The real issue when considering competitive balance is revenue.  Some teams make a lot more of it than others by nature of their location, their fan base, and access to media outlets. I’ve always been puzzled by the notion of competitive balance at the micro-economic level. Isn’t the nature of competition such that the better organization and the better team should win? I understand that parity is good for the game, but if we really wanted it to be fair wouldn’t we have to rig a system where every team wins the World Series in a set order once every thirty years? How do measures that “level the playing field” not detract from inherent competitive advantages that are earned and deserved? Isn’t survival of the fittest a free market principle? Big markets should have an advantage, they have more people in them, and they pay higher prices.

If on the other hand you look at Baseball on the macro-economic level, as a single sprawling coast to coast business, then things begin to look a little different. You could argue that the scarcity of a brand in multiple smaller markets offers room for growth that makes up for whatever an already profit maximized big market may bring to the table. Competitive balance also makes for more interesting games which makes it essentially a quality control measure. No one enjoys watching the Yankees perennially steamroll the rest of the league (except Yankee fans of course).

Revenue sharing was first instituted in 1996 to help combat growing revenue disparities among MLB franchises. Based on 2012 revenues, $400 million will change hands from the big MLB markets to the small in order to level the playing field. The money is distributed on a sliding scale, which means that teams near the bottom of revenue generated, will receive significantly more than the $27 million average that would be distributed if that money were spread evenly across the bottom 15 teams. Ideally revenue sharing allows small market teams more flexibility in retaining home grown stars that they’ve poured development dollars into.

But revenue sharing hasn’t always worked the way it was intended to. Back in 2009 Maury Brown published an eye opening look at just how much money revenue sharing brought to small markets. He showed, for instance, that the Marlins received $20,946,573 and $21,030,000 in 2002 and 2003, while the Mets paid out -17,366,067 and -21,473,000 on those same years respectively. In 2008 and 2009 the Marlins received $47,982,000 and $43,973,000 respectively. Now consider this for a moment, the Marlins in 2008 had a team payroll of $27,003,450.00 which means the Marlins in 2008 pocketed over 20 million in revenue sharing dollars after payroll expenses. Doesn’t seem fair does it?

The new CBA will change revenue sharing in the coming years to address this very issue. The union requested a new rule that connects revenue-sharing money to big league payroll. In a report by Jason Stark of ESPN in November of 2011, he explained that teams receiving revenue-sharing money are now required to reflect a 40-man roster payroll 25 percent larger than the amount they’re receiving. So, if a team’s revenue-sharing check is for $40 million, their big league payroll needs to be at least $50 million. Also, by the end of this labor deal (2016), teams in the 15 largest markets will no longer receive revenue-sharing money, no matter how low their revenue may be. The 15 teams that will be ineligible for revenue sharing by 2016 are the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Angels, Cubs, White Sox, Phillies, Red Sox, Rangers, Braves, Nationals, Blue Jays, Astros, Giants and A’s.

The problem for many, particularly those on the Player’s Association end, is that MLB continues to register record profits while payrolls have failed to keep pace. Between local network outlets and national media contracts (a deal with Fox was recently valued at $12.4 billion over eight years to be divided across all 30 MLB teams) the sport is seeing unprecedented growth. Maury Brown reported in April of 2011 that gross MLB revenues have jumped from $1.4 billion in 1995 to $7 billion in 2010, a 400% increase. When accounting for inflation, the league still sees a phenomenal 254% increase, and yet many teams have failed to invest these profits proportionately into added payroll. Revenue sharing was supposed to address that problem but it clearly has not.

Scott Boras isn’t happy about it. According to Boras, most teams have lower payrolls heading into the 2013 season than the highest payroll those teams had from 2000-2012. “Only five teams have higher payrolls,” Boras told Murray Chass in a Jan 2013 article. “Everybody else is below even though revenue is up 200 percent and franchise values are up 300, 400 percent. What we’re seeing is not many teams are spending on payrolls despite the fact that their profits are extraordinary. You’d expect teams to have their highest payrolls, but they don’t.” Boras offered these examples:

In spite of revenue sharing, record profits, and media deals sprouting up left and right, Major League teams have failed to invest in players, according to Scott Boras. Is this in fact the case?

Wendy Thurm of Fangraphs recently did a nice analysis of payroll fluctuations. Below are two graphics that she employed.

