but i think Bud forced him to come here…

Bud is the boss of everybody

If Tampa Bay and Florida were able to sustain payrolls even at 90 mil, neither would’ve had to trade off the kids they drafted

Yes. Getting back to the “gangstar” the hitman is doing his job rubbing out good fans and then facing the press sayiing “we need flexibility” stictly business don’t take it personally. Next time I’ll buy you a box of chocolates. “)

We really don’t disagree much on this issue. I too believe the Wilpons are liars and have little concern for anyone outsides themselves not only by your example of how shameful and thoughtlessly they handled the Willie Randolph situation but also by their long-term planning with the elimination of approximately 20 percent of the seats believing people would therefore pay through the nose due to the scarcity of tickets making it quite rough for the average fan to financially afford going to a game (not to mention the obstructed view of left field for everybody in the promenade from third base on to provide a more direct view of the field for those in the expensive luxury restaurant below).

But as I said, Sandy did not go into this blind and therefore is less the messenger than he is a an accomplice, albeit not for personal reasons like his bosses.

We do still need to add some quality position players via the trade route as most of the better position players are in the lower levels of the minor leagues. I still believe Sandy is moving the team towards a better future and not making any ill advised moves to please the lunatic fringe that doesn’t seem to comprehend just how bad a situation this team was in.

As much as I loved Beltran as a player I make that move every day of the week. K-Rod proved he was not worth the 8 million he made in 2012 with the Brewers let alone the 17.5 he would’ve made had he remained a Met which some people still complain about. I had no problem letting Reyes walk but would’ve rather have traded him and Pagan after 2010 when Sandy took over rather than trying to fool the fanbase that this team had any realistic chance of competing for a wildcard the last 2 years.

When you think about it we got rid of Beltran, Reyes, Pagan and K-Rod and only lost 3 games in the standings yet all people do here is complain about the players we lost as if we had a perennial 90 win team with that group.

The team is not looking too promising right now but with a couple of good moves and the emergence of some of the arms from the minors, we’ll be a team to reckon with and will hopefully sustain it instead of a “One and done” make the playoffs one year, fall short and then have 4-5 losing seasons in a row which some people applaud ex GM’s for here.

All you said was true. Where we disagree is Wilpons wanted to lie to the fans.Think of the box office preseason sales if SA said we are over leveraged and broke, we are liquidating our assets, we may go bankrupt, have loans to repay, have the Picard lawsuit. SA took the job at the request of Bud Selig who is a majors co-culprit in this mess along with the majority owners.

Think how Omar fired Willie. That was the Wilpons way to do it not Omar’s. Omar was close to Willie and was told to get on the airplane. Fred Wilpon said Reyes and Wright were not superstars. There was a smear campaign against Beltran. A smear capaign against Ike. In conclusions SA is a puppet not as you say a baseball person. However, don’t shoot the messenger. Jerry Manuel’s “gangstar” is appropriate as SA is the hitman and the Wilpons are the bosses.

I’ve stated all the time that Sandy is not a baseball person and that he was hired to downsize and keep the owner’s afloat. Now, it is granted that nobody could come out and be so honest as to say we don’t have money because the owners got caught in a scam and lost a huge chunk of their financial assets creating a near billion dollars in debt and that in order for them to keep that ownership we have to operate at a bare bones minimum until things get better. But at the same time, how could one not resent one who can literally look at fans straight in the eye and both lie and speak in terms of manipulative legal double talk with a straight face? That speaks a lot about a lack of integrity.

Nobody forced Sandy to take the job that was going to place him in such an undesirable position – even Bud Selig couldn’t put a gun to his head. But he did and perhaps had he been a little bit more open with the fans – like saying that the Madoff situation did have an adverse effect on the franchise after originally insisting it had no impact on his operation, or not that the money saved by being freed of long-term expensive contracts would give him payroll flexibility, or that signing Reyes was his top priority even though he never sat down with his agent, etc. perhaps many of us would give him more slack.

But of course he couldn’t and yet Sandy knew what he was stepping into – he was privy to so much confidential information within the commissioner’s office and is too savvy a legal mind and business expert to have not had a comprehension of how severe the Wilpon situation really was that he has nobody else to blame for being caught in the middle but himself.

I wonder if he finds the $3 million a year he’s been getting worth the sacrifice of his public integrity.

I totally agree. But please explain why you blame SA for being an agent of cutting payroll to . the majority owners who requested him to do just that. SA as any good agent is carrying out the wishes of his principal. If you think about it in that respect to the unfortunate and to the utter detriment of the team, he is fulfilling his assignment which what he was hired to do.

Here is where Sandy should be criticized: Not rebuilding the team; as letting Reyes go for next to nothing. Reyes should have been traded at ST 2011 at the season start for good young prospects. He was also derelect in duty not fortifying the roster before the 2012 trade deadline at the AS break. He kept Hairston at the 2012 trading deadline. Either fortify or trade for a prospect. Also letting the vicious leaks get out on Ike will come to bite the Mets.

You know I disagree with your optimism because the focus of this organization is on the Wilpons’ retention of ownership by working on a shoe-string budget due to having to pay off so much accumulated debt in which the re-financing only delayed but did not resolve.

Otherwise they would have done something to improve a team that the past two seasons was holding it’s own despite a two-year run of bad acquisitions and dismantling of it’s better players. They would not have let go of players they said they were pleased with like Hairston and Capuano. They would not have gone after the “inexpensive” players that Sandy admitted a team cannot win with. They would have been building up the farm system instead of cutting back as we saw with this year’s draft.

If it was just a matter of the payroll then none of the above would have occurred for even the large sum of money focused on just a few players would still be just a drop in the bucket financially. We could have possibly still had two thirds of a formidable outfield and less of a problem with the third component (instead of three-thirds of a poor one) had the front office attempted to keep Beltran, Pagan and Hairston. IF THEY ATTEMPTED TO DO SO but couldn’t work out agreements then we would at least know we had a front office that was indeed working to MAKE THE TEAM BETTER and would not have any doubt about where it’s main concern is.

The financial problem of the ownership that has already undermined a team in legit contention for two straight seasons (with not having faith in them being hard to take followed by feeling as if it was kicked in the teeth) is why I have little optimism that they won’t continue doing so in the future.