My pleasure. I sent along to my Met fans and still have who is not disputing the financial problems disclosed in that article but still insists the Mets have adopted a new philosophy under Sandy.

My point to him was that the Mets just lucked into at the moment because the Madoff mess and real-estate market bombing out gave them no other choice. I agreed 100 percent that had the situation been different, many of the kids would not have been given the opportunity to play as they are now because the front office would have continued looking for a few quality free agents to fill the spot. However, I also pointed out that Sandy was here for a specific reason and after the finanicial house is somewhat in order, the Wilpons are going to revert back to the way they ran the team starting in 2005 – go after more free agents to build the team up quickly where necessary so it can be both competitive and not second cousin to the Yankees.

What do I think? I think my head is swimming. LOL I remember the article when it came out prior to the Piccard settlement. I had not read the accounting comments though. Thank you for pointing them out. I simply don’t have the chops to evaluate this.

My layman’s opservation. Baseball would not have given a 25 million dollar loan, had the Met’s not been in a dire cash flow crunch.

Einhorn, who grew up a neighbor of Bud Selig, may have been a diversion to allieve the fears of current and potential Creditors.

The value of SNY is a matter of great interest. That SNY was able to to buy a few of those 20 million dollar minor ownership stakes in the Mets shows that SNY has and can get serious money. The Sterling Mets LLC was undercapitalized much like the Banks. This was a result of reduced revenue due to a poor product on the field, and an economic downturn.

The divergent financial structure of Sterling Mets, Queens Stadium, SNY and the Wilpon Family itself make for a bit of a shell igame. I am reminded of the addage “Figures don’t lie…”

As to the stadium, this leaves me feeling that the Mets may have not have done so well as they hoped to. Does any Owner lose money on a stadium? Especially when the Owner oversees the construction of it?

This would be a great article to follow up. Paticularly with the help of some of the commenters.
Thanks again Joe.

It actually is quite serious, despite the civil suit settlement. Came across the attached written by Dan Lewis in December which provides an excellent (though confusing) understanding of how deep those troubles really are, taking into account an accurate ballpark estimate of what eventually became the settlement amount. Just as fascinating as the article are the many follow-up comments which take on some of the facts as presented by Lewis that nonetheless shows that the roster payroll is nothing compared the overall situation.

Let me know what you think.

Joe

http://www.amazinavenue.com/2011/12/11/2627933/an-in-depth-look-at-the-mets-finances

Thanks for bringing that article up. It looks as though the situation is not so bleek as it seemed in March. The Farm has been big for us this year. Yes the Wilpons had a bad buisness plan. Had they not spent so much money on Citi Field and were still playing in Shea; would they be flush with cash now?

As to the Tejada getting over 440k, the major league minimum, nice work if you can get it….
That some Mets get 50 times the mimimum; which many of their teammates make…This I have a problem with.

Perhaps Mr. Bay would be willing to buy one of those 20 million dollar ownership shares. LOL

Even from a finanicial perspective etting rid of KRod made no sense. The only thought I have is that having already twice taken out loans to meet end of the month operating expenses, the need for that $17 million bonus was immediate.

But if the 40 man roster payroll was the only problem facing the Mets, that $17 million bonus would be a drop in the bucket. Before KRod was signed the Wilpons had to determine if they could afford such an expense over the course of the contract. The trouble goes way beyond the roster payroll. Know I attached this yesterday but even though it was written before the civil suit settlement, it is stil worth a read to understand the situation facing the Wilpons and the reason for the drastic measures has less to do with overpaid players as it losses in revenue not only from ticket sales but from money they counted on to use each year from their Madoff returns and the mounting debt they accumulated and assumed they could handle from both those returns and over-estimating revenue projections based on 1) high attendance figures obtained through high ticket prices and concession costs that never materialized due to pricing out so many and 2) the sale of season and luxury boxes to corporations that those firms deemed too expensive and not worth it.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-02/new-york-mets-main-financial-challenge-may-be-fielding-competitive-team.html

Of course, I also agree Krod was way overpaid, but so is every athlete. It’s a part of the sports business. Even 22 year old Ruben Tejada is making in one year as much what the average worker makes in almost twelve (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statisics, the median salary the last fiscal year was 443,460).

Indeed nickle and diming has played a big part in produced our sad bullpen. Relievers may be the most uncertain investment in baseball. This is true for all teams Pedro Felliciano, Heath Bell come to mind. As a financial move unloading Krod’s option was smart. Takahashi and Feliciano both seemed expensive. Izzy was a bargin. He is a winner. He should have been kept. I like the AAAA types in Buffalo they are inexpensive lottery tickets. Use them.
Sandy so overpaid for his bullpen. They could all do well in a lesser roles (for other teams).

I feel that we have the makings of a great bullpen in the system already. Gee may be moved to the pen when the prospects arrrive. Dickey I believe could be our closer. With those two men pitching 3 inning saves, the Mets could dominate. Use the other relievers to clean up the dirty innings when they occured, early in the game.

I don’t think it’s a matter of ransoming our future like we did back in 2004 but rather that there is a nucleus of a very good team right now and if better moves were made regarding our bullpen we might have been stronger enough to get to the playoffs and let our pitching carry us through.

The question we must all ask is would our bullpen situation have been better if we retained KRod, Takahashi and Isringhaussen instead of getting rid of them? All three were pitching good for us and are still doing the job in Milwaukee and California. And retaining them through this season would not have involved ransoming off our future.

