WELL, THE WILPONS, PRIMARILY JEFF, HAVE ACCOMPLISHED SOMETHING NOT EVEN CLUELESS LORINDA COULD AS SHE PONDERED CONFISCATION OF FOUL BALLS INTO THE STANDS FROM FANS UPON EXITING AS A COST CUTTING MEASURE

THAT SPECIFIC WILPON FEAT WAS THE FINAL OBLITERATION OF MY LAST PULSATING OPTIMISTIC CONSIDERATION AS I’VE DECIDED I’D BE MORE FOOLISH THAN A MADOFF INVERSTOR IF I CONTINUED SPENDING HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS ON A TEAM THAT EMBARASSED ME AS I HAVE NOTIFIED DIRECTV TO REMOVE MY SUBSCRIPTION TO THE MLB PKG FROM THE AUTO RENEWAL LISTING.

IF I STILL RESIDED IN THE METRO AREA OF RELATIVELY ECONOMICAL GAME RECEPTION I WOULD MOST LIKELY STAY AS A LOOKEYLOO MESMERIZED BY THE CRASHSCENE; HOWEVER TO PAY HUNDREDS OF ADDTIONAL DOLLARS FROM MY FIXED INCOME(DISABILITY) TO SATISFY MORBID CURIOSITY IS ACXQUIESCING TO WILPON VICTIMIZATION.

IN A STRANGELY POETIC JUSTICE OCCURANCE LAST SEPTEMBER I FOUND THAT ONE OF THE LATE STORMS HAD RIPPED MY PROUDLY DISPLAYED ‘METS’ FLAG TO SHREDS. KNOWING A REPLACEMENT WAS LIKELY TO BE FOUND IN TODAY’S STOCKING, I PRECLUDED MORE USELES SPENDING BY SPECIFICALY REQUESTING IT NOT BE REPLACED, SO FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 13 YRS (APRIL SEASON OPENER TO ELIMINATION DAY WILL PROGRESS THIS SUMMER WITHOUTBLUE & ORANGE COLORS FESTOONING MY NC HOME.

MOST LIKELY MY APPEARANCES ON THESE BOARDS WILL DWINDLE AS I’M NOT LIKELY TO FEEL AS EMPOWERED MERELY BY HAVING VIEWED SNIPITS OF HIGH;LIGHTS RATHER THAN EVERY PITCH OF A SEASON

BTW, THE WILPON’S APARENT INCOMPETANCE OF DISMANTLING ASSETS OFF OF A PRODUCT BEING PEDDLED TO RAISE OPERATING CASH IS WHY I STILL CAN NOT BELIEVE THEY HAD ANY DELIBERATE OR CIRCUMSTANCIAL PARTICIPATION IN THE PONZIE SCHEME AS INTIMATED BY PICARD. THESE ARE BUNGLERS FROM BROOKLYN WHO’VE BEN “LUCKY” FROM THE OUTSET WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES OUSIDE THEIR CONTROL MADE THEM WINNERS OF BIG PROFITS FROM A WHITE ELEPHANT TOWNHOUSE DEVELOPMENT & ONLY DESPERATE REINVESTMENT DECISIONS TO AVOID TAXES DUE REWARDING THEM ONCE MORE BY SHEER LUCK & HAPPENSTANCE. 2 SCHMUCKS FROM BROOKLYN FROM THE 70s ARE STILL 2 SCHMUCKS FROM FBROOKLYN 35 YRS LATER WITH THEIR LUCK RUN DRY!

