We got nothing back from K-Rod at all….And he was at least doing his job….

Save the money on Bay and you have the money to retain a Beltran or go get someone else cheaper in FA to replace him or Bay.

We have seen both the Marlins and Red Sox make deals to get rid of players who had a high salary and didn’t want to pay anymore….

So the assumption we couldn’t do that is just convenient for those who want to make an excuse for Sandy not actually truthful….

He had the option he just couldn’t get a deal done, just like he couldn’t get a deal done for Hairston at the deadline…

Maybe a closer but the rest will likely come from within.

“By the end of 2013, the financial restructuring will be complete. By then, the focus can shift back to the major league roster and turning the Mets into a profitable asset again ”

But how can that be? The financial restructuring will indeed be complete and by that it means continuing the fiscal operations as they are now. Sandy might have made a cost efficient way of making profit but that is based on the drastic cut backs that are now in place and limits spending.

The only way further re-investment can come is for additional revenue. Are the Mets going to bring in more in 2013 than they did in 2012? In 2012, the reason attendance fell only in the neighborhood it did was because those figures included half-price tickets, R.A. packs and many other promotions. The Wilpons have increased ticket prices in 2013 – will that be enough to offset the further dwindling of attendance?

And what about the loans that the Wilpons have to face beginning the following year? How much of the balanced budget Sandy has put in place accounts for that as well?

We have a two year window when the roster payroll drops. If Sandy’s long-term budget does include using the approximate $25 million in each of those two years for re-investment, that is fine. But what type of players will that get us? Only those like Hairston, Francisco and others who would only expect to get contracts under those terms. What about the better players who demand (and can get) longer, multi-year contracts? The payroll – with the players that Sandy has now and projecting their salary increases – is projected to return to the neighborhood of $81 million or so in 2016 – that is maybe $5 million less than it is now.

Is a $85 to $90 million payroll something that Sandy envisions for the seasons beginning in 2016 and part of his long-term projecting operating budget (which is the sum of all expenses – not just David Wright but the custodial worker who cleans up the stands after the game as well plus the cost of refilling all the office the water coolers)?

And besides the loans – what about the $600K in dividends owed to each of the seven minority owners (not SNY) who invested $20 million last year? That’s $4.2 million in annual dividends – and the minority share holders are only obligated to hold on to their shares for three years – which will be around the middle of 2015. What then if they want out?

So yes, by the end of 2013, the financial restructuring will be complete. The question is what will that resemble? I don’t think many are going to like the answer.

The two options were:
# 1 Play high-stakes poker and go “all-in” and find a way to turn the .500 caliber team Alderson inherited that had underachieved the two previous seasons, battered & bruised by injuries, into a legit playoff contender for 2011. With one outcome being a successful 2011 season and playoff Baseball at Citifield and investing an extra 25 to 30 million $ potentially being worth avoiding 50 million $ in losses. And the other outcome being failing to reach the playoffs and probably ownership losing the franchise with their entire business being smashed by the Madoff scam, the Picard suit and the sagging economy – be it right after 2011 or the following year (because a 160 million $ payroll in 2011 probably means a 125 million $ payroll in 2012 as well at the very least).

# 2 Play it safe, cut back costs drastically, rebuild operations from ground up longterm and try to bridge shortterm operating losses to have a streamlined business model a couple of years later. Basically what the Mets chose to do was a “Chapter 11″ type procedure – but instead of protection from its creditors, protection (and bridge loans) from Bud Selig & friends at MLB. While it´s unfortunate for us fans that the Wilpons have kept and probably will keep the franchise, this was the only “safe” way to reach this goal.

By the end of 2013, the financial restructuring will be complete. By then, the focus can shift back to the major league roster and turning the Mets into a profitable asset again – which they certainly can be, especially combined with SNY if they are a successful team. Especially, if they are a successful team without a bloated payroll and a sustainable roster.

The problem is when you slap them all together and see the trend.

Lets forget the K-Rod trade despite he was on the path to 46 Saves that year and we haven’t had a closer since….

Beltran – The BEST player on the 2011 team traded…Who remained as the best player on the team after that?
REYES – Gets told show me your worth the contract, wins a batting title gets no contract not even an OFFER…
Pagan – Well once Beltran is gone the best OFer on the team is Pagan he gets traded for yesterdays laundry and all it’s smells!
Dickey – Pitches a Cy Young season, they won’t even give him a 3 year contract at roughly 10 Mil per….TRADED

No one is going to see a team where the best player every year is traded and replaced by reject pile crap that isn’t even worthy of an MLB contract!

Hairston like it or not is currently the BEST OFer we had left and we won’t pay him either…

Well if you wont pay to keep the best you have and if you have seen we are not all that thrilled even paying to see them when they HAVE those players what makes Sandy think we are going to pay to see the team without them.

If he wants to have money to spend then he had better work on getting more money not saving what little money he has.