Not to mention so many fans no longer feeling the front office is looking to save every nickel and dime at the expense of fielding a good team and thus drawing more. While going to Citi Field is still an expensive proposition, even drawing just 2,500 extra per game would have offset Krod’s bonus and salary. So from a financial perspective, dumping him saved nothing and probably has cost the Wilpons more than they had saved. And we didn’t get anybody worth anything for KRod, either (notice I did not mention Beltran in this conversation so getting Zach Wheeler is a non-issue).

BTW – in his last 21 appearances, Krod has given up five earned runs in 19 innings (2.33 ERA) and though he has surrendered 23 hits, he has also walked only 3, giving him a 1.25 WHIP. Since he comes in the beginning of the eighth, there is no reason to suspect he wouldn’t do the same coming in the ninth. With Takahashi and Izzy in front of him – along with Francisco (better suited as a set up man, not a closer), Parnell and Byrdak, our pen – and our team – would have been a lot, lot stronger.

I think this answers the question raised in the second paragraph. Why our bulllpen was dismantled twice when it didn’t need to be is the next question and I suspect the answer is what I suggested in paragraph three.

Let’s not forget that especially with the extra wild card, and it still being relatively early enough before the trade deadline, that there probably aren’t many teams looking to sell at the moment. The only teams you can really say are truly out of it are the Cubs, Padres, Mariners, Astros, Rockies and Twins.

Now’s not a great time to be looking to make a deal unless you want to pay a high price, which let’s be honest doesn’t fit for a team that is overperforming and not one move away from sure fire contending status.

I wouldn’t venture a guess when it comes to future trades. All I can do is to look at those made, see who we gave up and got for return and whether or not it seems as a good trade or not from this fan’s perspective. And that unfortunately includes making monetary commitments for more than two years.

I mentioned those two free agent relievers signed by the Royals over the winter as examples of younger relievers with proven track records which we could have considered over the likes of Francisco and Rauch. Did we not go after those types based on their contribution on the field or was it that Broxton becomes a free agent next season and that Mijares will be eligible for arbitration as well. The way both have been performing in their young careers to date we know are going to be paid more than they are now – and with Broxton, more than a two-year deal would be sought after by his agent.

I also contested last winter that the Pagan trade was a risk considering the two players we got in return but with Pagan again showing signs that he was playing without his head on straight perhaps if Torres had a return to being a .260/.270 hitter then it would be a good one with Ramirez being the key as long as the Mets had more plans up their sleeves than having a 34 year old with a .241 lifetime batting average roaming center. But Kirk didn’t even make the team coming out of spring training and over the winter Torres was already slated as being our new center fielder.

Yet, I also knew Angel was up for arbitration as well and his 2012 salary is now on par with Torres and Ramirez combined — so two roster spots filled for the price of one.

That’s why I think the trades made by this organization have less to do with improving the team as it is fielding a team for the least amount of money possible.

“If an idiot hits his own hand trying to hammer the same nail twice do you solve that by saying try one more time go ahead or change his method so he doesn’t make the same dumb mistake a third time in a row?”

So like you said before in other comments you want him to change his approach. For the fifth time what approach do you want him to take. I told you what approach I want him to take and you keep reverting about how mad you are about the prior moves. How do you want the team to handle the trade deadline. I’m not even worried about specific names more of a direction.

But if you want names, here you go.A Bret Myers would be great. It would probably be more of a salary dump then a prospect loss. I am not concerned about his personal wife issues and he has pitched under pressure situation. There are so many relievers and I don’t know all that are technically available but here are some more Matt Capps, Ryan Cook, Brandon League, not Street due to Geren personal issues.

As for a blockbuster I thought the CarGon suggestion was awesome. Probably would never happen but if he can be had eff Wheeler. How about a Carlos Quentin, he gets injured a lot but that probably keeps value down and the got has some power that the team desperately needs. Josh Willingham…

Can you Metsie, just let go of the past for one minute and just say what approach would make you happy. Lets pretend there is no Sandy or the other sabergoons in the office. Metsie is the GM, how does Metsie approach the trade deadline with a overachieving team, that still probably has some payroll flexibility issues, a decent amount of pitching prospects and no power and a pen full of dying horses. Metsie you can do it man. GO!

If an idiot hits his own hand trying to hammer the same nail twice do you solve that by saying try one more time go ahead or change his method so he doesn’t make the same dumb mistake a third time in a row?

I have yet to hear a single name put forth by you to solbve our issues yet here you are complaining we didn’t come up with names (yet me and Vinny did!)

So lets hear your names that Sandy is going to get to fix the mess HE CREATED and the reason why we rake him over the coals….

I’m not complaining that Sandy hasn’t made a move in fact considering his past moves NOT doing something is better than when he decides to DO something!

If your not getting that I can’t really put it any plainer for you!

The guy has failed in every decision he has made so far!
You think there is a move out there that can undo all that?

Here are a few….
Trade Torres and Ramirez for Pagan and get him back to play CF.
Take the money he paid Rauch and Francisco and get Beltran or k-Rod back!

Those would at least show me he realized he made a mistake and tried to undo them!

Bottomline to me is Sandy isn’t a bad manager becauase he hasn’t made a move to make us better…it’s because all his moves made us WORSE than we were and if he had done NOTHING instead we might be in a better place today so that we didn’t NEED to make a move to rescue the season!

Your an idiot who just says whatever he wants to say regardless of what others actually said….

Nitey Night Danal!