NO ASTUTE BUSINESS PERSON WOULD EVER EMPOWER AN IMMATURE, UNPROVEN, INEXPERIENCED COMMUNITY COLLEGE GRADUATE WITH A SIZABLE MULTI HUNDREDS OF MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS WITHOUT PROPER SUPERVISION AND EXPECT A POSITIVE OUTCOME IS IT ANY WONDER WHY ADDITIONAL INVESTORS(SUCKERS) ARE NOT STANDING IN LINE TO CONTRIBUTE MORE GREEN FOR THE CRAPPER?
CONSIDER THIS FROM ’05 TO ’09 JEFF HAD ONLY 1 HIGH PRIORITY RESPONSIBILITY, THE PLANNING & BUILDING OF THE NEW STADIUM WHILE A SIXZABLE RESPONSIBILITY, HE CERTAINLY HAD THE ABILITY TO HIRE PROFESSIONALS WHO ONLY NEEDED HIM TO SUPPLY GUIDANCE WITH MANY,MANY YEARS TO PREPARER, THE AIR(head) APPARENT COULDN’T EVEN GET THAT SINGULAR ISSUE RIGHT BE IT DIMENSIONALY(OUTFIELD WALL CONFIGURATION) OR COSMETICALLY(COLOR DESIGN SCHEME) HONOREES DISPLAYED.

WITH ABSOLUTELY NO INDICATION THE “KING” HAS REALIZED HIS “PRINCE” IS REALLY HIS COURT JESTER(FOOL) WITH NO APARENT REALIGNMENT IN SIGHT. IT MAKES LITTLE DIFFERNCE WHO IS MANNING THE BUCKET BRIGADE BAILING WATER OVER THE GUN’LS IF THE BRIDGE IS INTENT ON MAKING ‘ICECUBES’

See Mazilli!

There are two sides to the Financial coin and one of them is being largely ignored by this front office!

Cutting overhead and trimming the fact is always a good business practice provided you understand that the overhead that is directly related to production and revenue generation is not affected by those cuts!

If we were talking about a store it would make no sense to cut out buying products that the few people who come in want! Better to quit stocking (buying) the products that never sell or never draw people into your store instead!

Cutting players who draw people to the stands is not cutting overhead it is cutting revenues!
1977 was much more than just Seaver being traded. It’s the one we remember but look at who else left?

Kingman, Grote, Matlack (77) Followed by Harrelson, Koosman (78) (Note Koosman netted us Orosco)
All combined that is the reason for drawing less than a Million people to the stands in 79! There was no one left to go see! I Know I was there to see that nothing, Mazilli was the only draw!

Doesn’t matter what their performance was at the time since what they replaced them with didn’t do much better!

And while it is fair to knock Grant for that lets also be fair to him and note HOW he contributed to the 86 Mets!
77
Drafted Neil Allen who we traded for Hernandez
Drafted Backman
Drafted Wilson
78
Drafted Hubie Brooks (who got us Carter)
Traded Koosman for Orosco

Now that doesn’t absolve him of his crimes for trading Seaver and treating him the way he did but it does go to show how losing wholesale gets you some good players in the draft even when your as dumb as Grant was and how even when those players don’t perform so well (See Neil Allen) they can be moved for players that will get you beloved Superstars in trade that wins you a World Series!

Now what we have here is the opposite side of those trades!
We are letting reyes go for two 2nd rounders (and that is being generous could be a 2nd and 3rd if the Marlins sign someone else) lets see who we get and what they do in 4 years!
We traded Beltran for Wheeler which may or may not work out again a two year wait!
We traded K-Rod for pretty much nothing! At best Cash relief! No waiting needed here!
We traded Pagan for less bat and an inning of relief! Anyone think we are trading a <.250 Hitter or a 8th inning specialist for another Hernandez?

Whats next? Wright?

The current situation seems to mirror what Grant did in 77 and 78 and maybe it works out in 6 years time as it did back then before free Agency came into being.
But Alderson won't be here to get the credit for it. And the only contribution will be the wholesale losing that will get us top round rookies to trade away for what we need!

If that is the plan thats fine but people better open up their eyes put away the rose colored glasses and start realizing this notion of competing and solving our Attendance (revenue generation) issues is not just around the corner!
It's 8-10 years away with attendance right around 1 Mil.
And the last time we had those attendance numbers the Payroll was right around 30 Mil!

To do that means No Wright, No Bay, No Santana, Probably no Davis when the time comes (if he continues from what he did befoe he got hurt) probably means a trade of Harvey and Familia as well, because they will be the only trade chips available at that time.

This team is on the downward trend both in competitive baseball and attendance and if we think the finances are a problem now just wait until the attendance drops to 1 Mil and there is no one left to purge from the payroll!