In the first graph you can see that revenue has indeed outpaced payroll, however, the second graphic is interesting because the year to year percentage changes in both MLB revenue and payrolls do not always reflect a similar trajectory. From 2003 to 2005 revenue rose steadily then remained relatively high while payroll dropped precipitously. Then from 2005 to 2006 payroll showed a 20% spike. From 2007 to 2008 payroll and revenue were both declining on a parallel course reflecting the economic downturn, but from about 2009 on, payroll and revenue deviate, crisscross, then begin to slowly rise in unison from about 2011 to the present. In her well articulated piece, Thurm makes the argument that while many teams have cut back (even in the wake of record profits), others have used this money to dramatically increase their payrolls. She cites teams like the Nationals and Detroit as examples. Personally I don’t see it so much. While I can see the argument derived from the second graph where payroll and revenue seem to follow parallel trajectories, there are two major deviations on that graph where payroll was far below revenue, and there are also teams like the Marlins that continually appear to invest a far smaller percentage relative to revenue growth.

Teams like the Mets on the other hand, which were one of Boras’ culprits, have cut back repeatedly over the past 4 years while media proceeds have risen. The Mets received an estimated 60 million last year for their share of MLB’s national media dollars, their SNY network continues to appreciate and continues to generate revenue, they play in NY, and yet the team’s payroll ranked 19th out of 30 teams.

The odd conclusion here is that for some teams, the market dynamic isn’t responding the way it’s supposed to. Many small market teams are making out like bandits while teams like the Mets aren’t faring well at all. The Mets should not be losing money, they should not have had trouble managing their debt and they should be awash in cash as they reside in the biggest baseball market in the world, but the Wilpons were so damaged by losses through their association with Madoff and the depreciation of their real estate holdings, and they accumulated such a massive debt load from their new stadium, they reached a point where they were unable to invest in payroll on a level commensurate with the rest of Major League baseball. In retrospect, the lack of any semblance of prudent economic foresight demonstrated by Met ownership is truly astonishing. To add to their problems the Mets’ massive market wasn’t (still isn’t) helping them at the gate, as fans simply stopped showing up. Revenue continued to spiral down and here we are looking at a crappy on-field product, empty stands and a seemingly perpetual limited budget.

Eventually the Wilpons may be pressed into boosting payroll if they are to get themselves off of Boras’ list. No matter how much media money they manage to procur, if they keep losing money at the gate my guess is they’ll eventually have to sell the team. Sure, maybe the small marketers will herald a Met turnaround generated via their resurgent farm system, but barring that, the Wilpons are going to have to splurge. The striking thing about Boras’ list is that with the exception of the Rays and the Braves, every team on it has had a losing record over the period of time referenced on the chart. Clearly, teams that cut salary don’t fare well. The Mets simply can not keep pace with the rest of the league if during a time of plenty they continue to impose restrictions. At some point they’re going to have to invest if they’re to bring the fans back, even if it means betting the house.

“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.

I’m sure you’ll also remember that on October 4th, 2012, shortly after the close of the 2012 season, Sandy appeared on WFAN with Mike Francesa to say the following in regards to the team in general, more specifically to the positions of outfield and cather:

“There will be more substantial changes, than subtle changes.”

Call it naivety if your must, but for some reason I took Alderson at his word that the Mets would finally begin to move forward.  As recently as last week, I wrote that the winter meetings would be the beginning of the turnaround.  Well the winter meetings have come and gone without a single move.  In the process, the Mets have managed to insult the reigning National League Cy Young into publicly criticizing the team he has vowed his loyalties to.  All this makes me ask, what exactly is the end game here?

Certainly that end game isn’t to put forth a better product?  To date the Mets have only retained All-Star third baseman, David Wright.  Speaking of Wright, who negotiated his deal to free up an additional $8 million dollars of payroll for the team in 2013..what must he be thinking?  Having been sold on the organization’s path going forward, it now appears as if Sandy Alderson won’t even reinvest the money Wright will go without this year, nevermind elevate the payroll in general.  If I feel swindled, I’d have to imagine Wright is having trouble sleeping right now.

Alderson has done a lot of things since arriving.  First and foremost, he has deconstructed what were once the New York Mets.  Dropping a payroll that was once in excess of $140 million dollars to what stands to be less than $90 million this season, the Mets seem as far away from contending as they have in recent memory.  So what Alderson traded an injury ridden Carlos Beltran for stud prospect, Zach Wheeler.  So what he’s resigned the face of the franchise.  So what he’s shielded ownership from further scrutiny.  At some point he’ll be forced to answer for his lies too.

You see Alderson has sold a bill of goods to the Mets fan base.  The 2014 season was to be the year of the revival, but there is no plan in place to date that can see that plan to fruition.  Instead the Mets appear set to bring in bottom of the barrel free agents to once again bandage a flawed roster.  Once again, Alderson will stand in front of the microphone at Spring Training and preach about the clarity of the market and the possibility of contention should everything fall into the place.  However, for the first time, I won’t be buying what the con man is selling!

