26
2012
Wilpon Calls Alderson and Collins the Faces of the Franchise
An article by Hojo's Mojo
Not really the type of news I typically post, but here’s something somewhat curious I read on Newsday, that I felt was worth sharing.
While attending a news conference Thursday for Selig’s “Welcome Back Veterans” program, Fred Wilpon said he is confident in the front office’s offseason efforts, though he refused to share details about the club’s long-term plan.
Regarding any negotiations with Wright, Fred Wilpon only said he knew there were conversations, but while talking about Sandy Alderson and the front office, he said this:
“I think they’re working very hard,” he said. “I think they have a good plan and they now have to execute that plan. They will. They will.”
In particular, Wilpon expressed support for Alderson and manager Terry Collins, who is entering the final season of his contract.
“I like the position that I’m in,” Wilpon said. “I also think the face of the organization should be the faces that are there — our manager and our general manager — and I like both of them a lot.”
I never heard of a GM and Manager being paired and referred to as the faces of the franchise before, not just in MLB, but any sport. I do understand there are many fans who do see Alderson as the face of the franchise rather than a player, but you don’t expect the owner of the team to say that. You would think he’d mention players that would help sell tickets. And it made me wonder if Fred was distancing himself from both Wright and Dickey… Disengaging if you will.
Anyway, it struck me as odd that he would say that.
Instead, it might of been a better PR move to say Dickey and Wright were the faces of the franchise, especially considering the situation with both of them.
About the Author: Rob Johnson
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David Wright on line 1: Get me the fawk out of here !!!
lol,
Mr. Alderson, R.A. Dickey is still holding on line 2. Should I tell him you stepped out?
No Marge, let him hold, it’s my negotiating tactic. By the way, run down Target later and pick me up a few more boxes of chocolates, we’re all out.
just from that quote, I think Rob might have it slightly out of context. Fred (who really should never speak in public again) referred tot he place HE was in, then mentioned sandy/terry. So he may have meant from a management perspective (that is, Fred wants to be well in the shadows, with Sandy and Terry being the “face” of the organization leadership (and not Fred or, notably, Jeffy).
You are right though that no team makes the FO the prime focus, except maybe the Cowboys with Jerry Jones. and the old Steinbrenner Yankees of course.
I’ll take it the gala was open bar.
O my God, sell the team already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It could have been worse, he could have said Jason Bay and Frank Francisco. lol
LMAO^^^^^
Yes… kind of like when M. Donald Grant said that he and the Payson family were the franchise and not Tom Seaver.
If Alderson and Collins are the face, does that make Fred the ass? No, Jeffy is the ass. Fred is the elbow. And Saul Katz can’t figure out the difference.
Excellent! ROTFLMAO!
Not to be a Wilpon defender but I agree with stick that this sounds like the conversation was taken way out of focus. Sounds like he likes that Sandy and Terry are the faces in contract negotiations. Not the faces of the team on the field cause like everyone says thats crazy and illogical.
This is starting tbe sound bites like the presidential race where clips are taken out of context to make someone look bad. Both TC and SA may be the face of the austerity program and Phase 1 of the rebuilding program. Phase 2 Rebuilding and contending wil surely not be them.
In defense of Rob, he specifically added the context for all to see. It’s right there. The problem is that some may not like what they read so they want to add their own additional context for their own reasons.
I think that cuts both ways.
It does not mean be permanent but it does mean that they will NOT be fired. Once they comple their respective jobs under the austerity and Phase I rebuilding program they could be replaced. SA voluntarily leaves as Donnie Welsh did with Knicks (got them under the cap) similar to SA got Wilpons under their self imposed cap. TC goes back to player development. In Fred Wilpons mind SA and TC accomplished what he requested to do that is to save him from losing ownership. Don’t forget SA is Bud Seligs buddy. TC is Sandy Koufax buddy. FW is Selig’s and Kooufax’s buddy. Bosom Buddies, Cronyism whatever prevail. They prevail all over so what else is new.