If we were selling out games and losing money because we spent to much on players then it might be a good plan to do what we are doing!
But all we are doing right now is cutting off our nose to spite our face and while that WILL eventually lead to the decade of losing needed to achieve the stated goal of some for a totally homegrown team they will be a good deal older before that dream comes true!
And in the meantime we will lose miney and as a result will be forced to stick with the cheap players we have with no ability to go and buy that one player that could put them over the top!

It's going to be a LOOOOOONG time before this plan works!
And they are going to lose a lot more money for a very long time before they turn profitable under this plan!

The only saving grace there is Likely the Wilpons will be forced to sell!
But then again that leaves us with the possibilioty that drawing a Million is easy to do in ANY city that doesn't have the Yankees! So why would a new owner want to stay and compete with them?

Say Hello to the Peoria Mets!

They will simply wait it out on buying season tickets until they win two years straight before they return to their seats! Or until they win and then the FO outs some promising FA Icing on that cake to inspire hope.

Lets not forget alsop just what happens to the team when there is no one there due to this Apathy. I remember all the uninspired play from 77-82 and how Met fans and opposition fans were almost even in attendance numbers!

We drew 788K people in 1979
Hernandez and the promise of Gooden, increased attendance by almost as many as we drew total in 79!

People need to be given hope and at some point the hope goes so low that not even winning will change their apathetic outlook!
And that means even if Harvey or Familia have the same BUZZ about thier promotion as Gooden had they will still be one Keith Hernandez away from drawing people into the stadium!

And we already have proof that the FO believes if you can’t win there is no point in keeping your good players so might as well trade the Eyewash!

Bad idea, Bad Plan but it what we are doing today and what we will be forced to do later on when the few good players we develop will be the Eyewash we need to trade or let go in the name of more lottery tickets in the Minors!

HANK YOUR STATEMENT ABOVE PRESUMES THERE WILL STILL BE ENOUGH MENTALLY SOUND PEOPLE PAYING ANY ATTENTION AT THAT POINT!

BTW, TIGHTENING ONE’S BELT IS VERY EFFECTIVE UP TO STARVATION THEN NOT SO MUCH.

THIS IS ALL TO SIMILAR TO THE HOME REAL ESTATE MKT CRISIS AS HOME VALUE ESTIMATIONS VASTLY OUTPACED ACTUALS CREATING UPSIDE DOWN MORTGAGE TO ACTUAL VALUE RATIOS WHEN HOMEOWNERS UNWISEY CHOSE TO MAX OUT THEIR INDEBTEDNESS BASED UPON INFLATED APPRAISALS.

AS SO CALLED REAL ESTATE SPECIALISTS SEE NYM BD OF DIRECTOR/PARTNER LIST:
NYM Partners & Board of Directors
Partner / DirectorFred Wilpon Partner / DirectorSaul Katz Partner / DirectorJeff Wilpon Partner / DirectorRichard Wilpon Partner / DirectorMichael Katz Partner / DirectorDavid Katz Partner / DirectorTom Osterman Partner / DirectorArthur Friedman DirectorSteve Greenberg DirectorStuart Sucherman PartnerMarvin Tepper
A QUICK CROSSREFERENCE WITH THE LIST OF STERLING ENTERPRISES’ BD OF DIRECTORS/PARTNERS LIST REVEALS ALL BUT 2 NAMES ARE SHARED GREENBERG & SUCHERMAN ARE NOT INCL ON STERLING’S:
STERLING ENTERPRISES PARTNERS:
Partners
PartnersSenior ManagementFred Wilpon
Co-Founder
and Chairman Saul B. Katz
Co-Founder
and President Michael Katz
Senior Executive
Vice President Richard A. Wilpon
Senior Executive
Vice President
David M. Katz
Executive Vice President Thomas Osterman
Executive Vice President Jeffrey S. Wilpon
Executive Vice President Arthur Friedman
Senior Vice President
Gregory A. Katz
Vice President Marvin B. Tepper

HOLY INBREEDING ,BATMAN!

