7
2011
The New Evil Empire
An article by 
Through all the pain and suffering that has befallen us Mets fans this past week, and these past years, it is very easy to lash out. To get mad, to get irrational. I myself have been guilty of it when I lambasted Sandy “Sand-bag” Alderson in a comment thread the other day. But I have to reel myself in for a minute. I have to get my feet back on the ground. I need to remind myself once again. This is not SA’s fault.
Just because he is able to employ a simple, basic approach, build from within, without over-spending. One that employs patience that I simply don’t have anymore, is no reason for me to want to get up and wipe that stinking smile off his smug puss. I need to remind myself that he is working for the worst collection of low-life’s in organized baseball. He works for the truly smug, the truly selfish, the truly stupid, the Wilpons.
Thank you Mike Vaccaro. Your article today brought my feet back down to earth. Wiped the fog from my eyes and enabled me once again to focus on the one true enemy of all Mets fans. The one true evil. The Wilpons. Until they are gone, we will always root for a team that stinks. It’s gratifying to me, on some small insignificant level, to have a well-respected journalist like Mr. Vaccaro see things the exact same way I do. Here’s an excerpt from his article I referred to before that summed it up for me rather concisely:
Look, the idea that Jose Reyes is gone forever stings deeply if you invest yourselves in the Mets, the way casting free Darryl Strawberry did for one past generation, and the exiling of Tom Seaver did for another. If the Mets were owned by different people, they might even be able to sell the notion — and it’s a fair one — that a player who relies on his legs and has a history of leg problems isn’t worth six years and $106 million.
But they aren’t owned by different people. They are owned by the Wilpons, and the Wilpons have done nothing — they’ve done less than nothing — since buying out Nelson Doubleday to be given the benefit of this doubt, or any doubt. Do you believe they will take advantage of their newfound payroll flexibility to strengthen a team earmarked for fifth place? Do you believe they aren’t meddling with Sandy Alderson’s plans any time those plans involve digging into coffers that ring hollow and empty, like so many Wilpon promises?
Forget for a second the question of whether the Wilpons had any inkling what Bernie Madoff was up to; understand that without Madoff, they wouldn’t have had a prayer of being solo owners of the team in the first place. That deferred deal with Bobby Bonilla that earns them such ridicule now? Done because they believed they were smarter than everyone else, and entered into a dim-witted, house-of-cards arrangement that they somehow believed would yield an exclusive windfall.
Even if Madoff had been on the up-and-up, the Wilpons were gambling your baseball team on the volatile nature of Madoff’s feel for the Market; in truth, it would be like financing your house based solely on your betting-window performance at Aqueduct.
And they wonder why nobody trusts them to do the right thing? Ever? Bud Selig has never had the heart to deal with the Wilpons as he should have, but there will be another commissioner eventually. His first order of business needs to be dealing with the Wilpons the way Selig dealt with Frank McCourt.
All that rides on it is New York’s status as a legitimate two-team, big-league town. A standing that frays a little more every day the Wilpons own the Mets.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
For Mike Vaccaro’s article in it’s entirety, click here.
About the Author: Peter Shapiro
The first time I went to Shea was not for a Mets game, it was for the Beatles concert there in August of '66. My first Met game was '67, a guy named Salty Parker was the interim-manager then. My first pennant race was 1969. As a 12 year-old that summer and fall, I managed to get to the park for 3 games. The first was the beginning of the Miracle which actually started on Tuesday July 8, 1969 with a day game against the Cubs. I was there a lot in '73. I saw games 3 & 5 of the 1973 NL Playoffs against the "Big Red Machine", from the upper deck behind home plate. It was from there that I witnessed the fight between Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose, and the mayhem that ensued. And that sweet victory in game 5! I saw a couple of WS games at Shea that year against that legendary Oakland A's club. I was there in 1985 for every single game Dr. K pitched including his two 16 strikeout performances, and the day he one-hit the Cubs on an infield single and the Mets won 1-0. I loved being a Met fan in those days. Hopefully we are once again preparing to emerge from the darkness.
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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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Petey, i feel your pain man, but, to be fair, we as fans have been guilty as well, we keep going to the game, buying merchandise etc.. we keep putting $ on their pocket, or at least sufficient for them to be at the helm, sandy as a GM imo sucks, so i won’t give him a pass, but the owners are there because bud selig is their buddy, if indeed in 2012 this situation continues, after selig steps down i hope the new commissioner don’t do any favors and force this losers to sell. is a real shame what they’ve been to the city of new york and its fans, is been hard to watch and in no time will get better, you know your franchise is in a bad situation when you have to overspend for middle of the road relievers..
Alderson is the puppet for the stealpons. Alderson was not forced to take the job. He took it freely, getting overpaid to underpay players and shaft fans. He is just as evil as Fred and Saul and of course little Jeffy.