I reread that, and it did not seem like context, more like him trying to interpret what it meant. No different than the rest of us.
To me, this quote “Regarding any negotiations with Wright, Fred Wilpon only said he knew there were conversations, but while talking about Sandy Alderson and the front office,” sounds an awful lot like he was talking in the context of who was running the team, meaning he wants no part of the glory right now!
You may not know what context means in this regard. Context means that he was asked about the Wright negotiations, he said he thought there were conversations, and shifted the conversation to Terry and Sandy. What more context are you looking for. It tells you where the the discussion took place and the exact quotes. Is there something YOU would like to add? Let me know and I will ask Rob add it for you.
Wouldn’t it be nice to actually wake up to good news about the Mets??
I was not aware that there was a phase 2. There has been no indication of such.
“I think they’re working very hard,” he said. “I think they have a good plan and they now have to execute that plan. They will. They will.”
This is why I think MLB has asked Fred to step aside and let SA run the show until the Mets are back in the black.
When has Fred ever not been involved with big player contract negotiations? especially when dealing with a “team face”?
These 2 lines should tell you all you need to know about the NY Mets:
“I also think the face of the organization should be the faces that are there — our manager and our general manager — and I like both of them a lot.”
Well, that means the team has no franchise player, so the burden lies on their shoulder, being the fact that this is a losing franchise it fits right in with both of them, a GM and a Manager with Losing Records..
“I like the position that I’m in”
Thanks SA for giving me a sh****, but a team i still own nonetheless.. thanks for slashing the payroll to a record breaking standard.
Hey, I called Alderson the face of the franchise long before Fred did.
http://metsmerizedonline.com/2011/12/sandy-alderson-is-now-the-face-of-the-franchise.html
Comments are kind of strange considering neither one of them have a long term contract to be either the GM or the manager.
Sandy is here till 2015… Not sure what you mean by long term.. Are you actually implying that we should have SA longer than that or something ??!
First, it’s only a guaranteed contract thru 2014, with a club option for 2015.
Second, how long have you been reading here? I know you must have read at least one of my many statements where I keep saying that SA won’t be here long enough to see a championship – he’s a one and done type GM whose job it is to stabilize the team finances for the Wilpons to hold onto the team. After that, he’ll be handing over the reigns to the next GM.
If you don’t remember reading at least one of the many times I’ve said this, then I can understand how you constantly make the mistake of sliding me in the ‘Sandy lover brigade’ you keep talking about.
True but last year, Reyes was the face of the franchise and he was running on fumes with his contract. lol
So it’s NOT Dan Warthen then?
No, for some odd reason he wasn’t mentioned. But on a side note, they will be including a Dan Warthen Bobblehead Day in the 2013 promo schedule.
Actually if you watch Warthen jog to the mound his head does bobble.
This just means Fred and Jeffy will wear SA and TC masks for Halloween as they leave burning sacks of crap on fans doorsteps as they run away laughing at the poor idiots stomping on them.
If these guys are the new FACE what does that say about Wright’s chances at being Extended?
I will give the Sandy fans a nugget here regarding context…
I believe the context Wilpon was speaking to was in regards to who is running the team.
But those quotes seem to suggest that Sandy is doing what he wants not what he is being forced to do and Wilpon is waiting for that plan to execute.
If the team loses more money next year then that sentiment will change!
Metsie you stole the words right out of my mouth.
I think it’s time we give up on the FACES altogether and make them all wear those Mexican Lucha Libre Masks! LOL
The real face of the franchise is the Met fans who have two options to improve but they may be mutually exclusive. “‘may be” see Yankee exception.
Rebuild and develop and add selective FA. The ideal is have five homegrown players all star caliber like I reference with the Yankees below. But during the 1980′s the Yankees with Steinbrenner out of hands on operations were able to rebuild
Rely on stars on own team and increase budget in NY market for FA and always try to contend. The Yankees after they acquired their homegrown talent did that.