THE ‘PETER’ PRINCIPLE’S DEFINING MOMENT…

FOR THOSE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE “PETER PRINCIPLE” IT GENERALLY STATES THAT:

A PERSON RISES IN THEIR CAREER TO THEIR HIGHEST LEVEL OF INCOMPETANCE

AN ARGUEMENT ASSIGNING CREDIT TO NEPOTISM COULD ALSO BE SUSTAINED AS ALL THOSE SURNAMED WILPON OR KATZ SHARE THE SAME “FAMILY” SIDE @ THE WEDDING

BROOKLYN’S VERSION OF APPALACHIA? IS SOMEONE WORKING ON THE BANJO SOLO FROM THE “MEET THE METS” SONG?

I would really like to see the Mets record of revenue vs. operating costs for the past few seasons to find out just how much money have been losing. For me, personally, I think the signs are there that the end is near for the Wilpons maintaing ownership of the Mets. I know they really love the Mets and Fred has repeatedly said he wants his grandchildren and their children growing up with the Mets a part of their family. But sometimes it’s better to admit defeat and move on. I really think that time is on the horizon for the Wilpon family.

and as with any business, you first have to make it fiscally sound before you can start improving it.

so while yes all the fans want to see the team sold, it isn’t happening at this point, so really all they can do is make it stable financially (or at least try!).

Kind of like paramedics stabilizing a patient before throwing thim in the ambulance, if you don’t do that, they probably won’t survive the trip to the hospital.

but, things really can’t go on like this much longer. think of the Wilpon Mets as being in cardiac arrest. either they get paddled quick or die, but staying in this limbo LT just can’t happen.

Was the 140 Mil badly spent? Well since it didn’t win a WS you can argue ot was, I have no problem with that argument.

The question is are we headed in an upward direction as a result of the cuts?
And it is this point that causes most of the arguments!

While spending 140 Mil wasn’t effective the fact that we are spending less is not an actual plus nor is it a solution to the failure of that 140 Mil spent.

None of the moves made are actually going to make us more competitive just more fiscally sound. And there are a lot of Fiscally sound teams who are NOT competitive out there!

So we haven’t made a move that reverses nor fixes the failures of how the team was built @ 140M.

The problem here is people think that merely cutting the salary has improved the team yet there is no reason to believe it has fixed anything not even the amount of losses due to attendance at the end of this season.

None of the players make us better competitively, none of the money we cut and re-spent is actually making the team more competitive or increasing it’s chances to make the playoffs.

While cutting Salary may eventually lead to financial stability and an ability to then MAKE smart signings none of what we have done has actually resulted in smart signings or competitive improvement.

So many (I among them) feel we are still on the downward spiral to Rock Bottom and this team is headed downward until all the Salary that can be purged has been deleted. And that time probably will not come until 2016-17 when Santana and Bay are off the payroll.

So while some here think we are going through the required pain that will eventually lead to IMPROVING things and take that as a step in the right direction the others feel we are still on the downward leg of dismantling and believe the team is getting worse in the short term.
And the problem is how LOW does Rock Bottom have to be before we start the upward climb back to competitive play!

And how does what we are signing now prolong that proccess by purging more than we need to purge to fix the finances!

I personally would prefer they fix or try to keep the attendance and save money by signing or purging guys who don’t hurt attendance. But thats just me.

90 loss seasons are going to be hard to swallow while the Wilpons fight to hold on to this team. When 2014 comes and we’re still languishing in last place, people will lose their minds.

Clearly they’ve made mistakes but I doubt they were expecting a half billion dollar financial loss in the Madoff situation, coupled with the Real Estate crisis. It’s not like Mets fans have been deprived of a 140-150 mil payroll year after year. Mets still have a 100 mil payroll. It’s not what Mets fans want, but things are what they are, and fans are panic-stricken coming off three straight losing seasons after two late season collapses.

Where the Wilpons are really erring right now is in public relations. They should be front and center having open dialogue and discussion with fans and media at least once a month. Instead, the negative energy is going viral, polluting rational thinking.