” I need to remind myself that he is working for the worst collection of low-life’s in organized baseball. ”
Sadly, that is not true. The Wilpons may be dumb and/or greedy, but there are some true scumbags running around MLB. Pujols’ agent for instance. Loria is another example.
The thing that has always worried me is that the Wilpons are just the tip of the iceberg. That the reason they aren’t being thrown out and that guys like Mark Cuban are being kept out is because MLB is keeping an awful secret about the financial shape of the league.
Of course it’s not SA fault. It’s all the Wilpons and even more so Selig. If Selig wasn’t running the show, the Mets would have been for sale more than a year ago.
SA is over qualified for this job so you know him taking this GM job was part of the deal the Wilpons cut with Selig. He’ll only be here for the short term anyway. I predict he’ll be gone sooner if the WIlpons are finally forced to sell.
Look, I know it’s well within the Wilpons right to try and hold onto their team, even if at the fans expense. Just don’t insult my intelligence by doing it. Don’t try and sell us the Madoff scandal won’t have any effect on the Sterling Mets. I have to wonder just how many people they thought they were fooling with that statement. Stop telling us the goal is to ‘play meaningful games in Sep’.
If they didn’t dick around with Einhorn we would have either traded Reyes mid season or resigned him. If that deal had fell through early, he would have been traded. If that deal actually went though, I believe we would have signed him.
In the end, the Wilpons just might pull this off and retain ownership of the team. But it’s going to be at the fans expense for years to come. Until they can break even on operations, we’ll be subject to more of the same.
Excellent article. They are the Evil Empire! However, SA is not free and clear as you say. He is a big part of the problem and just as smug with his supposed sophisticated statements that in reality are just as poor communications as any of Omar’s laughable bungles. His labeling of Reyes as just so much “eyewash” for this team helped chase him out of town IMHO. For all his “brains” he needs to think more carefully before he speaks. Or perhaps that was intentional and his objective was to insult Jose’ into walking. If that was the strategy, it worked. We are now absent one of our best all-time homegrown players who went from franchise player to eyewash in an instant, all for Brainiac’s salary flexibility. So, no, I do not exempt the current traitor GM in our FO; he is every bit as evil as the Unholy Triumvirate who employ his treacherous services.
theonlymaskman, the CORE salutes you.. people wanna give him a pass, but no, he sucks as a GM and is an arrogant ahole, too arrogant for someone who hasn’t won sh** in 7 straight years as a GM. he’s not as smart as some sabergoons here make him out to be
“….. the Unholy Triumvirate who employ his treacherous services.”
Great line! An instant classic!
(“who was that maskman!”)
“who was that maskman!” Actually, my real-life name is Pete!
Hahah!
“His labeling of Reyes as just so much “eyewash” for this team helped chase him out of town IMHO. For all his “brains” he needs to think more carefully before he speaks. Or perhaps that was intentional and his objective was to insult Jose’ into walking.”
From my own point of view, you can try to sugarcoat it all you want and point fingers, but the fact is that Reyes was gonna walk as soon as he got $100+ million, period. That eyewash comment only told me that Reyes was the only legitimate guy that would separate the Mets from being completely mediocre. I mean, am I the only one who finds it strange that the Marlins were the only team that was seriously in on Reyes all this time? Something’s wrong with this picture. The Phils, Braves, Angels, Tigers, and another team that escapes me right now (wanna say Cardinals but I dont think it was) all balked at Reyes. CONTENDING TEAMS, mind you. Not only that, but we’ve been hearing for months about how Reyes was looking forward to playing with the Angels, and then the Marlins. He wasn’t gonna come back.
Would you work for a boss who labeled you as eyewash when another employer was all too happy to meet your salary request? I think not. Jose’ is a human being and some modicum of respect from your employer is a normnal expectation. The Genius never made an offer. Jose’ went where he was appreciated and sought. He only won the batting title last year on a team that offers scarce support in the lineup. Not like he was choppped liver. You wine and dine your franchise player not label him as just souch eyewash. Someday some employer will treat SA with the same disrespect and it will serve him just fine.
I am going to say the Wilpons need to give it up and put the Mets on sale. No ifs, ands or buts.
Great article Petey. I don’t know how a guy who’s been here 13 months gets any blame for the position this franchise is in. The Wilpons are mostly responsible for this mess,even more so than Minaya.Alderson gets to clean up this mess and that’s going to take time.Sorry to those who want an overnight WS title. Jose Reyes was a casualty of a poorly run franchise which happened long before Alderson got here.Where have the Wilpons been? Not one word from these guys since the Alderson press conference when he was introduced as the new GM. They always used to speak about the team after every season. They’re in hiding,afraid to answer any questions.