Sandy Alderson may have been brought here to see the Wilpon’s through the most difficult years of their ownership.  In fact, he may be doing just that.  But don’t lie to me.  Don’t lie to the legions of fans who expect a quality product, who expect the Mets to function like a big market franchise and those who expected a man of his word.  David Wright was quoted on WFAN yesterday as saying he didn’t remain in Queens to finish in fourth place.  Welp, I wonder how he feels about last place, because that precisely the type of team Alderson is in the process of piecing together.

Three years after his arrival, the Mets remain a mess..and worse yet there is no end in sight.  Sandy Alderson is not the answer and he’s certainly not “the adult in the room”.  Save the schtick going forward Sandy, because we’re not buying it anymore.

Follow me on Twitter at @RobPatterson83

Ok, I admit, I did my best Quagmire impersonation the other night, in spite of my better angels trying desperately to keep me in check. Not even Charlie’s Angels could keep me from succumbing to the dark side when I saw the best team money could buy get brutally swept by the best thing to come out of Detroit that wasn’t bailed out by the government. It’s one thing to get to the American League Championship Series and lose but for the New York Yankees to lose 4 in a row and lose them by barely showing up was hard to watch, even for a Mets fan.

To think that the Yankees actually made President Obama look thoroughly engaged in his first debate in comparison to their performance against the Tigers. But I digress, who are we kidding; it wasn’t that hard for me to watch. I may have revelled in the poetic justice of it all yet I ironically realized in the end that I don’t despise the New York Yankees as some people do, and I’m very ok with that. Now, as to some of their fans – well that’s a whole different ballgame altogether.

Look I get it. Who am I to criticize the Yankees for being swept in the Playoffs? My team hasn’t even had a whiff of a whiff of playoff baseball since Carlos Beltran stood like a deer in headlights taking Adam Wainwright’s curveball for strike three in 2006.

You can make a good argument that stemming from that moment the Mets began their spiral into the mediocre mess that they have become today. And make no mistake about it; it’s rare to find a Yankee fan that doesn’t like to remind us of that among other things. Because you know, it’s always endearing to be an obnoxious bully.

What other things you ask? How about their 27 World Championships? Sure I’d be proud of my team if they racked up that many Championships, who wouldn’t? But I’m pretty sure, no I’m very sure I wouldn’t rub it into everyone’s faces or use it as my main retaliatory weapon anytime someone criticizes my team. It reeks of elitism – and that is why no one is shedding a tear that Detroit handed the Yankees a beatdown of the ages.

I particularly enjoy the brand of Yankee fan who just about takes personal credit for those 27 championships. As if it weren’t for their bloviating ad nauseum about their greatness, those teams never would have existed. Over-compensating much pre tell? We get it, your team is great.

I know I’m not breaking any new ground here saying this. We all know where the Mets are financially as an organization or at least we think we do and it’s no secret that times have been better. There’s that certain percentage of Yankee fans that love to say how the Mets are cheap and don’t care about their fans. Hell at times even I’ve felt the same malaise from this organization but when you look at the facts you realize that to say the Mets have always been cheap is more like a cheap shot than fact.

It doesn’t take much to Google the numbers and see where the Mets have ranked in payroll over the years. We all know they spend (spent). They’re just very good at doing it very bad. Athlon Sports ranks the Mets the worst of all MLB teams from 2001 to 2010 when it comes to spending in relation to wins. But don’t try and get intellectual when arguing with these particular Yankee fans.

To them it’s all about the bling and boy do they have the bling in the Bronx enough so that even their mistakes (Carl Pavano, Jose Contreras, Brien Taylor, A-Roid) can be easily swept under the rug. However even the mighty have their limits as Hank and Hal Steinbrenner have made it clear that they want to get their payroll under the luxury tax threshold.

Of course there’s that “aura” that playing for the Yankees brings. Even I fell for it when Raul Ibanez seemed to channel every Yankee great in this postseason with his homerun fest. Not bad for a 39 year old. Yet if you ask anyone impartial, which team regardless their finances, has a better crop of young talent making its way up, one would be hard pressed to say it’s the Yankees.

It’s not like I’m drinking the Kool-Aid here. I know the Mets aren’t exactly overflowing with minor league talent – as a Mets fan I know that’s hardly the case – but tell me what version of Zach Wheeler or Matt Harvey or even Wilmer Flores do the Yankees have? If they did, don’t you think one or two would have been promoted this year and don’t try to pull Ivan Nova out of your pinstriped posterior.

