With two outs in the ninth, Adam Rosales hit a drive to left field that seemed to clearly hit a railing above the edge of the wall tying the game, yet somehow, crew chief Angel Hernandez ruled that there was “not enough evidence” to overturn the call. Apparently, actually seeing the ball clear the wall, is not enough.

”Everybody else said it was a home run, including their announcers when I came in here later,” a miffed Melvin said. ”I don’t get it. I don’t know what the explanation would be when everybody else in the ballpark knew it was a home run.”

”Clearly, it hit the railing. I’m at a loss, I’m at a complete loss,” Melvin added.

Buster Olney and Ken Rosenthal are both calling for resumption of the game from the point in the ninth inning where Rosales tied it 4 – 4. While the chances of this happening are slim, MLB will likely offer some consolation in the form of an “official statement” … there may even be a “policy review.”

The term that’s being knocked around a lot this morning in light of this astonishingly bad call, is “centralized review.” Central review is similar to what is employed in the NHL, involving a team of officials monitoring a video bank (most likely in N.Y.) with access to all the video feeds of all in-progress games.

During the off-season MLB also agreed to test two advanced replay systems live during games, a radar-based system and a camera-based system, similar to the ones used in tennis for down-the-line fair-or-foul calls. Yankee Stadium and our very own Citi Field were chosen as guinea-pig parks for these systems, which have apparently already been installed.

So my question is, where were these systems during the botched call in the ninth inning the other night? In fact, where are these systems period? I don’t see them, are they so advanced they have “stealth” capabilities? Is the box that Buck crashed into last week that prevented him from making a play in foul territory part of these systems? Are they supposed to interfere with players that way? How are they testing these systems? Is there a team of officials umpiring certain games in a video room and comparing their results with the rulings on the field? A digital domain, if you will, where the alternate umps officiate in real time only instead of wearing black outfits they’re dressed in blue spandex dotted with blinking LED lights … Maybe instead of popcorn and hotdogs they snack on couscous and baby carrots …

In 2012, Ken Rosenthal, in the midst of his little conniption over Santana’s no-hitter, reported that commissioner Bud Selig remains wary of slowing down games for fear of a “robotization” that may eventually extend to balls and strikes. Robotization, yep, that’s the word he used … Bud Selig is afraid of a robot takeover. Can you imagine? A terminator-series cybernetic umpire? Hasta la vista Bob Melvin.

One thing is clear, in an age where video review is everywhere, where anything out of the ordinary can end up on Youtube in a nanosecond, MLB is well behind the curve.

The purists will tell you the game doesn’t need to be changed, but there is a growing consensus that technology has improved to such a degree that the game would be improved dramatically with the addition of these technological assets.

I’m all for it … in fact I don’t see what would be so difficult about equipping umpires with some high resolution 12 inch tablets with direct links to all the video feeds. Umpires could watch the game as it happens … shucks, they wouldn’t even have to be at the game, they could officiate from the comfort of their living rooms thereby also avoiding any potential bodily harm from fan riots.

Thoughts from John Delcos

There’s arrogance. There’s blind arrogance. And, there is Angel Hernandez arrogance, which by the way, incorporates a little bit of the blind.

Another night, another blown call, but Hernandez’s last night in Cleveland was compounded by his bullish behavior afterward, which should be met with swift and forceful action by Commissioner Bud Selig.

“Probably the only four people in the ballpark,’’ Oakland manager Bob Melvin said about the umpire’s non-reversal.

Replays clearly showed the ball struck a metal railing over the padded outfield wall. More to the point, after striking the railing, the ball ricocheted as you know it would when it strikes metal. Umpire supervisor Jim McKean told ESPN.

Hernandez, using the umpire’s stock get-out-of-jail-free card, said: “It wasn’t evident on the TV we had and it was a home run. I don’t know what kind of replay you had, but you can’t reverse a call unless there is 100 percent evidence and there wasn’t 100 percent evidence.”

Hernandez clearly didn’t want the interview recorded because he could come back and claim he was misquoted. The quote the reporter acquired the old fashioned way was damning enough.

The umpires use the same camera angle used in the broadcasts and have additional cameras. To suggest the reporters had different camera angles is absurd, not to mention a fabrication.

Hernandez was trying to cover up his own ineptitude with an outlandish story. Clearly, he blew the call, threw dirt on the system used to correct mistakes, and compounded his failure by refusing the interview to be recorded and his arrogant answer.

The ball now is in Selig’s court, and with his powers “to act in the best interest of baseball,’’ his reaction should be swift.

The call should be reversed – to hell with it being in the umpire’s judgment – with the game resumed after the home run. Any fines for Melvin and Rosales should be rescinded.

As for Hernandez, he must be fined and suspended for his actions. Selig needs to come down hard on Hernandez. Really hard. And, in the future, any attempt by an umpire to bully reporters by preventing interviews to be recorded should be met with similar punishment.

“They rigged the signing of free agents. They got caught. They paid $280 million to the players. And I think that’s polluted labor relations in baseball ever since …”

In spite of Selig’s unscrupulous past he was able to corral enough owners to his side in an 18 to 9 vote of “no confidence” to force Vincent out. Now, you’d think it would be difficult for an owner with a history of impropriety to ascend to a position best suited to someone who might inspire trust from both sides, not so. Selig took the commissioner’s chair in 1992, passing control of the Brewers to his daughter, Wendy Selig-Prieb.

Selig of course presided over the 1994 player’s strike. The 232-day work stoppage lasted from August 12, 1994, to April 2, 1995. What has since been described as the worst work-stoppage in professional sports history was precipitated by a collective bargaining proposal that included a salary cap. Tensions were exacerbated by the collusion attempts … Ownership dug in and the players didn’t budge. Eventually the 1994 season became a lost cause.

The strike damaged the game deeply, fans walked away in droves. There was a prevailing perception that the great American pastime had been irrevocably corrupted by greed. It was also during this time that steroids took root in MLB locker rooms. This issue was covered in a previous piece, so I will only note here that while it is true that the players shoulder a preponderance of blame, the owners did little to stop the spread of PED’s while they lined their pockets, and, in the end, the spread of steroids did occur on Selig’s watch.

The strike hurt the Montreal Expos more than any other team. Montreal had the best record in baseball at the time. The Expos were also lobbying for a new stadium, an effort that disintegrated with the work stoppage. Soon thereafter the Expos were sold to an art dealer named Jeffrey Loria who immediately demanded that the local government build him a new stadium. When this didn’t happen Loria eviscerated and sold the Expos to Major League Baseball for 120 million.

Loria used the proceeds from this sale to purchase the Florida Marlins. A suit was promptly filed by 14 minority owners of the Expos accusing Loria of conspiring with MLB (Selig) to dilute the minority partners’ share of the team from 76 percent to 6-to-7 percent. The suit went on to assert that Loria never intended to keep the franchise in Montreal and that he planed all along on flipping the Expos with an eye on the Marlins. Eventually the suit was settled with the former Expos owners receiving an undisclosed amount. As part of the settlement, none of the documents from the case were made public. This was in effect the second ruling against Selig in a 15 year span.

In the meantime Selig continued to pursue a contraction campaign focusing on the now MLB run Montreal Expos and the Minnesota Twins (for which there was a glaring conflict of interest since the Brewers and Twins shared the same market). Selig himself (who was good friends with the obscenely wealthy Pohlads) had managed in 2001 to get the city of Milwaukee to build Miller Park with $290 million in public funds, so he knew the drill — threaten and lobby.

Selig’s efforts to contract the Expos and the Twins failed as a result of a ruling requiring that the Twins honor their contract to play in the Metrodome. The Expos were subsequently sold and moved to Washington. What remained unresolved for many fans, however, were the exaggerated claims of losses on the part of baseball owners who at the time argued that the market was stretched thin and that teams were being pushed to poverty by player salaries and crumbling venues.

The Twins did eventually get their stadium (with 250 million in public funding), and on the day of its unveiling in April of 2010, Selig, strangely, brushed aside questions about contraction by brazenly stating, “there was a lot of mythology” to it. These comments left many feeling as if contraction was an elaborate ruse to secure support from legislators for stadium funding, a ruse Selig’s old conspirator Jeffrey Loria went on to perfect in securing public funding for a new stadium in Miami. An endeavor that eventually left Miami-Dade County with a 2.4 billion dollar debt, an empty stadium, and a massive abomination of a fish sculpture.