For a while the Yankees developed homegrown Bernie Williams, Derrick Jeter, Mariano Riveria, Joe Giaradi, and Andy Pettitte and signed FA Paul O’Neil and Jason Giambi. It worked.
I would argue we are there already so when do we start spending like the Yankees did?
Homegrowns
Wright
Davis
Murphy
Tejada
Harvey
Niese
Gee
(Probably add Wheeler to that list by Spetember)
Most of those names have not made the All Star game yet but then again they haven’t had the help around them the Yankee kids did when they came up either…
Mattingly
Boggs
McDowell
Cone
Wetteland
Wright is an All Star
Davis could be if he keeps hitting 30 HRs every year, Sure he has a tough time beating out Votto for the start but that doesn’t mean he isn’t All Star type player if he gets the Average up and keeps those 30 HRs. Ryan Howard makes the All Star game in 2010 and 2011 with only 31 and 33 HRs.
Harvey and Niese could go eventually.Maybe not be the Starter the way Dickey should have but one good first half for either could get them in.
And Murphy was way more All Star Worthy than Uggla who hit .233 and .220 the last two years.
And lets face facts Furcal has NOTHING on Tejada when you look at the numbers.
Furcal .264 .325OBP
Tejada .289 .333OBP with a better glove to boot!
So truth is if people think what the Yankees did was the baseline of homegrowns to start spending around them, then I would argue we are already a that point, have MORE homegrowns that could be all stars or compare favorably to those who made it already here and playing in the MLB!
I also say we don’t have to really spend but could do what the Yankees did by trading some of that farm that does not fit our needs for players who do!
Flores is hitting great! But he is an infielder that has no place to play unless Wright goes away!
Mejia and Familia may be Starters, maybe relievers but both could be used in a trade to get an OFer or more reliable closer…
The opportunity to improve is there!
But we need to get off the notion the Minors are so bad that we need to rebuild THEM and start rebuilding the MLB team!
Then there is plenty of room to sign and assign your entire draft that might have the next hernandez or Piazza!
There is one factor that is different. As Joesy D. argues we did not replace three all stars. With the home grown we have we could be a dam good team with the right FA. Lets say we signed Reyes. Lets say after obtaining Wheeler we resigned Beltean. Lets say in free agency we signed Joe Nathan. Payroll is up close to 50M or now at 145 M or so. Yes Joey D that is about the right amount. Then 50 M comes off the books to get more FA. Lets say there are good FA all are probably in 30′s. So all of a sudden we have a team built to win with a window of five years before they get too old like the Phillies. Once in Met history would you not want to go the route of Braves and Cardinals who can sustain a longer period of competiveness?
What is most important I saved for last. The uncertainity of the Picard madoff lawsuit. Yes SA can trade some of the players you named for young outfielders. We are not now in a position to trade to win on account of the 95 M payroll budget. That is why I recommend serious rebuilding like Wright and Dickey for a boatload of prospects. Of course if we can have a 145 M budget then we need Wright and Dickey to use them for their skills rather than trade bate.
“With the home grown we have we could be a dam good team with the right FA”
Well thats a point I have made the past two years in regards to the moves we have made (or not made as the case may be…)
I didn’t go into it because it’s been rehashed so many times here with ludicrous excuse making as the reason why it wasn’t possible….
One of which is this predilection for blaming this all on the Madoff situation…
But you know my stance I could care less if the WIlpons go broke, or have to sell the team…
Not my concern! As far as I’m concerned that is THEIR problem and of thier own doing and if it is affecting the baseball on the field I’m not going to cut them any slack for letting one mistake CAUSE another!
Mistakes happen thats why Erasers are put on pencils…
But to let one mistake force you to make another mistake thats just NEGLIGENCE and hardly the type of thing we should be UNDERSTANDING and patient about.