If he’s really one of their top prospects Brian Cashman has a lot more to worry about than how he’s going to try to convince a team to take Alex Rodriguez off his hands. It seems Cashman could care less that his team has become the professional sports poster children for AARP as they have the oldest team on average in MLB. This is what Cashman said about his geriatric lineup:

“I don’t care if it’s old. I care about if it’s good.”

Well Socrates has spoken I suppose. Talk about short sighted and the epitome of elitist. The only reason Brian Cashman can say that is solely because of his owner’s pockets.

The Mets and we as fans can learn a great deal from the debacle that is unraveling in the Bronx. Sure if you’re one of those superficial, seasonal Yankee fans that only come out of the woodwork in October then you probably should ignore the warning signs. Yes having almost unlimited funds can buy great players – eventual Hall-of-Famer players even. But if history has shown, it doesn’t buy championships.

It’s signing the right players to augment your team, when you’ve developed it enough from within. Sure the Yankees can sign whoever they want and I’m pretty sure they’ll make a push for Texas’ Josh Hamilton this winter. Talk about lighting a fuse on a Molotov cocktail. The moment he steps out of his taxi cab onto 42nd street, expect an epic implosion worthy of wall-to-wall TMZ coverage.

Some of those Yankee fans might think I sound like just another jaded Met fan. Sure it’s been rough the last few years but what they call being jaded I call appreciation. Mets fans appreciate their team. Darren Meenan over at the 7Line rounded up hundreds of his troops on the final game of the year at Citifield with his mantra: loyal to the last out. They came in droves fully knowing there was nothing at stake. Loyalty personified.

Now compare that to the empty seats in Yankee stadium during the playoffs. It was shameful that Yankee officials asked fans to move to the lower decks to keep the empty seats out of the TBS camera view. Elitist, entitled, arrogant and now you can add indifferent. There is no other way to define it.

If the Wilpons can ever get their financial house in order, hopefully with the proper gameplan which includes taking advantage of the amateur draft, including signing and developing the players they draft, and spending wisely in the free agent market, perhaps the Mets can right this ship. If the finances continue to tighten just enough to keep the Wilpon’s treading water and whatever funds made available are spent poorly, then nothing changes.

The greatest success the Yankees had happened when their core players were supplemented with talent around them. The opposite of that is what never seems to truly work at least not long term. All that’s going to do is make you laugh under your breath at your TV when that house of cards comes falling down.

Giggity. Giggity

In 1977, Mets general manager M Donald Grant traded the Franchise who was better known as Tom Seaver for little more than a bag of baseballs and the free-fall was now really on. The DeRoullet family who owned the Mets saw attendance slip below a million fans in cavernous Shea Stadium which held 55,000, and they saw no light at the end of the tunnel so they put the Mets up for sale.

Only once in a generation or two does a New York Baseball Franchise become available and this was a rare golden opportunity for someone to step up and become royalty. A long line of prospective owners stepped to the plate and were turned away until renowned multi-millionaire book publisher Nelson Doubleday and his friend Real Estate Mogul Fred Wilpon began to hammer out an agreement in principle to buy the Mets. Late in 1979 the deal was finally struck and the Mets would now have new ownership going into the 1980 season.

The total cost was $21 million dollars with Mr. Doubleday putting up $20 million and Mr. Wilpon struggling to put in one million for a minor partnership. With an enormous rebuilding challenge ahead the two men set out to find a competent baseball man to put a contender in Queens.

Mr. Wilpon had one small term placed in the purchase agreement which 23 years later would become the key factor in him gaining and leveraging control of the Mets – right of first refusal. it basically stated that if Mr. Doubleday were to look to sell the team he would have to offer it to the Wilpons before taking bids out on the open market. This would prove to be the best thing for the Wilpons and the worst thing for the fans of the Mets.

The Wilpons initially put up nothing to buy the team and didn’t put up anything to wrestle control of it from the majority partner which they did on the strength of some loans. With all the reported years of a contentious relationship between the two men – they hated each other – the Wilpons were now in total control.

Despite having had some success, is it really a surprise to anyone that the Wilpons were involved in Ponzi schemes and numerous shady business dealings just like in the seventies? This Mets team is in the same deplorable state as that team in 1979 because some things never change.

This Fan Shot was submitted by MMO reader, Adam Venutti, a long suffering Mets fan. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over 12 thousand Mets fans who read this site daily. Send your Fan Shot to GetMetsmerized@aol.com. Or ask about being a regular contributor, and share your opinions with an engaging community that loves to debate

As I sit here watching Shark Week, I can’t stop thinking about how I wish the Mets would be more aggressive. I know their financial situation isn’t the greatest, but as fans, why do we have to suffer for the bad investment choices of a few? It doesn’t seem right.

The saddest part of the story is, much like the poor seals that swim off the coast of South Africa, there isn’t much relief in sight for New York Mets fans.