What does all this have to do with the Mets? There’s a pattern of influence and impropriety here that stretches back quite a ways. Wilpon was able to wrest the Mets from the more belligerent and restive Doubleday with Selig’s blessing (and a handy low-ball MLB appraisal). Selig has also presided over an office designed, ironically, to help maintain the integrity of the game, turning it instead into a vehicle for charting new profit streams. In the business world Selig is considered by many to be the greatest commissioner ever, having overseen an era that saw profits increase by 400%. But if there is one thing we know about Bud, it’s his long-standing desire to undermine free agency and level the playing field for smaller markets.

Bud Selig may have seen a unique opportunity to bring down spending and bolster parity by recommending a high level MLB operative (known for his ability to slash budgets and operate on a shoe-string), for the position of GM of the NY Mets. What better place to promote a small market paradigm than the biggest stage in the world?

In 2010 two crises were raging in MLB. Frank McCourt of the Dodgers was running his team as a personal bank account during divorce proceedings that had brought him to the brink of bankruptcy, and the Wilpons in N.Y. were in danger of losing the Mets as a result of a massive stadium bill and a disastrous association with Bernie Madoff and his ponzi scheme. Selig all but guaranteed that McCourt would sell by imposing a heavy-handed MLB takover, while he quietly supported the Wilpons with loans and votes of confidence.

In the fall of 2011 Frank McCourt filed a lawsuit against MLB, accusing Selig of forcing bankruptcy on the Dodgers by rejecting a contract with Fox Sports. The Fox contract would have allowed McCourt to retain possession of the Dodgers, but as the Dodgers were under MLB control by then, Selig was within his bounds to reject it — even though it was similar in principle to contracts signed by many other MLB teams. The court sided with MLB, but not without a stern warning to Selig. Again Bud had deftly maneuvered borderline illegal practices with impunity. Selig knew the Dodgers would fetch an obscene sum in sale and he also knew that any buyer would have deep enough pockets to pour truckloads of cash into the franchise. The Mets on the other hand would receive the austerity plan, a painful rebuilding process focusing on cutting payroll and rejuvenating their farm … the polar antithesis of what transpired with the Dodgers.

A friend who was in San Diego during Alderson’s tenure there warned me, “Alderson,” he said “would chop the team up piecemeal and sell off the parts for prospects, it’s what he does.” I didn’t believe him. “This is N.Y.” I countered “Here you have to spend money to make money, the fans wouldn’t stand for it …” After losing, in successive seasons, Beltran, Reyes, and Dickey, with a budget effectively halved, I can only admit he was ostensibly on the mark.

The more pressing question, however, is one of influence. Selig has exerted his influence over the years with mixed results. His approach in 1994 backfired as the players hit back, and his attempts at collusion resulted in a 280 million dollar settlement against MLB … but his influence was largely successful in both the migration of the Expos as well as the funding of numerous new venues on the public’s dime. The real defeat he’s never been able to undo is his failure to limit free agency and his inability to institute a salary cap.

Bud Selig is friends with Fred Wilpon, but given Selig’s commitment to the almighty dollar don’t let a personal relationship fool you. Selig would just as soon pop open a can of Milwaukee’s finest than hesitate to throw Wilpon under a bus if it meant more money in the coffers. His reasons for coming to the rescue of the Wilpons while moving to oust McCourt, can only be explained with an eye on profit. You could argue this is contradictory, how would the “Met austerity paradigm” mean more money for baseball when the Dodgers just boosted values of MLB franchises across the country by raising the bar with their sale price?

It’s all about parity. As Jason Stark recently pointed out, MLB now features more parity than the NFL. If a small market approach can succeed in a big market it would effectively establish an operational model that could be duplicated in any number of cities big and small. Increased parity means more money across a broader spectrum of markets, precluding the need for revenue sharing mandates. Why didn’t Selig attempt a similar austerity program with the Dodgers? McCourt was himself imbued in impropriety and was openly hostile to MLB, his was a hopeless cause where the only resolution was a forced sale.

If Selig’s plan proceeds according to design, the Mets will benefit from a self sustaining minor league feeder system what will propel them to perennial contention while the Dodgers dig out from an array of bad contracts … but, there are no guarantees. Selig lost control of the Dodger situation once the winning bid was accepted. The Mets on the other hand were under his influence in so far as he was able to impress upon both the Wilpons and Sandy Alderson that they needed to cut payroll. Granted, under the circumstances the Wilpons didn’t have much choice, but when you consider Selig’s history and the fact that he got his man on the GM’s seat in NY, you have to believe he was pleased.

Whether or not this experiment benefits the Mets remains to be seen. Given the volume of pitching the Mets have been able to accumulate you have to feel good about the team’s prospects, no pun intended. The Dodgers on the other hand appear to be a flawed, injury prone, aging, and above all expensive mess. As far as business models, you can bet there will be lots of baseball minds keeping an eye on the Mets and Dodgers in the coming years.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports posted on this today and I wanted to add some additional information that has surfaced that is relevant to my original post:

The government is in. Despite the failings of federal officials in past high-profile cases that married athletes and PEDs, the Florida Department of Health has started an investigation into Anthony Bosch, operator of the Biogenesis clinic that allegedly provided drugs to players, the New Times reported.

One notable figure is Marcelo Albir, whose name appears multiple times on a Biogenesis document obtained by Yahoo! Sports that initially linked Braun with the clinic.

Albir is a former teammate of Braun’s at Miami who investigators believe played an important role in Braun’s relationship with Biogenesis. Ryan Braun said he paid Biogenesis clinic operator Anthony Bosch a consulting fee during his appeal. (Yahoo)

The document lists Albir’s name next to Braun and Cesar Carrillo, a pitcher who was Braun’s road roommate at Miami. Underneath is a notation: “RB 20-30K,” with an arrow pointing to Chris Lyons, one of Braun’s attorneys in his appeal. Braun, the Milwaukee Brewers star playing for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, said he paid Bosch a fee for consulting during his appeal for a positive testosterone test that was overturned in arbitration because of chain-of-custody issues.

He did not explain what comes next in the document: One line reads “[follow up with] Lyons, Marcelo, Carrillo, 3K, etc.” On the next line: “Total owed 23-33K + Marcelo Albir,” followed by Lyons’ name and cell phone number on the final line.

Original Post 8:00 AM

I was eating some gluten-free Rice Chex the other morning staring blankly at my milk carton and I saw the words “Homogenized, Pasteurized” and it got me thinking. Pasteurization, the practice whereby you heat and cool raw milk to kill dangerous microbes that might reproduce and create a gelatinous and explosive insurgency in your intestines, as discovered by Louis Pasteur. I remember one time I had some bad yogurt … it was “key lime” flavored and the thing about trying new yogurt flavors is you really want to be sure you know what it should taste like before you try it. I had no idea what “key lime” yogurt was supposed to taste like so it wasn’t until the 7th or 8th spoonful that I realized it probably isn’t supposed to taste like earthworms and bleach. It was a bad situation.

Anyway moving on, Pasteur also happens to be the progenitor of the theory of Biogenesis. Now when I see the word “Biogenesis” I automatically think the Genesis Project from Star Trek III, where they were able to convert a lifeless rock into a living breathing planet (kind of like the way they’re trying to convert Lucas Duda into an outfielder), but Pasteur defined it as generating life from other life forms. According to the theory you in fact cannot generate life from lifeless matter — which explains why Luis Castillo had such a hard time hitting balls out of the infield.

Biogenesis is also of course the name of the disgraced and shuttered PED distributor operating under the guise of an “anti-aging” clinic in southern Florida. Things didn’t work out that well for Biogenesis in Star Trek either as the planet imploded in a molten fireball within a matter of hours. Anthony Bosch, the owner of Biogenesis is currently the target of an MLB lawsuit. Makes you wonder what they were up to, whether they were on the verge of discovering the fountain of youth, or figuring out how to grow new oblique muscles from pork chops in Petri dishes, or clone body parts. I’d love to have a clone … I wouldn’t be very nice to him … probably keep him chained in the basement and feed him scraps and use him only when I need the garage cleaned or if my wife’s sisters are coming over.

Turns out this company had some pretty lucrative business clients, 90 of them were baseball players, many of them professionals. Some of the names have recently been leaked like green fluorescent goop dripping from a radioactive drum, A-Rod, Ryan Braun, Melky Cabrera. Like the spoiled yogurt, it’s a bad, potentially explosive, situation.

There was a quote, however, that struck me as peculiar as I was reading about all of this. It was by MLB Vice President Rob Manfred and appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on March 20th:

“Everyone whose name has surfaced surrounding the Miami New Times story and Biogenesis is being investigated with equal vigor,”

The quote appears to fire a preemptive shot across the Union’s bow perhaps to diffuse any Union accusations that MLB is about to embark on a witch-hunt. Now I love a good witch-hunt as much as the next towns-person, but if you’re going to pass out torches and pitchforks it would behoove you to establish that there are in fact witches in your town right? So, my guess is MLB has indeed uncovered another wheelbarrow full of dirt in Biogenesis’ basement, only they haven’t, the Miami New Times has.

