you should be going for broke every year.
Oh, the huge manatee…
Such a sad state of affairs but one that may be drawing to a close soon. We can only hope.
DONT GO TO ANY GAMES UNTIL THE WILPONZIES ARE OUT!!!!!
Sigh….
SELL, SELL, SELL.
The question is to whom should the Wipons sell to if that is what needs to be done.
We would want someone who is a fan of the team and obviously can afford them. The owner of the Tampa Bays is a big Mets fan. He would have to sell his team. Jerry Seinfeld is a big Mets fan. Others???
A round of ownership musical chairs is probably more likely and better for MLB than a league take over.
Problem with this is just b/c you’re a fan, isn’t going to ensure you’re any smarter than the current owners in running a baseball franchise.
It’s a business first and foremost.
Maybe David Einhorn will be back in the picture? He always wanted the whole of the Mets to begin with and not just a part of them. Plus we know he grew up a Mets fan.
They are done…..I don’t believe anything the “tampons” say ! I don’t believe they have anyone willing to chip in 20 million for shares of a ship thats already underwater. Would someone who was smart enough to amass 20 million really be stupid enough to invest in Fred Gump ? I can’t wait till the day I’m sitting in the pepsi porch watching a winning proud team called the” EFFING MIRACLE NEW YORK METS” drinking a cold beer ……..And talking about Gary Carter’s amazing recovery !! We need to erase this smudge from our history NOW ! LETS GO METS !!
Those $20MM stakes are all a charade. I cant believe Bank of America was stupid enough to lend them another $40 million to bridge them over until those shares sell. It ain’t happening. Only a fool would entrust that kind of money to the Wilpons.
A couple of points:
1) Owners expect the team to make money on the operations. They just don’t tend to pour their personal assets into a money losing product. So I would not bet that this potential white knight owner is going to drop a billion (+/-) on the Mets, then turn around and ramp up payroll to way above what the revenue can support.
2) If you get a consortium group, even less likely that #1 happens.
3) What I think is being overlooked here is that they ARE starting to sell the team, at least in pieces. the bridge loan only tides them over until they can off load whatever % they can . Not quite the full monty, but it is a step that way.
4) aren’t the Mets about the only team left (or one of very few) that is effectively owned by 1 family, without a partnership group involved (not sure how the Rickets set up with the Cubs)?
#1 is a great point!… I have been saying this all along. The Wilpons side financial mess really impacts the team only in the fact that they can’t bail out an under-performing team that is losing lots of money on it’s own. Owners rarely invest their personal money into a team and they certainly don’t make a habit out of investing that money when the team is losing that money in turn, otherwise they would go…. uh…. bankrupt. Enter the NY Mets.
Love the graphic. In particular the kids being in the wagon labeled Citi Field tours.
should read “being pulled in the wagon”
Being yanked by their chains would be more like it.
Touche
Thanks! It was fun trying to come up with all the text elements.
Excellent post Joe. I am so sick of the Wilpons, and I’m already tired of the dog and pony act of the last 18 months too.
So very well said Joe. Couldn’t agree more.
Lots of assumptions and judgments but only one truth, the Mets are broke. Not that I am a fan of the Wilpon’s, but to make a statement of “The Mets need a new owner with a desire to win and pockets that are deep enough to save this franchise from what it has become; a small market team” are you suggesting that the Wilpon’s don’t have a desire to win and wanted the business to turtle up?
The decisions they made terms of player acquisition and salary were based on wanting to win and making money. Those decisions didn’t work out. Saying they need to sell because the team can’t afford to raise the payroll to 250m to write off people like Bay and Santana, is ludicrous. They made plenty of great business decisions that helped them build their empire. We have no idea if they have enough leverage to continue on we only know what the media tells us. If they had the ability to instantly have a good product on the field and reverse their fortunes, I am sure they would.
Personally I have never been a fan of their business model and would love to see them move on, but it is their right to own the team.
I just don’t understand for the life of myself where all of Sterling Mets LLC and Queens Ballpark Company revenues are going. I also don’t understand why some financial experts and now some MLB officials say that Citifield is a black hole to the Wilpons and Mets. That is absolute nonsense even if attendance at Citifield averaged 25,000 per game. First of all, Sterling Mets LLC doesn’t owe or pay any of the debt on Citifield. A seperate entity and Mets subsidiary, Queens Ballpark Company owes and pays the debt and leases Citifield from the IDA- NYC Industrial Development Agency. Secondly, Queens Ballpark Company in a public filing at the end of 2010 reported advertising revenues just from Citifield of 47.9MM in 2010. That figure was probably slightly higher in 2011. That figure includes most of the 25MM annual payment from Citigroup for the naming rights to Citifield. And Queens Ballpark Company retains most of Citifield’s advertising revenues plus also gets a piece of the parking and concessions at Citifield which more than covers the annual 44MM Citifield bond principal and dividend lease payments by Queens Ballpark Co. to the IDA and the electricity expense at Citifield which QBC also gets at a greatly reduced rate from the city.Plus the parking revenues are 100% retained by Sterling Mets LLC and Queens Ballpark Co. with the IDA and the city not getting a dime of that money. So where is Citifield such a huge drain on Sterling Mets LLC and Met operations? Are we so sure that the Wilpons and Katzs aren’t siphoning some of Sterling Mets LLC revenues to their other business in the real estate industry and even some $$$ for their personal life like McCourt?
Maybe the whole thing is just a sham. Maybe the Wilpon’s want to go to trial with their most visable asset in a severely depressed state so as not to be viewed as supremely wealthy business people who got rich by scamming poor widows and orphans but one thing we know for sure is that when they wanted to spend, they spent like madmen all the while cheaping out behind the scenes by drafting the least expensive players, skimping in international free agency and selling draft choices for guys like Chris Carter.
When they felt it was advantageous to spend they did, now the spigot’s turned off. I’d love to see exactly where they stand financially to see if there truly is merit to this new found austerity.
You may very well be right. This entire situation may be the result of nothing more than pure greed and unscrupulous behavior.
Great article. You’ve captured the essence of where we are as Mets fans in this trap set by the owners. A very sad situation that does us no justice.