As the Mets struggle to draw fans to the stadium, their financial woes will continue. New York is a very unforgiving city, and the fans will show their disdain with declining ticket and merchandise sales. The secondary market for tickets has to be killing the Mets right now. The Mets are being undersold by their own fans as they sell their tickets at discounted prices, trying to recoup some of the big money they spent on them before the season started. Now that the Mets are no longer in the playoff hunt, this trend will continue for the remainder of the season. If fans aren’t coming out to the games, the Mets miss out on the opportunity to lure fans into spending even more money once they have you within the gates of the stadium. I wonder if they’re making up foam fingers with the hand holding up four fingers, instead of one, because that’s where they’re going to finish this season in the NL East.

It already seems like the last thing the Mets want their fans doing is watching the game. Take a stroll out behind center field wall at Citi and you see distraction after distraction – a dunk tank, a booth to see how fast you throw, even an area to play Xbox. These things are better suited for Brooklyn Cyclones games. What ever happened to going to a ball game and filling out a score card? In other words, actually watching the game. I don’t know, maybe those gimmicks are the only reason why people are coming to the stadium these days.

It’s hard enough to draw fans out to the stadium when you are competing with high definition broadcasts. Personally, I would rather sit in the comfort of my own home and watch the game versus go to the stadium – and that’s when there is a formidable team on the field. I opt to watching games at home, but when I see Scott Hairston hitting cleanup, even I have trouble not changing the channel. There has to be a reason to keep the fans watching, and coming to the ball park. And with all respect to the season he’s having, it’s not Scott Hairston. Maybe that’s why they want to trade him now? Hmmmm…

Now the only question that remains is how do the Mets get the fans to start coming to games again?

I have a borderline controversial answer to that question. I think there is one player out there, that the Mets can sign, that will draw the fans out of the woodwork. But this player is going to cost them – that’s the rub. This player has the potential to be as polarizing as Tim Tebow was coming to the Jets. This player will put butts back in the seats at Citi Field, and fans will have a reason to actually watch the game, instead of squeezing in a game of MLB2K13 out behind the center field wall. This player will steal the back page from the Yankees. That player is none other than Josh Hamilton.

Josh Hamilton is arguably the greatest player in the game today. Josh Hamilton is a risk I would love to see the Mets take. Josh Hamilton will bring respect back to the Mets. Josh Hamilton will take the city by storm. I can see record breaking jersey sales, an instant boost in season ticket sales, and bragging rights as the Mets can proudly claim they have the best player in New York on their roster. Hamilton certainly comes with his baggage, but his upside far outweighs the downside.

Jim Mancari noted earlier in his segment From Left Field that the Mets have “a significant amount of building blocks in place.” In other words, things aren’t as bad as they seem. Maybe Josh Hamilton is exactly what is needed to pull all those building blocks together. While it’s not likely we will see Hamilton in a New York Mets uniform, it sure would be something special. With Hamilton wearing the Mets blue and orange, I can’t guarantee you they will be winners, but at least they will be watchable. And as an added bonus for the Wilpon’s, they may actually start making money again.

Amazin’ Solutions is a segment I will be covering for Mets Merized Online going forward. It will take an in depth look at the different issues the Mets are facing, and provide solutions for those issues. Sometimes, when the issues are so complex that they may not have a solution, I may just have a little fun. 

Lets take a look at what we know for sure…

• The Mets payroll was slashed by roughly $50 million dollars heading into the 2012 season.  Whats the outcome of that purge?  As it stands through the middle of August, The Mets appear destined to finish the season with a similar record to last year.  What does that prove?  Have the Mets purged overvalued talent, or proven that the free agent market isn’t all its cracked up to be?  Those debates could go on forever.
• The Wilpons will still be held accountable for $430 million in team debt, $450 million in SNY debt, and $600 million in Citi Field debt at some point in the not so distant future.  That doesn’t include the Madoff settlement, as the Wilpons can still collect damages through other suits, leaving the exact amount owed in flux.  Bottom line…More than a BILLION dollars is owed to several lenders.
• Attendance is dwindling!  Should the team fail to put some wins together, a $25 million dollar drop in attendance revenue, compared to last season, is perfectly reasonable before season’s end.  While that is minor in the grand scope of things, it still adds financial stress to the organization.

With the exception of the recent drop in payroll, none of this was ever breaking news.  The large majority of these debts were relatively common knowledge when Sandy Alderson assumed command of the organization’s front office.  That’s the rub…and the real unknown when discussing the future of the New York Mets.