Here’s the thing. I know how much we all love Bud Selig, I mean he’s right up there with puppies and Santa Clause and cinnamon cannoli, but he’s been known to be somewhat dictatorial. I’m not sure if he’s actually royalty but he’s even earned the moniker “King” in some circles. The thing about Kings is, you don’t want to upset them because the can have your head chopped off. Even worse, they can threaten to suspend a player you just drafted on your fantasy team without just cause … because the player’s lawyer talked to someone named Bosch who happens to run a company called Biogenesis … that word again.

I know, you know, we all know Ryan Braun was guilty and should have served a suspension, but he didn’t and that probably doesn’t sit well with Bud Selig to this day.

We would all do well to recall, however, that Selig was the same commissioner who presided over the steroid era — a time when baseball was recovering from a damaging player strike. The increased offensive output put fannies in the seats and made a lot of money for a lot of people. Balls were flying out of parks at unprecedented rates, everyone was happy. But like many drug fantasies that start off with euphoria and cash, ours crashed in a big way as our collective moral conscience ended up staring at itself in a mirror wondering how it ended up broke in a seedy hotel room with a girl named Velvet. Morality caught up with our favorite pastime in the form of congressional inquiries culminating in the Mitchel report, which eventually produced a formal and stringent drug testing policy.

Don’t get me wrong, the players shoulder a hefty portion of the blame for this PED mess, but what we sometimes fail to consider as fans is that for more than two decades a PED arms race has been going on not just in the majors, but at all levels of the minor leagues. For many players using was the only chance they had at breaking in, even if it meant bouncing back and forth as a utility guy or a bullpen arm. It was the only way they might make enough money to set themselves up somewhere having dropped out of college to pursue their dream. For others using was the only way to maintain a competitive edge against other users. For every major leaguer who dabbled in PED’s there were countless more in the minors who we never heard about, who went on to sell insurance in Topeka or run their Dad’s hardware store in Sioux Falls until they went to see their doctor about a headache that wouldn’t go away and got some bad news.

Selig is no longer the laissez-faire monarch presiding over a booming baseball economy fueled by home run derbies and PED’s. He has taken the high road, claiming it was always the Player’s Union that stood in the way of testing, that the Union bullied our good owners into unwittingly pocketing billions in profits. Yes, the owners were the good guys, making truck loads of money and trying to get drug testing into Collective Bargaining negotiations that probably went something like this:

MLB Rep: “So, we’d like to institute mandatory drug testing, how does counsel for the Player’s Association respond to item IIIb. page 72?”

Union Rep: “Sounds fair, why n… “ a creepy guy with dark sunglasses in a black suit who no one remembers inviting leans over and whispers something into the Union Rep’s ear.

Union Rep: “Er, on second thought no we are categorically opposed to drug testing, peeing in a cup is gross, no one wants that, ew.”

MLB Rep: “Duly noted, moving on.”

Ok, so it probably didn’t happen exactly like that, but how many readers here think MLB made a serious attempt to curb PED use prior to congress becoming involved? If there is one thing we know about Baseball Owners, they don’t usually turn down money, or things that make money, or things that look like money.

So there’s an element of profound hypocrisy here when you listen to Ownership and Bud Selig carrying on as if they are the pious guardians of all that is morally good and wholesome in the world.

Enter Ryan Braun, golden child, circa 2007. Braun is playing for the Brewers … hmm, now what is it about the Brewers and Bud Selig that I’m forgetting?? Oh yes, Selig’s family owns the Brewers. Selig loves Braun because Braun comes up and rockets to superstardom by means of his powerful bat and his ring-tailed lemur eyes. Braun, who bears some resemblance to a cleaned-up Tarzan, is making lots of money for the Brewers, and he’s a good guy, someone we can all like. He’s even friends with Aaron Rogers. He even looks like Aaron Rogers. The Brewers sign him to a lucrative long-term contract and Braun becomes the face of the franchise. Selig contemplates introducing Ryan to his niece Bethunia, everything is wonderful in the world. Then, just as the Brewers are gearing up for the playoffs in 2011, some urine from a cup that Braun peed into is found to have more testosterone than Bruce Banner with a stubbed toe. Bad situation.

What made it worse was that the courier’s delay transporting Braun’s urine violated standard industry protocol (not to mention raising chain of possession concerns) because he kept it in a little party fridge in his “den” over the weekend where he could have had his buddies come over and take turns staring at it for all we know.

“Dude, I’ve got RYAN BRAUN’S urine in my fridge.”

“SHUT UP!”

“No, I’m serious.”

“I’m coming over.”

Anyway, it was ruled that the integrity of the sample could have been compromised and the test’s positive results were invalided, even though it was virtually undeniable that the “triple sealed” sample did in fact test positive. MLB’s protocol for the handling of urine samples were not up to industry standards, as hard as that may be to believe. As Lupica said in the NY Daily News, Braun was acquitted, not exonerated. The penalty was overturned by an arbiter (who has since been banished to Bogeyland). Wonder if they had to draw straws deciding who had to break the news to Mr. Selig?

Now this kid (one of the 90 names) Cesar Carrillo, a minor leaguer, gets hammered with a 100 game suspension (50 for knowing Anthony Bosch and 50 more for “lying about it”) because he was not on his team’s 40 man roster and thus was not protected by the union. Also of interest is the fact that he knew Braun at the University of Miami and that the second 50 game suspension was really for “failing to cooperate.” Subsequent comments by MLB stress that those who fail to cooperate will be suspended (per the new CBA by-laws) and that those who do cooperate may be granted immunity. Meanwhile MLB continues questioning friends and family of Ryan Braun trying to build a case. In addition, MLB requested that the Miami New Times, the paper that broke this latest PED scandal, share their Biogenesis records with the Commissioner’s office.

Chuck Strouse responded on behalf of the New Times with the following:

Sorry, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. We won’t hand over records that detail the inner workings of Biogenesis, the controversial Coral Gables anti-aging clinic that allegedly supplied prohibited drugs to six professional baseball players, including Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez.

The reasons are manifold. History plays a role in our decision. So do journalistic ethics and the fact that we have already posted dozens of records on our website. Finally, there is a hitherto-unreported Florida Department of Health criminal probe into clinic director Anthony Bosch.

It gets even better:

One of our most significant motivations for denying baseball is right here in the tropics. His name is Jeffrey Loria, and he owns the Miami Marlins, who start regular-season play in just a few weeks. A March 1 story in the Atlantic called the pudgy art collector’s stewardship of our baseball team, which has twice won the World Series, “the biggest ongoing scam in professional sports.” The magazine’s article describes, as New Times has in the past, how Loria hornswoggled $515 million in public backing for the stadium and parking facilities, then delivered a losing season and sold off all his best players.

The magazine blamed Selig: “If Marlins fans want results, they should send a few representatives to Commissioner Bud Selig’s office in New York. There’s a clause in Selig’s contract mandating that he act in ‘the best interests of baseball.’ Right now that would mean stepping in to prevent owners like Loria from using a big-league team as a front for squeezing money from taxpayers.”

So this is the guy who wants our records?

MLB went on to issue a 1000 game suspension to Chuck Stouse before realizing he does not play for MLB.

Think the union might have something to say about all this? Think MLB would have thought twice about starting this little PED war were it not for the 5 years they have left on their current CBA? Think maybe Selig has overstepped his authority? Was Braun really dumb enough to dabble in illegal substances again after what he went through in 2012, or does this predate those results? Think this may stink a little of a personal vendetta against a Mr. Ryan Braun? If it smells like bad yogurt and it tastes like bad yogurt, well …

One thing I do know. This isn’t going to end any time soon, and like that funny feeling you get after eating too many chimichangas, it’s going to get worse before it gets better, especially when the union pushes back … and they will.

Very bad situation.

I turned 21 that November. I was now ‘legal.’ I started my senior year in college, my entire life and all my dreams lay ahead of me. I got to meet and party with the members of Van Halen at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. One month after Jesse tossed his glove to the heavens I met the girl I’d eventually marry.

