14
2012
The Missing Piece In The Mets Puzzle
An article by 
Its no secret that the Mets are in a rebuilding period. Mired in what will likely be their fourth consecutive losing season, its apparent that change is necessary. The process by which that change occurs is where the debate begins. How the Mets should proceed is the topic of countless blog posts and endless radio debate. Build through free agency, versus building through the draft. Both avenues have their merits, but neither encompasses the big picture.
Lets take a look at what we know for sure…
- The Mets payroll was slashed by roughly $50 million dollars heading into the 2012 season. Whats the outcome of that purge? As it stands through the middle of August, The Mets appear destined to finish the season with a similar record to last year. What does that prove? Have the Mets purged overvalued talent, or proven that the free agent market isn’t all its cracked up to be? Those debates could go on forever.
- The Wilpons will still be held accountable for $430 million in team debt, $450 million in SNY debt, and $600 million in Citi Field debt at some point in the not so distant future. That doesn’t include the Madoff settlement, as the Wilpons can still collect damages through other suits, leaving the exact amount owed in flux. Bottom line…More than a BILLION dollars is owed to several lenders.
- Attendance is dwindling! Should the team fail to put some wins together, a $25 million dollar drop in attendance revenue, compared to last season, is perfectly reasonable before season’s end. While that is minor in the grand scope of things, it still adds financial stress to the organization.
With the exception of the recent drop in payroll, none of this was ever breaking news. The large majority of these debts were relatively common knowledge when Sandy Alderson assumed command of the organization’s front office. That’s the rub…and the real unknown when discussing the future of the New York Mets.
The one thing that you, I, or anyone else whose name doesn’t end in Wilpon doesn’t know is exactly how much money is in the piggy bank. That’s why any argument slighting Sandy Alderson or the Wilpons is always a shot in the dark. If there is no money to spend, the team’s farm system is invaluable, explaining why Alderson has been adamant in his attempt to rebuild the system and/or demand top dollar in return for the organization’s prospects. If the Wilpon’s are telling the truth when they say Sandy has no financial constraints, then its fair to say that Alderson has some serious explaining to do.
Therein lies the problem when discussing the future of the franchise, because we simply don’t know. I can tell you that at this point in Alderson’s tenure that his minor league position prospect options have just about been exhausted. Therefore, I certainly hope the money is available to fill the team’s needs both behind the plate and in the outfield. If that’s the case, than we can anticipate an rather active off-season, but if it isn’t, or even worse if Sandy simply doesn’t want to elevate the payroll for some unexplained reason, the Mets are in for more hard times.
Again, its the unknowns that are scary. No amount of investigative reporting, ESP or plain guessing is going to give us a good indication of exactly how much money resides in the Wilpon’s checking account. Is there enough funny money to make the acquisitions necessary to put this team back on the map now that the in-house options have faltered? The answer to that question is up to your interpretation, but in reality none of us know for certain.
So we can hate the Wilpon’s refusal to concede ownership…or we can bash Sandy Alderson for his hesitance to act. Which is right? Until we have an accurate idea of the team’s overall finances, something that may never happen, we all must maintain a degree of rationale when discussing the future. The comments of both sides must be taken with a grain of salt. Until that moment when we know for sure, no one has the big picture, and its for that reason that the future of the New York Mets remains in doubt.
Follow me on Twitter at @RobPatterson83.
About the Author: Rob Patterson
Ultimately, I owe nearly thirty years of Mets related torture to my mother, who is the reason I became a fan. I was too young to remember the 86 run, but hope to see one I'll be able to recall much sooner than later. I enjoy writing about the team and welcome your feedback on my posts. Oh..and I am not with 28!
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Off topic and maybe a stupid question but could a fellow Met fan answere this for me. I have been a Met fan since ’62 and I know the official business name was “The New York METROPLITAN Baseball Club.” but unofficially we are The Mets. I thought a few years ago they dropped the word Metropolitan and just went with Mets BUT when I listen to WFAN they have sportscasters who always use the term “Metropolitans.” Why and are they correct? thanks.
The full name for the New York Mets MLB team is in fact “Mets”.
The term Metropolitans comes from the club’s corporate name of “New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc.” as well as the old “New York Metropolitans” professional baseball team that existed from 1880 to 1887.
The Metropolitan Club (the New York Metropolitans or the Mets) was a 19th-century professional baseball team that played in New York City from 1880 to 1887. Metropolitan Baseball Club of New York was the name originally chosen in 1960 for the current day New York Mets franchise, although the legal name has changed since then.
the owners ultimately selected “Mets” because it was closely related to the club’s already-existing corporate name “New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc.”,
wikipedia
The Schmooze always calls them the Metropolitans but I don’t believe that was ever their team name.