If he think d’Arnaud is going to sell as many tickets as Dickey did then he can’t even be a tenth as smart as people want to believe he is….

So we will have even LESS money to spend next year and guess what there is no young kid left in the Farm that is going to change that!
The kids he has anyone likes will be here this year and if they don’t win THIS year no one is going to believe they will win Next year especially when you have less money to help them in 2014 than you had in 2013 when there was OF available to be had that is cheaper than it would be in 2014.

I’m very, very disappointed in you.

“9 Mil left to buy an Outfield in 2014
It wouldnt even buy you a Victorino”.

Not a thing said about our bullpen……

That’s my definition of competitive.

All very true….Then add this to that…

Santana and Bay come off the books lets call that 43 Mil in savings (not really becauase Santana has a buyout to pay and Bay isn’t really saving you all of his salary because of deferrment)

Minus the 23 Mil we are likely to lose if Attendance merely stays the same
20 Mil of savings left
minus 9 Mil for Wright and 2 Mil for Niese as thier contract accelerates in pay.

9 Mil left to buy an Outfield in 2014
It wouldnt even buy you a Victorino!

And if you don’t get it, that young core and Pitching you mentioned gets wasted for at least a year maybe more….Losing control and cheapness due to Arb settlements and normal Raises.

What will we do?
Start trading all those pluses you mentioned and the cycle of rinse repeat goes on and on and on…

Well lets be honest here…He won it all in the first 6 when it is even debatable about how much control and influence he had at the time and in the remaining 24 years he not only has done SQUAT but has done nothing but gut the Payroll of two teams with no sense of winning anywhere in sight.

You can be a Doctor for 30 years too but that doesn’t mean your a better doctor than someone who has only 5 years of experience but is much smarter in the ways of medicine and treatment.

Sandy’s issues are not lack of experience it is he has not learned anything from that experience…

When he won he spent….SInce he has started down this don’t spend philosophy he hasn’t…

The thing about Philosophers (which is what Sandy is) they may be smart but they don’t know the answer…If they knew the answer it wouldn’t be a philosophy it would be called a science!
Philosophers are LOOKING for the answer…They don’t know what the answer is and thats the problem here.

Just give fans a better than 50/50 shot at seeing the Mets win and they will go because they LOVE to go to see a baseball game they just don’t want to go if the team is going to lose everytime out and ruin their fine day in the end!

Too many fans are in this all or nothing mode…
Either your spending to get into a playoffs or spend nothing and just lose while you rebuild…
There is a whole wide swatch of IN BETWEEN that isn’t glory and isnt god awful and thats all it takes to get enough people to go see a baseball game enough to turn a profit and pay the bills with some left over to invest in improving the team.

Once you have restored Attendance to a point where your paying the bills it’s easy to take the next step and win or will carry you through the 5-10 years it takes to rebuild without having to dismantle your MLB team to do it…

Keep in mind, as of now there is a lot of very good pitching coming through the system. The hope is that by next year this time we’ll actually go after the free agents we’ll need to put us over the top. So I believe Sandy when he says 2013 is not a throwaway, my hope is that it is the year when the pieces begin to fall into place.

Yes, this is NY, and while it would be great if Wilpon sold the team it is extremely unlikely, so what we have is MLB’s hatchet man who comes in and fixes franchises that are bleeding money by slashing payroll and and stocking up on prospects. It’s what he does. But he’s only as good as his baseball associates, JP and DePo … and as Just-D-D points out their history is mixed at best individually, perhaps together they are more than the sum of their flawed pasts — you can’t say they haven’t occasionally struck gold. The financial architecture can be solid as can be (and i believe it will be based on the regulatory oversight of the CBP that mandates a clear delineation between baseball operations and existing debt) but without the foundation of a great minor league system, well, say hello to sustained mediocrity.

We will know soon enough. I’m giving it one more season before I turn on Mr. Alderson. I think they know it too. You can only blow off the fans so much in NY. The need to show us something before this season is over, no doubt. If they don’t, if they really suck yet again, the Wilpons may just lose the team. A lot is riding on 2013.

Not wins or playoffs but compettitive. That will bring the fans back.

The reason that we got Gooden and Strawberry was because of the draft position we got during the 6 – 7 years that the team really sucked. People forget that.

Will we get gems in the draft if the team continues to suck for years? Of course.

Will we get relatively good prospects if we trade a Cy Young winner and a guy who hit 32 dingers with close to 100rbi last year? Yup.

But right now, the way things have been going, we will honestly have to wait until 2019 if we are waiting for the same bounce-back that we got in 1985.

The GM’s job is not only to get a team’s finances in order – it is to put a competitive team on the field year after year and tinker and trade to replace parts and continue success. Particularly in the world’s number one market where success is not only expected but demanded.

Sandy may be good with business – he’s just not a good GM.