But 1986 also saw me get my first car. You always remember your first. It was a bad-ass silver Chevy Cavalier RS with black racing stripes. If you wanted to find me on a Saturday that summer, I’d be outside wearing my Mets hat, rock t-shirt and heavy metal spiked leather wristband. I’d be waxing my baby, using Armor-All and Windex, polishing her up—fenders, chrome, tires, windows. I had Van Halen, Scorpions, Whitesnake, Springsteen and a new band called Guns-n-Roses blasting from my tape deck. The neighbors heard me before they’d see me. Yes, 86 was a great year. My future—as well as the future of my Mets—was bright.

1989: It was sadly becoming evident that the Mets dynasty may not materialize the way we hoped. We were still reeling from the shell-shocking loss to the Dodgers in the LCS the previous October. Doc was having drug problems. Keith was battling injuries and played only 75 games that season. Mookie was sent away to Toronto—another country!!! In 50 games, 35 year old Gary Carter hit 183.

That summer my wife and I celebrated our one year anniversary. We had the discussion of ‘starting a family.’ Kids??? Hell, I hadn’t even grown up yet. I figured we should start slow. We bought a puppy instead.

I loved my Cavalier. I took care of it, did the routine maintenance, etc…But really, to this kid in his early 20’s, it was an expensive toy. Racing my friends, speeding and driving recklessly had taken a toll and after 3 years and just 51,000 miles, my car was falling apart. My wife suggested I look into buying a Toyota. She loved their cars. But not me. I was a Chevy man tried and true. Growing up, my dad had no loyalty to any particular auto manufacturer—as long as it was American made. There was no way I’d buy a ‘Rice Rocket’ and listen to my father remind me how his older brother fought in World War II.

And after all, the expression is not “Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie…and Toyota?”

My second car, purchased in 1989, was another Cavalier. Sporty, equally bad-ass and blue (as in blue and orange.)

In October of ’94, the unthinkable and unimaginable occurred. For the first time in 90 years, not since Teddy Roosevelt was President, there would be no World Series.

That month I was also in the market for a new car again. My 2^nd Cavalier was starting to fall apart. The repair bills were adding up. Now, as anyone who is married or who has ever watched an episode of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ knows, a home is not a home unless the wife is happy.

My better half again tried to convince me to buy a Toyota. This time I appeased her and went through the motions. I looked, I shopped, I test drove one. And then when I felt I ‘did my part of trying,’ I went across the street and purchased another Chevy.

Equally unimaginable to there being no Fall Classic that October was the realization that my 20’s were coming to an end. I was 13 months shy of turning the ripe old age of 30. My bad-ass cool looking sporty car was replaced by a nice, conservative, safe, economical 4 door sedan. Blue (as in blue and orange.) I drove off the lot in a Chevy Corsica.

With my 30’s unavoidable I was at a good place in life. And my Mets were also in a good place. Generation K were poised and ready to dominate the National League. We had Bobby Bonilla, Todd Hundley, promising youngsters named Jeff Kent and Robert Person and proven winner Bret Saberhagen, Yes indeed, the Mets future, like my own, was bright.

2001: By now, Generation K had become a punch line. Bobby Bonilla went on to be one of the most hated Mets in history. Jeff Kent was 3000 miles away in San Francisco and, teamed with Barry Bonds, was part of the most lethal 1-2 punch in the game.

However, the Mets were defending NL Champions.

Sure, we lost the previous Fall Classic to the roided-up Yankees. But things were positive. For the first time in our history we’d been to the post-season 2 straight years. We were led by the best hitting catcher of all-time, local hero John Franco, quiet star Robin Ventura, much loved Benny Agbayani and Timo Perez, lefty Al Leiter, the glove of Rey Ordonez and the hard-working Todd Zeile and Joe McEwing,

As 2001 wound down it became evident the Mets would miss the post-season. On Sunday, September 9, Steve Trachsel took the loss to Florida, 4-2. The Mets dropped to 71-73, 8 games behind Atlanta. Two days later, the unthinkable and unimaginable happened again.

As the nation came to realize we were not invincible, our own safety shattered and we began shooting questioning looks at each other while giving up many of our rights, American patriotism skyrocketed.

With bodies still being pulled from the debris of where the Twin Towers once stood, I was involved in a car accident. My Corsica was totaled. I was back in the market for a new car yet again. My wife made a half-hearted attempt to talk me into a Toyota. No way! If I never wanted to drive a foreign car before, there was no way in hell I’d drive one now.

Most of my friends and family urged me to buy a Japanese car. They all loved their Toyota’s, Honda’s and Nissans. I resisted.

I was in my mid 30’s and was doing well financially. I bought a fully loaded Chevy Impala. It was the most luxurious and most expensive car I ever owned. Huge payment, my first full size. It took me 6 months to learn all the bells and whistles.

Four months later, I found myself sitting at my kitchen table signing divorce papers. After almost 14 years, my wife and I decided we’d grown apart.

During the first ten years of the 21^st century, as my 30’s ended and I entered my 40’s, with my future now uncertain, I realized I still could rely on my Mets.

Following the Mets personally is not always easy. The closest city to me that has a major league team is almost 300 miles away. Seeing my Mets live is much more difficult than simply hopping the 7 train to Flushing. It requires driving down to Los Angeles or San Diego. Phoenix, perhaps. It’s a weekend getaway that includes, not just the cost of the ticket and parking, but also gas, food and hotel bills.

Still, I was making good money and had no problem forking over hundreds and hundreds to see my Mets. And for spending money on Wright and Reyes t-shirts and Pedro Martinez jerseys. After all, our future was bright. In addition to David and Jose, we had Delgado, Beltran, Wagner, Shawn Green, fiery Paul Lo Duca, clutch Tom Glavine and promising young studs like Mike Pelfrey and John Maine.

Then, once again, the fabric of this nation was torn apart. Thirteen years after the impossibility of the World Series being cancelled and six years after 3000 Americans were killed and an entire generation lost its innocence, we found ourselves in the worst financial crisis of our lifetime. We were now witnessing firsthand what we had only heard about from our grandparents.

I, too, found myself unemployed for an extended period of time. Credit card debt went up, savings went down. But still, I could count on the Mets. Granted, Yadier Molina’s HR in Game 7 of the 06 LCS and Beltran taking a called third strike left us all in shock. The following September, the Mets blew a 7 game lead with 17 left and collapsed.

Six month later, March 08, I found myself getting a paycheck again. I was making only 60% of what I had been.

And then, my expensive, fully loaded, luxury car fell apart.

My Impala, though recently paid off, was costing me more in repairs than my car payment had been. After just 6 years and only 71,000 miles, driving slow, less reckless, not having gotten a speeding ticket in almost 20 years, my American-made car was heading for the junkyard. Four new cars, all Chevys, and only one lasted more than 6 years and exceeded 82,000 miles. To say I was pissed and fed-up would be an understatement.

On a Saturday in early April 2008, I got in my car. Thankfully, it started. I drove a few miles, rattling my way down the street. I did slow a bit as I drove by the Chevy dealer. I proceeded on and drove my piece of junk Impala to Toyota. A few hours later, I drove off the lot in brand new Camry. Blue (as in blue and orange.)

Those who know me literally did not believe me until they saw my new car. There was no way—NO WAY—I’d ever not drive a Chevy. And no way in hell I’d lower myself to buying a Japanese car. But here I was.

In a couple of months from now, my Camry will be paid-off. Five years and not a single problem. I love my Toyota. But still, in spite of Chevy leaving a bad taste in my mouth, I still slow down when I pass the Chevy dealership. I glance over, check out the new cars and feel nostalgic. Chevy will always have a special place in my heart.

Baseball is a unique sport. It’s not like Football where you can be a fan of one team…but still root for a different one. The Mets are a lifetime commitment, a love that extends from childhood into old age. Sure, they frustrate me. Sure, they piss me off. Sure, if Sandy Alderson was crossing a dark street late one night and no one was around, I’d debate flooring it. (just kidding) But what am I going to do? Change my allegiance after 40 years? I’m not about to become a Phillies fan where I have a ‘P’ on my head or root for the Blue-Jays and wear…whatever the hell that logo of theirs is.

With the exception of a trip back to New York in the summer of 2011, my first and only time seeing Citi Field and going overboard in the gift shop, I’ve not handed over any money to the Wilpons in 6 years.

So, yes, I’ll continue to root for my Mets, hoping for the best but expecting the worst. But money is tight. Rooting is one thing—financially supporting them is something different. I don’t plan on driving down to LA and forking over several hundred for a weekend to see a sub-par product. (The same logic applies to forking over thousands to Chevrolet, what I personally consider another sub-par product.)

The Mets are 6 weeks away from embarking on the 2013 campaign, a season where we have no hope to compete. The best thing about this upcoming season will be that it gets us one year closer to ‘the future’ that Sandy Alderson keeps talking about.