Sure they had no money to spend but that has more to do with the fact we stopped going than what Madoff did to the Wilpon ability to float a losing business!
The approach to cut spending as a solution has not worked. Two years of cuts and they STILL lost 23 Mil this year!
There are other ways to fix the finances that do not require or compromise the stated goal of building up your MiL system for the long term.
And that is to attack the REVENUE issue!
A Store with little product won’t make enough money to expand and improve their productline!
A Store that goes out and gets a product people want will get extra sales short term that will allow them to use the profits to get even BETTER product!
And then the store is packed and you do not need to cut and scrimp anymore.
Not saying that they could have but just a “What IF they had” scenario here….
If they had managed to get Cliff Lee last time around what would have happened to the attendance figures and where might they have been in July 2011 when they deemed K-Rod wasn’t worth having and Beltran was not worth keeping because the season was done?
Would we have been 7.5 games out of the playoffs at that time or closer to 4 or 5 and maybe even ahead in the Wildcard race?
Would we have lost 70 Mil that year? I tend to doubt it! In Fact I bet they would have turned a profit with all the season tickets they would have sold knowing they had Two Cy Young pitchers on the Roster.
As I have tried to explain Baseball is an entertainment business when it comes right down to it.
You might go see Dracula on Broadway when Frank Langella is the lead but you won’t go to see Bruce Campbell at some dinner theater version of it….
The key to profitability is in the tickets sold before the season starts…Those Full Season tickets that do not care if you show up or not!
Win some games you get the benefit of a good second half and all those season tickets show up and eat your way to profitability!
There are two ways to skin a cat and we took the least effective by limiting ourselves to:
Cutting Cost
Diminishing product
When the real answer was the easier way to go…Increase Revenue by giving the fans something that would inspire them to buy before a single game was played or won!
The baseball or entertainment market would have force the Wilpons to sell. By the waythe Met franchise could ell for about 1 billion dollars. The Wilpoms and Katx egop trip has made the fan base suffer. Yws NY has the potentail for over 3 million fans in attendance. The Met were so leveraged like Tom Hicks in Texas whao was forced to sell but Seliq saved them. It is reality and what happened. If this keeps up the Mets will be irrelevant if they are not already. All my post operate on the theory they Wilpons like or it not you survived the Picard lawsuit. You are highly leveraged in debt including Citi Field bonds. Yes you are making a profit in SNY but damn the fans you are reluctent to use that money for the betterment of the team. Now you have an opportunity to cut payroll even further by trading Wright and Dickey but you wont because you want to appease the fans. Yes you miss that 16-18% return on your Madoff investments. You ruined the once product franchise since Doubleday left. You ire agents such as SA to better your bottom line then the team. Yes we are discount fans. Do we have to grin and bear it.
Have the wilpons ever held themselves responsible for player personnel decisions? or really any decision at all?
all u get is some random “the buck stops here” speech they repeat everytime a GM is fired
Yes but only only on the day they announce the firing of another GM….
And never for specific player deals just the rsults of the whole made under a specific GM.
Given the state of the franchise, I don’t think Sandy or Terry would want to be called the faces of it at all and insted might feel they were just thrown under the bus publicly by their employer.
Well I am not sure that these two are the best for The Mets but I have to say I like the direction. Many will of course disagree with this sentiment but Shuerlholtz and Cox were the faces of The Braves organization while Chipper was the face of the Team I believe strongly in continuity among management. Although I was not a huge fan of Omar we may be in a better position if they would have stuck with him for a couple more years. All that is said and done now so Sandy’s plan needs to be alowed to come to fruition. I only wish thee FO was more clear about what that plan is so that the fan base can get behind it.
I’d like to add a comment but on my way over to Amazon.com.
I cant WAIT to buy my 2012 Sandy Alderson jersey.
Personally, I dont think he is ‘The face’ of the franchise but rather another body part
Now we know we are in trouble for sure!