The one thing that you, I, or anyone else whose name doesn’t end in Wilpon doesn’t know is exactly how much money is in the piggy bank.  That’s why any argument slighting Sandy Alderson or the Wilpons is always a shot in the dark.  If there is no money to spend, the team’s farm system is invaluable, explaining why Alderson has been adamant in his attempt to rebuild the system and/or demand top dollar in return for the organization’s prospects.  If the Wilpon’s are telling the truth when they say Sandy has no financial constraints, then its fair to say that Alderson has some serious explaining to do.

Therein lies the problem when discussing the future of the franchise, because we simply don’t know.  I can tell you that at this point in Alderson’s tenure that his minor league position prospect options have just about been exhausted.  Therefore, I certainly hope the money is available to fill the team’s needs both behind the plate and in the outfield.  If that’s the case, than we can anticipate an rather active off-season, but if it isn’t, or even worse if Sandy simply doesn’t want to elevate the payroll for some unexplained reason, the Mets are in for more hard times.

Again, its the unknowns that are scary.  No amount of investigative reporting, ESP or plain guessing is going to give us a good indication of exactly how much money resides in the Wilpon’s checking account.  Is there enough funny money to make the acquisitions necessary to put this team back on the map now that the in-house options have faltered?  The answer to that question is up to your interpretation, but in reality none of us know for certain.

So we can hate the Wilpon’s refusal to concede ownership…or we can bash Sandy Alderson for his hesitance to act.  Which is right?  Until we have an accurate idea of the team’s overall finances, something that may never happen, we all must maintain a degree of rationale when discussing the future.  The comments of both sides must be taken with a grain of salt.  Until that moment when we know for sure, no one has the big picture, and its for that reason that the future of the New York Mets remains in doubt.

Follow me on Twitter at @RobPatterson83.

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.

If you had asked me twelve months ago if the Wilpons should sell the Mets, I’d have been pretty emphatic in my support. In the six months that followed, new reports surfaced describing the debt the Mets were in and it seemed that number grew by $100 million from each report to the next. The most recent tally has it in the ballpark of $450 million. In the six months since then, I found my support for the “sell-sell-sell-sell” portion of the fan base waning (was there ever any other portion?)

First it was a $40 million loan, then it was an extension on paying back last year’s $25 million loan. Then Bud Selig, the Wilpon’s biggest supporter, was extended two years in his position as Commissioner, and now it seems that over the last couple of months the stars have been aligning for the Wilpons in their effort to maintain control of the team. Irving Picard’s lawsuit, which itself is about as criminal as Bernie Madoff’s scheme, has not progressed the way the trustee of Madoff’s victims had hoped. We’ve seen charge after charge dismissed. The total amount being sued for is decreasing, and now the latest blow, a motion from the Wilpon’s side to dismiss. The motion will likely be denied, but I think it speaks volumes about where the case stands now; that the evidence against the Wilpons is apparently flimsy enough, or even non-existent, for that option to even be entertained.

There is plenty that says the Wilpons might not be forced to sell and can ride out the lawsuit, thus maintaining ownership. This is why I feel the Wilpons should hold on at this juncture.

We’re almost in February, and as of this writing, the biggest impact name on the market is Edwin Jackson. Nothing against E-Jax, but the well’s fairly dry. The Mets 2012 roster is pretty much set, except for another few minor league deals for depth or maybe the low-base guaranteed deal for one of several fifth outfielders linked to the Mets. Even if the best case scenario for Wilpon-detractors comes true and a new owner is put in place tomorrow, there’s nothing he can do to significantly improve the 2012 team. Even if he was able to take on salary at the deadline, the Mets probably wouldn’t be in a position to buy, anyway.

But we all know a change of ownership stretches out a long time.  It was in April when MLB merely took over the day-to-day operations of the Dodgers, wasn’t till November when Frank McCourt agreed to sell, and now three months later, they’re only in the second round of bidding with ten potential ownership groups still in the running. The Dodgers won’t be sold till at least the summer; roughly 15 months after MLB took the first step. Think that’s a long time? Imagine the process with the team in the New York market.

I’m of the opinion that considering how long the process is to sell the team and how the lawsuit is progressing; it is in the best interest of the Mets and their fans for the Wilpons to remain owners. I think the Wilpons will ride out the storm quicker than it would take a new owner to step in. Let’s not dismiss the track record of the Wilpons, either. They have spent the most money in the National League the past few seasons. That and that alone is the sign of a good owner. They will do what’s necessary to win. Also take into consideration their charitable efforts, their community outreach and the respect they’ve earned throughout baseball.

How can we even be certain the new owner will do what’s necessary to win? We know the Wilpons would spend $150 million on payroll. How do we know that’s in a potential new owner’s budget?