People change. I loved my Chevy’s and I kind of always will. I love my Mets. And I always will. But people do change. As a fan, one can only get pushed so much. If this person who swore he’d drive nothing but a Chevy until the day I die can now drive a Toyota, anything is possible.

(as a side note, my ex-wife, who swore by Toyota now ironically drives a Chevy)

My approach to this upcoming season will be rather robotic. If they’re on TV, I’ll watch (probably.) But, most likely, I’ll check the standings, glance at the box score. I’ll see what David Wright did, see how Wheeler or Niese or Harvey pitched. I’ll look to see if D’arnaud is living up to the hype. And then, until we start competing, I’ll move on to other things.

My approach to the 2013 Mets will be similar to passing a Chevy dealer. I’ll look, smile, feel a bit nostalgic. And keep going.

It’s a good thing I don’t do radio; I wouldn’t have been nearly as diplomatic as they were. As if there wasn’t enough preordained controversy with this year’s crop of candidates, we get this nonsense and I’m not even going to enrage you with her supposed rationale. I have too much respect for you to even try. It’s almost as bad as the one vote that someone gave Aaron Sele. Again, not going to enrage you with the facts, you can look up Sele’s pathetic career statistics here if you wish. Then you have my permission to curse uncontrollably – - and yes you can practice reading that line in your best Bane voice. Or Darrell Hammond’s Sean Connery as I believe they’re one in the same.

Call me naïve but I was always under the impression that those having been afforded the privilege of a Hall of Fame vote would show just a modicum of respect towards it. I’m not the only one who thinks this way as does the great Metstradamus. But this is unfortunately the year that common sense, fairness and respect for the game clearly went over the edge of the train tracks faster than a New York City subway commuter. Ouch.

Now I’ve been very sympathetic to the plight the writers have when it comes to wading through the waters that PED’s have polluted in Major League Baseball. But like Metstradamus, when voters use their privilege to make some grand statement (i.e. voting no one in), peppered with some who find it – I don’t know – comical, to vote for the likes of Sele and Green, it simply demonstrates to me that stupidity isn’t determined by who you write for or what and if you get paid for writing it.

When the likes of Marty Noble, someone I’ve always had tremendous respect for, thinks that because Mike Piazza had an abundance of—wait for it—back hair, during his time as a Dodger and decides to connect the follicles and assume that it meant Piazza used. It shows me just how far we’ve fallen as a people more than anything. We’ll believe the very worst of each other just to protect our own vanity because God forbid a player is later found to have juiced.

We can’t have writers dealing with pangs of remorse now can we? To top it off, Noble then ironically said that as a Met, Piazza had a hairless back, which is ALSO a symptom of steroid use. So if Piazza essentially played with Robin William’s back he’s using yet if he’s smoother than an Abercrombie model he’s also using? Absolutely pathetic, especially that never, not once, has Piazza been accused or named in any report or tested positive for any performance enhancing drugs.

I always believed that MLB needs to be far more proactive of a guide for the BBWAA when it comes to Hall of Fame voting and steroids. I wrote a piece for Metsmerized in early 2011 calling for Bud Selig to commission a panel exploring the effects that PED’s have on actual playing performance. Of course Selig and MLB want absolutely nothing further to do with this issue—at least not what happened in the past. One bright spot happened a few days ago when the MLB Players Association and MLB agreed to year round drug testing for Human Growth Hormone and Testosterone.

The BBWAA and their writers refused to vote for some players and based it on innuendo and unproven allegations; and that is shameful itself. In part I can understand their fear of enshrining someone who later is proven to have used PED’s as players elected cannot be removed from the Hall of Fame. My question is why is that? Hypothetically if a Hall of Famer does something illegal, whether during or after their playing career, why are they not immediately open to removal? That, in my opinion, would allow the writers to choose players based on their careers and not on speculation.

George Orwell was quoted as saying:

“Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent.”

Now the real question remains, who was Orwell talking about; the players or the writers?

2012 saw our Mets conclude our 51^st season. Man, how time flies. The Mets are now in their second half-century. And it got me thinking (since I have no life) How does the Mets first quarter century compare with our second quarter century? For discussion purposes, I’ll refer to 1962-1986 (our first 25 years) as Act I. 1987-2012 (our next 26 years) as Act II.

When the Mets entered the NL in 1962 along with the Houston Colt 45’s, the baseball landscape was very different. Expansion teams were put together by cast-offs of other teams. Has-beens and never was’s. You couldn’t win a championship in five years like Florida did. Or get to the post-season in three like Arizona. You had to build from NOTHING.

Sure, the rules of the game were the same, sans DH. Although the game itself has remained relatively unchanged since the late 1800’s, the pennant races were very different.

The 1961 World Series was won by the Yankees. Led by the M & M Boys, The Bronx Bombers handily defeated the Reds in 5 games. New York won that final game, 13-5. The date was October 9^th. Yes, that early. October 9^th. In today’s world, we’re first getting our post-season feet wet. But back then, it was all over in early October.

There were no divisions, no LCS’s. Two leagues. 10 teams in each. You won your league and you immediately advanced token to the Fall Classic.

There were many great Mets memories in Act I. But man oh man, there was also endless suffering. Although the 60’s ended on a high, we spent the entire decade finding new ways to lose. In our first 7 years the Mets averaged 106 losses! We finished in 10^th place five of those seven years, 9^th in the other two.

Also in Act I was the post-Seaver era of Grant’s Tomb. In the six year period of 77-83 (I’m not including the strike-shortened 81 season) the Mets averaged 65 wins against 97 losses.

Basically 14 of our first 25 years were a joke. A waste. We were lovable…but we were a laughing stock. We were a doormat for the National League.

In 1962, only 1 out of 10 teams made the post-season. Baseball expanded in 1969 and with the creation of divisions and a “League Championship Series,” now 2 out of 12 teams would make the post-season. 2 out of 12. It remained this way through the remainder of Act I.

The Mets were 1794-2187 in those 25 years. For 15 of those 25 seasons, we finished under .500. However, we had 3 division titles, 3 pennants. 2 World Championships.

Act II: The Mets began Act II in a far better place than we started ACT I. Unlike 1962, when we started at the very bottom, the Mets started 1987 at the very top. Defending World Champions. Cant get any better.

Just 7 years into Act II, Bud Selig became the most despised man in Baseball since Walter O’Malley moved the Dodgers out of Brooklyn. Selig did the unthinkable and for the first time since 1904 there would be no World Series. Selig needed to do something.

In 95, Baseball was re-aligned. There would now be three divisions. And a wildcard! Suddenly 4 out of 15 teams would make the post-season. The Mets now had a better than 1 in 4 chance. Also making it easier for us was that Pittsburgh was moved to the newly formed NL Central. We now had only 4 other teams to beat in our division, not 5.

It didn’t help. In spite of less direct competition and more available post-season slots, the years continued piling up without the Mets playing beyond early October.

This past season another alteration was made to the game steeped in history. Another wild-card was added. Now, 5 of the 16 teams in the NL would see post-season action. Almost 1 in every 3 teams. And yet, the 2012 Mets were, for all intents and purposes, out of it by July.

For the 25 years from 62-86, the Mets compiled a 451 winning percentage. We were under 500 15 of those 25 years.

In Act II, the Mets won-loss record was 2091-2050, .505. Interestingly, however, of these 26 seasons from 1987-2012, we were under 500 13 of these 26 years.

How far have we come?

When you think of Act II, 1987-2012, there are lots of great memories.1987 would see our dynasty continue. We had taken New York away from the Yankees. The pinstripes were ‘the other New York team.’ Later on we’d acquire the best hitting catcher in Baseball history. There would be a Grand Slam single. Endy Chavez ‘saved the day.’ Benny Agbayani represented Hawaii, not Sid Fernandez. The future would be built around David and Jose, not Darryl and Doc.

But yet, in spite of starting ACT II in a better place than Act I, in spite of it now being easier to make the post-season, in spite of directly competing with 4 other teams instead of 9 as we did in 62, in spite of having a 1 in 3 shot of making the post-season as opposed to a 1 in 10, the Mets have fallen short time and time again.

There have been many more avenues to get to the Fall Classic over the last 26 years. But yet the Mets have only appeared in 1 more post-season than they had during our first quarter century.

It makes me feel that the more things change the more they stay the same. Or perhaps, the more things change, the bleaker they become. Something to consider…

Blue skies, smiling on me...

According to the New York Daily News, the Wilpons were quite busy this evening. They finished deals to sell 12 minority shares  - a $240 million cash infusion – and they have taken care of a few debts as well.