Simply put, Long Time Fan, this is not about being impatient. This is anger, well placed I should say, due to the just recently public revelations as to just how bleak the situation is in Flushing. Shouldn’t Mets fans be angry that the owners have put their team in such a precarious situation? I know the Mets aren’t the only team struggling financially, but they are the only one in a large market who struggle to pay the bills every month and that is due to poor leadership at the very top. The only reason I want Selig to step in is that it is apparent that the Wilpons can’t see the forest for the trees and continue to want to live the pipe dream that one day soon their debt will disappear and suddenly all will be well in Flushing. Can anyone give a plan whereby the Wilpons can pay off their debt and retain ownership, say within a 10 year period? I would be willing to listen if there is such a plan, otherwise, the current situation with the Mets will become the norm, where they can’t afford to keep their own players, borrow money from MLB, and operate like the A’s and Pirates, rather than an exception.

This is the bond that holds those two together and people forget that fact!

Selig became the comissioner for one reason and one reason only to represent and try to even the playing field for the small market teams. He was their choice as he came from owning a small market team himself! He was one of those who could barely afford to have a team himself!

Fred was the ONLY Large Market owner who stood by Selig and complied with every directive Selig made for his small market bretheren.
How many times have you heard Tag and others complain about the Mets not going OVERSLOT! (A directive made by Selig to help the Small Marketeers) When was the last time the Mets paid into the Luxury Tax? (again made to help the small marketeers)

So Fred has been a key piece in Selig’s “Help the Small Market” legacy and success.
I would even go so far as to say Fred was the poster boy that helped Selig to quiet down the small market teams anytime they would complain about how unfair the spending was between haves and have nots!

And now that Selig is nearing the end of his reign (all reports are that he will retire soon) not only is he helping the guy who is the main evidence of how successful he was in that goal but he is being allowed to put the EXCLAMATION POINT onto that legacy by creating a small market team in a big market city! It is being done in the name of helping Wilpon and it may or may not help him keep the team,

But it sure will be cited as an accomplishment of Selig’s and a testament to his legacy if he retires at a time when a team in the largest market in the MLB has a small market payroll!

My issue with this purge is it has NOT solved the money losses at all so I don’t see how it has helped the Wilpons at all. It has made them more hated than they were before truth be told..
I don’t see how it helps them to keep the team since none of the moves made will actually increase attendance and will instead decrease attendance leading to even more losses!

I suppose we will have to sit through two more years of this and it won’t actually come to a head until Wright gets traded. By then even the apologist cheerleaders will have to start running for cover because even without Wright’s Salary they will continue to lose 40 Mil and run out of players to cut.

and then it will be interesting to see who thinks Sandy is doing a good job!

Mets fans want what they want immediately, and look to place blame such as pointing the finger at Selig for not doing their bidding.

It’s way premature for the Wilpons to sell and for Selig and other owners to push that. 100 million dollar payroll and Mets fans are freaking out, spoiled by previous years in top five. Yes the Mets are in financial crisis, but selling is option of last resort as it should be. Who here would be selling the Mets right now if you owned it under similar circumstances?

quite possibly MLB is also afraid of doing anything while Picard is hanging over them. Not even sure if they could sell the team if they wanted to.

What a crock this situation has become. The Mets are really in worse shape than the Dodgers were, but since Fred is a close friend and supporter (he helped get Bud elected commissioner in the first place) I guess Bud feels like he owes the Wilpons for their support. I agree with Clayton, he’s doing nothing to actually help the Mets, rather he’s making them more of a laughing stock each day that passes with the Wilpons in control. I was embarassed by the Mets of ’92-93 and their shenanigans on and off the field (fire crackers, bleach, and Bobby Bonilla) but I can honestly say those incidents pale in comparison. You can get rid of players who behave badly as those guys did. It’s a lot harder to get rid of owners who behave badly.

Time for Bud to dump the Good ‘Ol Boys club and do the right thing and get the Wilpons out of NY. While it’s been pointed out that a new owner may not be any better, it’s hard to conceive that they could be much worse than the Wilpons. I, for one, am willing to take a chance on new owners possibly being worse. We’re already losing money, losing players, and losing games. What else is there to lose?