Hawk, what a great response and thanks for the history lesson. ‘preciate it!
They’ll be able to re-finance the Citi Field, Team, and SNY debts
I am not so sure in these economic times you could put together a refinancing deal. If this was true why did they peddle the 20 miilion dollar share program? I think their being stupid, the Wilpons that is. I think in topday’s market the Mets arer worth upwards of 1 billion dollars. After all is said and done they could come out clean and still have a few mil to live nicely. If they can’t get enough to cover all debts, the debtors will settle as they do on a short sale. If they don’t sell the alternative is lower attendance, more losses and the B word Bankruptcy. Now who would buy the Mets. Probably Einhorn partnering with others. Mark Cuban would be a looong shot. The Wilpons time has passed with the Mets and only a fan boycott will force them out.
While most of the article is thoughtfully detailed, the one piece of the puzzle that sticks out to me pertains to the statement, “team’s farm system is invaluable.”
If this were one of the “knowns” regardless of $$, then it seems a team must make the draft extremely important. Yet, the Mets sign the fewest draft choices of any team. Why did this happen?
I’ve also stated in 2 other posts that KIngsport, our only Rookie level team in America, is not looking so hot for a team that pegs “development” as part of the solution.
Bear in mind I said IF the org doesn’t have money to spend… I’m not saying the organization is operating as such.
Keep in mind that the Mets no longer have a GCL team, and as a result a lot of the players on that Kingsport team are pretty young/underdeveloped for that league.
They still have the complex and their DSL teams. Not a big deal.
Whosawhatnow?
I’m not saying it’s a big deal. I’m saying that some of the players that are at Kingsport right now are really raw and would have been at GCL if that team still existed (like Kaupe, Nido, Cecchini, etc.). Nimmo started last year at GCL too, I believe. Their “rawness” is probably represented in the overall performance of the team.
I’m not saying that as a knock on them not having a GCL team, I’m saying not to put too much stock in the performance of the Kingsport team as a whole because of this.
Good article and excellent points.
I don’t think there is enough ‘funny money’ – as you put it – to fill all the holes we’ve got going into 2013. The payroll was slashed 50 MIL this season for a reason. I believe until Johan and Bay’s contracts come off the books end of next season, that 2013 might be just more of the same as 2012 has been.
Another big problem for 2013 is that there is no more fat to cut. They have $50M +/- in three players (Johan, Bay, and Niese) that is guaranteed. They will want to bring Wright and Dickie back. Call that $20M – $30M if they succeed. Now you have five guys making $75M +/-.
Throw in another 20 guys at the minimum and your at $85M.
So it won’t get better or cheaper and you know that they’re not going to INCREASE payroll.
Good news, there’s only 595 days to opening day in 2014 when we’ll get to spend Johan and Bay’s $50M on players who may contribute.
I think this is still a holding pattern. Even after next season. Remember, the business model for the Mets is still full attendance and without that, they are not going to make money unless they have a middle market payroll. Interesting corner they’ve painted themselves into.
Nicely said, nobody knows how the finances really are.
Whether or not we know the answer to the Wilpons’ and/or the Mets actual financial picture, the actions and results will take care of themselves. We will know by the winter of ’13-’14 what the outlook is. As for now, they can always fall back on the old being saddled with several large contracts excuse. That excuse will no longer be here on October 5, 2013 and then they will have to spin something else.
The plan is obviously Harvey, Wheeler, Tejada and Ike and hope against hope that it all pans out. If it doesn’t, well then they will have nothing to fall back on.
In many ways, it will be 1997 all over again after they dug themselves out of the worst team money could buy, they sold the promise of young dominant pitching that essentially flamed out in one year. With Bobby V coaxing success out of Rick Reed and Bobby Jones; Armando Reynoso, Butch Huskey, the arrival of John Olerud and the emergence of Fonzie, they somehow won 88 games which signaled a jumpstart to a new era- luckily.
There are two kinds of fan bases in baseball. One is loyal no matter what. The second is attracted only if the team is competitive, interesting or fun to watch. The Mets are in serious danger of seeing that second group decline further due to the dreary performance and questionable decisions of the last few years. A couple of friends have already told me that they are spending their ticket money on the Brooklyn Nets instead of the Mets. If the Mets don’t find a way to get rid of Jason Bay next season, that will be a signal that the Wilpons and Sandy have decided to punish their fans for yet another year.