One debt that the Wilpons paid back was their debt to the MLB. That full debt was a total of $25 million.

Another debt they took care of was their debt to Bank of America. They owed the Bank $40 million.

All this coming after the Wilpons reached a settlement with the trustee before their case officially went to trial.

This really sets up the Wilpons being in charge for the foreseeable future, contradicting much of what had been reported by various media outlets.

By repaying these debts, especially the one to MLB, they have likely shown Selig that they can remain fiscally solvent and add money into the team when the right deals and players become available.

Hopefully that will be the case.

Thoughts from Joe D.

I wrote this in a post from February 9th:

Don’t wish ill will on a family who has done so much good for the team, and this city, and for veterans, just because Omar Minaya signed Jason Bay or Steve Phillips traded for Mo Vaughn. Let’s use some common sense and know that there is a difference between this legal matter and the operational choices the current Mets owners have made. It’s a vast difference, and one should have nothing to do with the other.

I have my opinion on all of this. I posted repeatedly not to believe all this bankruptcy stuff everyone is circulating, and that the demise of the Wilpons has been greatly exaggerated. I’ve said again and again that it was all just wishful thinking. I couldn’t care less that it put me in the minority and on the firing block, I blog for my benefit not yours. So let me close this out in the form that some of you will find somewhat familiar – a Haiku:

Justice will vindicate.
It was all folly.
You’ll see the rising son.

This past Monday, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon updated the media and fans about the status of the minority ownership stakes, saying it was “going very well.” That was the first significant update since the David Einhorn deal fell apart.

Fans and the media alike were interested in who these minority owners were, and Mr. Wilpon stated:

Some of the people don’t want to be public. Some of the people might never be public. I don’t think anybody knows all the minority shareholders in each of the other teams. Do you know all the minority shareholders in Atlanta or Kansas City or St. Louis, Cincinnati, the Yankees? It’s just not widely known.

The bottom line is that Jeff Wilpon is right. The minority owners who have invested in the Mets are none of the fans’ business. I know in today’s information age we want to know everything, but this is a non-issue and I’ll tell you why.

• This has nothing to do with what happens on the field. These minority owners are being brought in to infuse more cash into the team overall and not just the roster which is our business. The renovations that are being made to Citi Field are a prime example of where some of this money is going to.
•  The Mets and Sterling Equities are a privately owned company. They are not required by law to divulge information like this to us and the media.
• It does sound like there have been some sales of the minority shares which means that the sales and new minority owners have been approved of by Major League Baseball.

That last point is what matters most. I believe last week when Bud Selig said:

I do have a lot of worries today, but frankly I’m happy to say the Mets are not one of them.

He knew of the sales and there’s nothing to worry about which is refreshing.

We need to worry about what is on the field, and the players the front office is putting on that field – not who is infusing new cash into the team. I know that is not popular in today’s climate.  We have a GM giving bloggers access to help share team news with the fans, and yet one of them attacks the owners of the Mets in order to help drive up his book sales. As long as MLB is happy and approves what the owners are doing, that is good enough for me and should be good enough for the fan base as well.

For years, the thought of instant replay in baseball remained just a thought, as Selig and his cronies stressed “human error” as part of the game.

Fair or Foul?

Umpires had been making good and bad calls since the game’s inception, so why did the current administration need to change anything?

However, once the NFL adopted its instant replay program, the technological aspect of sports changed drastically. Coaches could challenge a disputed call, and later, every disputed call with less than two minutes remaining is automatically challenged.

And new this season, every scoring play is now reviewed, even the obvious ones.

Though it changed the game, the right calls were being made. As a result, the emphasis shifted from luck in getting a favorable call to actuality. Did the receiver actually make the catch or did the runner actually break the plan on the endzone?

After seeing how instant replay affected football and after a string of seasons with overall poor umpiring, Selig introduced the first facet of MLB instant replay, which allowed the umpires to review if a ball is or is not a home run.

That has been a successful first step, but just this past Tuesday, Selig announced that the league “will enlarge replay a little bit.”

He said he didn’t want every single call to be reviewed, and that doing so would hurt the sport.

But that’s all that was said.

In an AP report from April, the review of fair or foul calls and trapped balls was a topic of MLB’s discussion, but it was decided not to implement that this season.

Still, it looks as though we will see extended instant replay in 2012. Maybe managers will be able to challenge safe or out calls. Or even if a balk call is actually a balk.

The question is where do we draw the line?

Baseball games take three hours as is, so reviewing all these blown calls would prolong the game even further. There are dozens of calls in every game that can technically be disputed.

I’m on the fence about this whole issue. I’m all about seeing a fairly officiated game (especially if the Mets fall victim to a bad call), but I also respect that human error is part of the game.

For all the times the Mets have suffered from a bad call, they likely have been the beneficiaries of bad calls. It all evens out in the end.

The problem is that if the expansion of instant replay continues, we may get to the point where every single pitch can be reviewed as being a ball or a strike. That’s highly unlikely, but I hope you get the point.

Depending on what MLB officials agree upon for the new instant replay procedures, they need to take a firm stance and say that’s it.

The game must progress as is, because if this trend continues, we will see robots on the field umpiring games.

What are your thoughts?

Too big to fail

You can almost apply that theory to Major League Baseball.  In the past decade, we saw the Montreal Expos go bankrupt and essentially relocate to Washington, D.C. after contraction was prohibited in the collective bargaining agreement set forth in 2002.

Prior to that arrangement, Bud Selig suggested that the Minnesota Twins (now a perennial playoff contender) was a contraction possibility.  I remember Jesse “The Governor” Ventura of Minnesota, taking Selig to task, when in all the talk about contraction, nowhere in those lines was thought of contracting the team Selig still had ties to (at the time), the Milwaukee Brewers who weren’t all that great at the time either.  But that’s neither here nor there.  The point is, no one really can argue that if there is talk of contraction, the smaller markets are the first to be considered.

Moving right along, MLB has its own quandary today, and it has to do with finances of two of its largest market and noteworthy franchises: the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets.  In both cases, one could argue that their failings and flailings start right at the top: with their respective ownership.

In L.A., Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has been going through a very public and messy divorce.  Judging by most reports out of the City of Angels, the team itself is being used as a pawn by both parties in the contested separation.   McCourt’s soon-to-be-ex-wife, Jamie, is looking to be half-owner of the Dodgers as a result, since it is presumed to be an “asset” of Mr. McCourt and therefore fair game in their divorce settlement.  As it appears, most of their settlement talks are centered around Ms. McCourt’s right to ownership of the franchise.

In the meantime, some under-the-radar financial transactions were ultimately brought to light regarding the finances of the team on the West Coast.  While he greenlighted a $70 million expenditure this offseason, McCourt tried to use the Dodgers’ cable rights as collateral in a deal with FOX worth $200 million, should they default on the loan.  This deal was promptly rejected by Selig, adding fuel to Jamie McCourt’s fire, countering that McCourt had endangered the team’s financial stability by brokering this type of deal, and that she was entitled to the information regarding these deals.

While McCourt preaches that is all right with the team and that he’ll still own the team and pass it along to his children some day, new manager Don Mattingly has to deal with this in the background, while the team picks up players that are supposed to compliment its young core including Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Clayton Kershaw.

Sound familiar?  It should.  Substitute “Massive Ponzi scheme investment, false profits, dwindling attendance, shoddy baseball operations and bloated player contracts that have another year before coming off the books” for “McCourt divorce”, and we have ourselves the New York Mets, ladies and gentlemen.

In light of recent liquidity issues being brought to the our attention with the Wilpons and specifically Sterling Equities borrowing $25 million from the MLB discretionary fund and submitting a bid for a loan syndicate to get even more cash flow, along with borrowing an additional $50 million at some earlier point and MLB saying they will not allow the Mets to use MLB as a lifeline for money anymore, it just adds to the masochism of following this team.

The Mets, well, we all know the story too well.  A collapse in 2007, a floundering in 2008, massive injuries in 2009 and 2010 to an aging and overpaid/underachieving staff has caused a domino effect with many things in the organization.  For one, ticket sales are so low, that they caused audible concern in many outlets at the end of last season and revamped their ticket office, cutting ties with Mets ticket VP veteran Bill Iannicello and bringing in new blood in the ticket office.

My theory is that when CitiField opened in 2009, ownership thought that not only would the team draw, even if they did go through their “slumps” interest would be achieved in the novelty of the new stadium.  That wore off quickly when the summer doldrums hit.  Towards the end of ’09, secondary market tickets were going for as low as $0.99!  Couple that with another underachieving year, the Mets were literally giving tickets away to later games in the season, just to fill the seats.