Another thing I’d like to touch on is a shift in the landscape of ownerships. It’s no longer a family business, now its consortiums. Call me old fashioned, but I like it when my team is owned by one person or family with one agenda.  Skim this article on espn.com about the sale of the Dodgers and look who’s still in the running. All “groups headed by.” I don’t think something like that ever works in the best interest in the team, it works in the best interest of the investors and team success is usually a happy accident; a by-product of business decisions. It didn’t work for Nelson Doubleday, did it? I prefer the operation of the team be the family business, not a business venture.

Look, if Picard has an ace up his sleeve or one last smoking gun that could actually convict the Wilpons, then this article has been a waste of 45 minutes for me; I’d be back where I was twelve months ago. But in light of the fact that there seems to be no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of the Wilpons, at this stage of the lawsuit and what the sale of the Dodgers is proving, I think the best option for the Mets and their fans right now is sticking with the Wilpons.

What do you think?

This Fan Shot was submitted by Rob. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over eleven-thousand Mets fans who read this site daily. Send your Fan Shot to GetMetsmerized@aol.com.

All done of course with the set-in-stone realization that the world would blow up like an M80 in an ashcan on May 21st at 6pm. Now that reality and sanity has set in again, I’m sorry to say that some of you are now proud owners of every season of Joanie Loves Chachi on Blu-Ray, unemployed and potentially blacklisted in your line of work and the parent of an illegitimate latino child with suprisingly impressive muscular definition.

I guess I should have said you’re “Terminated” but that would be excessive and cheap of me. If you didn’t know better you’d say that you’ve been cursed.

As Mets fans, as much as I abhor the notion that lady luck hasn’t always been on our side – nevermind that the ’86 Postseason showed us that at times luck was ALL we had on our side, I can’t help but wonder if we need to start sacrificing a bucket of KFC to the mighty Jobu just to earn some of that good Karma back?

Italians like to call it the Malocchio – with the symbol being the devil horns – basically it’s the idea that someone has it in for us and has put on quite the spell. It’s hard not to go down that road even though there are some really logical reasons that bad luck isn’t the reason the Mets are as mediocre as they are – The Coop points out quiet well.

But sometimes I – and I’m sure many other Met fans – wonder when the other shoe is about to fall off or in the Mets case, when the spikes will get caught in seemingly perfect infield dirt resulting in a career ending tear of one’s MCL. Some of you are cursing me just for coming up with that evil yet almost perfectly accurate potential Met scenario.

The first place I look at is this teams’ propensity to get hurt. The logical side of me says when you have an older team, injuries will happen. The paranoid, black helicopters are descending onto my lawn because I downloaded The Hangover II over the net this weekend ( THE WORLD WAS ENDING PEOPLE) says explain Mejia, explain Santana, explain how Donald Trump gets his hair to look the same way each morning.

It’s not like we have a twenty something who dives for a ball to make an out and subsequently cracks his back. It’s not like we spend 66 million on a slugger who the year previous to his wearing the orange and blue is named an All-Star, hitting over 30 homers and driving in well over a hundred, all the while replacing a local icon quite seemlessly. Injury isn’t the only bug that bites this team on occasion.

It’s not like we trade for a perennial All-Star, future Hall of Famer, who the year prior to his taking on the orange and blue hits .336 with 20 homers a hundred ribbies and comes 4th in the league in MVP voting. It’s not like we give up on a flame throwing right handed starter and deal him for the vast array of talents that Jim Fregosi brought to the table in his time in Queens.

It’s not like we publicly downplay the talents of the greatest power hitter the team has ever had and all but buy his first class ticket back to his howmtown of L.A., for what, to save a buck? Some posterior kissing should have taken place then shouldn’t it?

It’s not like we have a owner who uses the press as his own personal therapist, making public gripes about his players – his marquee players no less who for better or worse put asses in Citifiled’s seats – pointing out in a suspicioulsy indirect way why he most likely will not re-sign some of them.

Why one of them is smply just good – yet ironically if that ‘good’ player were to be traded I’m sure his ‘good’ numbers of .285+ 30 homers and hundred RBI’s each year would be sorely missed.

At what point do we as fans just sit back and say WTF already this team? Should it be this much of an ordeal to get our collective s..t together? I think of the old axiom 3 steps forward 2 steps back when it comes to the Mets. Just when Collins finally got this group playing as a team, this nonsense coming from ownereship comes out.

When Alderson picked up the papers this morning I’m sure even HE rolled his eyes at the comments his boss made. Nothing like having your hands tied by your boss then asked to take the public fall for the repurcussions. San Diego is looking better and better each day isn’t it Sandy?