No sales from fans = no revenue generating.  I would be willing to bet that SNY is probably one of the few profitable items in the Sterling portfolio of companies.  Keep in mind, of course, that Sterling Enterprises is a real estate investment trust…that industry has also taken a hit to their interests, that’s a fact.

In the meantime, I wonder how long this madness can continue, for either the Dodgers or the Mets.  The Dodgers were competitive as far as two seasons ago and could very well say that their fall off the precipice had to do with a down year from their star Matt Kemp and perhaps an unproductive Manny Ramirez (he’s on the Tampa Bay Rays now, where players careers go to die…Tampa will be addressed later of course).  The McCourt drama is just backpage headlines, they could say.  Save the nixed loan deal from FOX, we really don’t hear about liquidity issues as there seems to be cash generated through some arm of the Dodgers.  Of course, I am not in LA…so that’s just being totally subjective.

It seems to me, as an outsider looking and as a diehard fan of one of those franchises, that the only people who suffer here are the fans.  The reality is that the Mets have not decreased payroll.  They, too, have a built-in excuse about the underperformance of high ticket free agents, injuries and wanting to go for low-risk/high-reward instead of the low-reward/high-risk route they had taken in the past seven years.  But the Mets did, technically, spend this offseason, but they were acting frugally.  Perhaps some fans thought it might have been a good thing to overpay Cliff Lee when Lee has a better chance of winning anywhere else BUT the Mets at this current moment.  Other may have wondered why they couldn’t have taken a shot at Carl Crawford.  I have no idea, but locked into Jason Bay for now kind of limited that idea.  There are tons and tons of unanswered questions, but the Mets can’t say they didn’t spend and have not spent in the past.  It’s where they are spending it, who they entrust with it and what has happened.

I couldn’t help but wonder though…Does MLB have its own “Too Big To Fail” policy regarding franchises?  I discussed in a podcast the other night this domino effect that specifically the Mets have had.  In the past, I was trying to be objective, not buy everything that was handed tome at face value and try to look at things analytically since I have analyzed financial information for a majority of my career.  I was trying not to look at things like a “fan.”

Then one of my blolleagues on this podcast said something that hit me: when the Mets release info, it’s typically when it’s worse than they are saying.  Whether dealing with injuries, managerial issues, even the stadium, it’s too little, too late.  It makes me wonder if when a large market team is scraping around for coins in the sofa cushions, it’s time to sell the team.  If the Sterling team is in as much debt as the news is speculating, it’s going to be impossible to find someone to assume those liabilities.  The same, to a lesser extent, in LA.  Frank McCourt is getting lines of credit left and right.  What happens if a judge declares his wife 50% owner?  Will he have to buy her out of her share?  Or will this court case drag on forever and ever, and their fans will have to take a back seat to get a decent product out there?

And if the Mets go bankrupt and are excused from paying the debt…how far will MLB go?  Who will they allow in as an owner?  I’m talking new blood and not these old fart billionaires who have made this an exclusive Boys Club for years.  MLB might need an overhaul overall, and with Selig’s contract up in 2012, there might not be a better time to impart this.

Similar to that tree in the woods, if the Mets and Dodgers fail in MLB, will anyone notice?  Probably not.  We won’t notice because the ownership club in MLB is strong enough to set it up that even those who are not the strongest (of teams) can and will survive.  If MLB has gone to these great lengths to keep these teams operational simply by either turning a blind eye or extending lifelines, then I am expecting more of the same until the very worst has happened.  And we don’t even know if it will come to that.

Keep in mind a few years ago, as I mentioned above, Selig wanted to contract the Twins and Expos.  Now there’s suggestion that the Tampa Bay Rays are up for contraction.  They went from one of the most exciting teams in baseball three years ago, to one that is barely finding an identity there on the Gulf coast.

Imagine that being a team in New York or Los Angeles.

Wouldn’t happen.  There is too much at stake in those markets.

Too big to fail?  Indeed.

Under his proposal there would be not one but two wildcards from each league. The teams with the 2 best records that did not win a division would face each other in either a best of three round or simply a ONE game playoff to decide the wild-card, although Selig is leaning towards the best of three format. The rest of the post-season format would then remain the same as it is now.

Opponents of the one game playoff feel that it’s not fair to have a team work so hard to get to the post-season and have it come down to one game.

Personally, I think this is the craziest idea from a commissioner who has many crazy ideas. Baseball is a game of tradition, of history and I am a traditionalist. Leave it alone.

In the NFL, 12 out of 32 teams make the playoffs (37%). In the NBA and NHL, 16 out of 30 teams (53%) make the playoffs. In Baseball, now it’s only 8 out of 30. That’s 26% and that is plenty. If Selig’s proposal is adopted, 1 out of every 3 teams would make the post-season. In the AL, this new format would mean 5 out of 14 teams would advance. Or to put it another way, the American League would play 162 games over 6 months for the sole purpose of eliminating 9 teams.

Unlike Football, Basketball and Hockey the Baseball season is 162 games. I think that is long enough to determine who should advance and who shouldn’t. A post-season berth should be earned, should be won and not handed out like candy.

Over the last several years, based on final standings, 88 wins would get you a 2^nd wildcard. Since 81 wins is 500 should a team get a chance at a World Series by simply being slightly better then mediocre?

Although a move such as this would have to be approved by the players union, Michael Weiner, union head, says the players are open to discussing a longer post-season. On the flip-side, however, the season would remain 162 games and would not revert back to 154 as it was prior to 1961. Clubs would not be willing to lose TV revenue and ticket sales by shortening the season 8 games.

With worsening weather and another round it’s possible the World Series could be played at Thanksgiving! I can hear it now: I’ll have some more white meat, please pass the Cranberry Sauce and come on, that pitch was outside.

We all love baseball. We cant get enough of it. But does the season really need to be 9 months? Will pitchers and catchers be reporting 3 months after the final out of the World Series is made? And would FOX and/or TBS be willing to realign their TV schedule for even another week?

In all fairness to the commissioner, he has made some improvements during his tenure. April 15^th is Jackie Robinson Day, expansion into Phoenix and Tampa Bay, the Expos were set free from Montreal and we now have a stricter steroid policy, albeit a bit too late.

But the negatives of Selig’s time have outweighed the positives. For a guy who cancelled the World Series, for a guy who sat back and did nothing for far too long while players doubled in size and records were not just broken but obliterated, for a guy who had an All Star Game end in a tie and who came out with the ludicrous idea that the winner of the All-Star game gets home field advantage for the World Series, this could be the craziest idea yet.

So I was thrilled in 1997 when interleague play was officially introduced, with 15 or so games on the schedule.  It hasn’t varied much since then, though some natural rivalries like Mets/Yankees or Cubs/White Sox or Giants/A’s play a home and home series and otherwise the teams rotate each year.  And I’m not sure why, but I look forward to interleague play each year like a kid looking forward to Christmas.  No joke.  I love seeing teams that don’t normally play each other, play each other.

But here’s the thing.  I think at this point, they should add more interleague games to the schedule.  Do we really have to play the teams in our division 18 times each?  That’s almost half the schedule, and there’s something about watching the Mets play in Miami three times a year to 5,000 people that makes me want to poke my eyes out.

I say, cut those in-division games to 12 each, and you’re saving 24 games to play other opponents, which means you can just about play every American League team at least once a year.  Would any of you really rather see all those divisional games instead of that?  You’d have the chance to see, either at Citi Field or on TV (or of course, a road trip), almost every player in the majors at one point or another.

Of course, we all know too well that the suits in baseball move at the speed of a turtle that stepped in molasses.  If they won’t add instant replay on ground balls, they surely won’t add more interleague games.  But many of us thought we’d never see interleague play, so there you have it.  Who knows?

Meanwhile, it sure is nice watching the Mets these days against any team.  First place is now within reach.  Let’s go Mets!

The purpose of this committee is to review certain areas of concern within the game and make recommendations regarding the implementation of some changes. Among those issues that are being considered is a radical divisional realignment plan. The purpose of the plan is to improve the competitive balance in the game.

Obviously, competitive balance has been mostly an unrealized goal in baseball for the past two decades. The divide between the “haves” and the “have-nots” continues to expand with no end in sight.

However, the suggestion of a ”floating realignment” where teams will change divisions year to year, based on geography, payroll and opportunities to contend, is absolutely ridiculous and makes no sense whatsoever. A floating realignment might lessen many of the long established natural rivalries of the game for one, and the expectation that it will improve competitive balance seems flawed.

Imagine a season where the Red Sox and Yankees are no longer in the same division. As much as many New Englanders would welcome such a move, wouldn’t you be destroying one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports?

And how does putting the Red Sox or Yankees in the AL Central for example, help create competitive balance in that division?

This latest and hopefully last proposal by Bud Selig is by far the craziest of them all. It has also sparked a boatload of alternate realignment plans all across the blogosphere and I’ve yet to see one that wasn’t as significantly flawed as the one Selig’s committee proposes. They are all bad.

From a Mets fan perspective, any alignment plan that puts the Mets into the same division as the New York Yankees would be an abomination. Especially with the Wilpons at the helm and calling the shots. It would truly take another “miracle” for the Mets to win a division.

I assume this floating realignment plan would completely make inter-league baseball extinct and just a memory after all of the success it has enjoyed.

Then of course there’s the problem of the designated hitter.

The fact of the matter is that no realignment plan would be ideal, and even if there was a perfect plan it would do little to improve the competitive balance in the league.

As long as you have one team spending $200 million and another spending $60 million, competitive balance is just an unreachable star.

How can you have competitive balance in the worlds largest game of Monopoly when some players start with $1,500 dollars and others with just $15 bucks? How can the team with $15 bucks ever get his hands on Boardwalk and Park Place?

You can blind yourself to what I’m going to say all you want, but I’ll still say it…

Only a salary cap with built-in, agreed upon minimum and maximum limits can bring competitive balance to the league. Anything else is really just “fantasy baseball”.

Jose Canseco – Mark McGwire was the lead character in the tell-all blockbuster that shockingly revealed the widespread and rampant use of steroids and PED’s in Major League Baseball. Initially, Canseco was labeled a fraud and an opportunist with an ax to grind. Time has certainly vindicated him, as one by one all the marquis players he named ranging from Rafael Palmeiro to Alex Rodriguez to Mark McGwire collapsed under the weight of hard evidence against them. The truth is that if not for Jose Canseco, the game would have never cleaned up it’s act. 

61 – When I first heard about McGwire’s admission and apology, the first thing that crossed my mind after I got past the initial shock, was Roger Maris. His family has already spoken out and forgave McGwire, but not without saying that in their minds Maris was still the single season homerun record holder. Maybe it’s time to place another asterisk next to Roger Maris’ name, not to tear down his remarkable achievement, but instead to distinguish it as the one “true and unblemished” single season homerun mark. Sadly, baseball has twice mistreated the Maris homerun record; once because of sheer ignorance, and a second time because of money and greed. Baseball MUST make some amends to this remarkable player who never got his richly deserved due. They can start by creating the Roger Maris trophy to be given to each season’s homerun leaders. 

Cooperstown – Steroids users like McGwire, Sosa, Clemens and Bonds will eventually find their way to Cooperstown as the taint and stigma of the steroids era subsides. We have always been a forgiving society, and that’s a good thing, but something must be done to distinguish this era from all the untainted eras. Especially in those cases where illegal drug use was acknowledged and uncontested. The argument that performance enhancers were not officially banned in baseball is an ignorant one when you consider that most of these substances were in fact illegal or obtained illegally. Do we need to officially ban rape and murder in baseball as well? Buck Weaver and Shoeless Joe Jackson were banned for life because their actions affected the outcome of a series for personal gain. Mark McGwire’s actions ripped through the fabric of the game. He completely undermined, distorted and soiled all the hallowed homerun records of our national pastime. Additionally, he did it for personal gain and he raked in tens of millions of promotional dollars for it. I accept his apology and I’ll forgive him, but in no way do I allow him to pass “Go” and collect $200 dollars. Does anybody really want to watch these guys give a Hall of Fame induction speech? If they get in, it should be without the Pomp and Circumstance. No celebrations, no speeches and no fanfare. Find the darkest corner in Cooperstown and let their plaques gather dust… far away from the magnificence of all the other plaques.  

Bud Selig – Once a used car salesman, always a used car salesman. I have grown tired of all of Bud’s shady and underhanded sales gimmicks. I’m not buying the fact that he never knew there was such rampant steroid use during his watch until Canseco and Congress sounded the alarm. He turned a blind eye to the McGwire/Sosa homerun chase that saw baseball regain it’s fading popularity, and reap in hundreds of millions of dollars in never-before seen profits. Attendance was soaring and he didn’t care if Roger Maris was bloodied in the process. Instead of protecting the legacy of the game, he helped tear it down and in fact… he handed out the axes and jack hammers to do it.

Canseco said what? What's steroids?

Sources have told Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune that commissioner Bud Selig plans to step down after the 2012 season, when his contract is up.

The good news is that we’ll be rid of him in three years.

The bad news is we still have to endure him for another three years. Hopefully he won’t foul up the game more than he has already in his Napoleonic reign.

Selig was first named as acting commissioner immediately following the resignation of Fay Vincent. George Steinbrenner and several other owners were led by Selig in a plot to overthrow Vincent who Selig believed was guilty of biting the hand that fed him. Vincent, had quickly become known for always acting independently and in the best interest of the game. He had zero tolerance for gambling, ethics violations, criminal activity and cheating. Selig was enraged at Vincent for ruling without bias, rather than siding with the owners who paid his salary. Following an 18-9 no-confidence vote that Selig held in the dark of night, Vincent resigned in disgust. The Selig era had begun.

Baseball as we knew it then, will never be the same again.

You almost got the feeling right away that Selig cared very little about tradition and keeping the game pure, clean and honest. One of the first things he did as commissioner was to reinstate George Steinbrenner who had been banned for life by Vincent. The Yankees owner hired one of his henchmen, a small time mafia hood name Howard Spira, to follow one of his own players in an attempt to dig up some dirt, and then blackmail him in an attempt to avoid paying him his remaining salary ($300K) which was going to a children’s charity. That player was Hall of Famer Dave Winfield.

Selig and Steinbrenner have had a close relationship ever since and Selig has turned a blind eye on many other ethical issues where the Yankees were concerned.

You kind of expected that Selig was nothing more than a shill for the owners right from the start, after all he was one of them, and was even found to be one of the key conspirators in the landmark 1987 collusion case where owners led by Bud Selig and Jerry Reinsdorf attempted to rig the free agent system. A judge ruled that the owners had to pay the players $280 million dollars in damages. The relationship and trust between the players and the owners would be damaged forever. Fay Vincent released a statement soon after the 1990 settlement.

The single biggest reality you guys have to face up to is collusion. You stole $280 million from the players, and the players are unified to a man around that issue, because you got caught and many of you are still involved.

In an attempt to recoup the $280 million dollars that was lost to the players, Selig’s first act as commissioner was to expand the league which led to a great dilution of talent and quality that still exists today. He also broke up the two leagues into smaller divisions while adding a third, and of course he ushered in the Wild Card format. Regardless of whether you liked or disliked any of those moves, we can all agree it was motivated solely by greed and not by a purist’s love of the game.

Selig was also responsible for canceling the World Series in 1994, and it became quite evident that MLB owners finally had themselves a commissioner that they have always longed for; a commissioner who was at their beck and call. For the first time in nearly 100 years, there would be no World Series. The impetus for the cancellation was the players strike. Selig saw it as an opportunity and a chance to punish the players for beating him in the collusion case, so he sided with the owners and killed the Fall Classic. Best interest of baseball or sweet revenge? You decide.

Forgive me father for I have sinned.

I can go on and on listing the many grievances I have with Bud Selig, who even fouled up something as pure and simple as the All Star game. The most embarrassing moment in All Star game history occurred on his watch in 2002, when the game was played in his own home park in Milwaukee that he himself helped construct. Because he allowed managers to play as many players as they could during regulation so as to give them all a chance to play, the game ended in a tie when both squads ran out of players. He stood up and waved for the umpires and told them to end the game in the 11th inning tied at 7-7. A tie in baseball? On that day there was plenty of crying in baseball.

Should I mention his ridiculous rule that grants World Series home-field advantage to the winner of the Mid Summer Classic?

Or how he turned a blind eye to rampant steroids use because players like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were bringing in millions of dollars a day in marketing revenue?

He put on a hell of show in 2005 when he appeared before congress and pleaded ignorance, but only an idiot would have believed that sob story. That debacle culminated with the now infamous Mitchell Report and allegations that more than half of baseball players were cheating.

If it’s one thing Selig is not, it’s ignorant.

He is in fact a mad genius, a brilliant manipulator, and a master of the macabre. He has his fingers in every pot, and knows exactly what is going on in every facet of the game both on the field and in every front office.

USA Today once called him an agent of change, and they were certainly right about that, but change at what cost?

I’m sure that many of you will disagree with me or have a diferent opinion or perception of Bud Selig. This is mine.