If of course Fred Wilpon’s words were code for making wholesale changes then chew on this – what guarantee’s the Mets a good return if they trade Reyes, Wright or even Beltran? We’ve been on the great, albeit lucky side of many trades. Think Keith Hernandez for Neil Allen and Rick Ownby. Think Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall and Geoff Goetz for Mike Piazza. Think Carlos Gomez, Kevin Mulvey, Phil Humber and Deolis Guerra for Johan Santana.

Buddists say that Karma is essentially: Any kind of intentional action whether mental, verbal, or physical. It covers all that is included in the phrase “thought, word and deed”. Generally speaking, all good and bad action constitutes Karma. In its ultimate sense Karma means all moral and immoral volition.

Not to be a crapehanger but dealing Reyes, Wright and Beltran would be testing the limits of the Mets good trade Karma as of late. Nothing like dealing the faces of your franchise for the next Jim Fregosi to earn that loving loyal fan support. Can’t we just have a player or two, from our minors who’s made good, stick with us for the majority of their careers? Do we HAVE to watch them win a championship with Boston, or the Yankees?

I don’t know about you but if I were the clubhouse manager for the Mets – instead of tempting fate with the IRS – I’d be handing these out to the players – if Willie “Mays” Hayes can kiss a snake and Wade Boggs eat chicken before every game, David Wright can carry the horns. At this point it can’t hurt.

The Wilpons should be focusing on selling a large chunk of the team at this point. It is beyond obvious that the Madoff scandal is greatly impacting the team’s finances.

The article also mentions that the Mets received a $430 million loan from JP Morgan Chase last year. The bank is trying to recruit other banks to put together a loan to help the Mets until the Wilpons sell a majority stake in the team.

Sources are uncertain about if the Mets can actually pay back the loan. They believe this is a very risk move considering the team could lose as much as $50 million this year.

After the Mets received a loan from the MLB, their debt total reached $505 million. Depending on the team’s worth, they could have enough money to secure another loan. It all depends on what the team is valued at.

Payments to players may eventually become an issue if the team cannot secure another loan. This could decimate the team chemistry.

It has also been revealed that banks have been selling some of the Mets debt off form 90 cents on the dollar. They believe that the Mets are a risky investment and are trying to lower their exposure.

The new loan might help the team avoid defaulting on their existing debt. This is quickly turning into a very ugly situation for the team. There will likely be major changes with the organization before the end of the season.

The terms of the deal, at least according to the tight lipped Cardinal hierarchy of General Manager John Mozeliak and Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., will stay a closely guarded state secret. Speculation has it that Pujols’ agent was looking for a deal in the range of 10 years at 30 million per. I honestly wouldn’t be shocked if it was even higher – somewhere around 40 million per.

The move by Pujols agent, to set the first day of Spring Training as the self imposed deadline to negotiate a new contract, was absolute genius. Pujols is firmly cemented in the drivers seat and if there is anyone who will have this looming over them, it most certainly will be the St. Louis executives who most likely, have set in motion Albert Pujols’ slow and deliberate exit from the St. Louis stage.

Enter the Wilpons. Or Mark Cuban. Or The Donald. Or whoever else will be the last man or men standing when the wake of Madoff makes it final slice into American history and into the wallets of the Wilpons. If by sheer foolishness, the Cardinals can’t meet Pujols demands, what better marquee player could the Mets have than Albert Pujols?

What better player to rehabilitate a franchise? He would be a game changer the same way Steve Phillips who at the behest of Nelson Doubleday, made Mike Piazza the face of the franchise in the latter half of the 90’s and into the 2000’s.

Of course that was then, and this is now and unless there is a major cosmic alignment on multiple fronts, starting with ownership, the possibility of this happening is utter fantasy.

Just think of this. How incredible would it be as a fan? Could ownership ( whoever it may be ) afford whatever Pujols is asking? Who would wear number 5?

Thoughts?

While there is much to be said about the Mets ownership lack of baseball acumen, and even in recent years being linked to a scandalous international Ponzi scheme, this deal is not nearly as bad as it looks on paper. Invested long-term, I would say that it was even a good deal, benefiting the Wilpons just as much as the Bonillas. Back when I was completing my MBA, I actually used this as a case study – I no longer have my backing documents or spreadsheet, but with reinvestments and compounded interest, the Mets have made money off of that initial $5 million while Bonilla has not. So while they are paying him out something like $29 million over the next 25 years, chances are they’ve made their money and are reinvesting it again. Hopefully, not with another Ponzi scheme.

For Bonilla, it’s sort of like choosing the lottery lump sum payout versus annual payments. There are tax implications for the lump payout for the winner; the annuity is guaranteed money but is taxed per year therefore not as big of a hit. While Bobby, from my understanding, is being paid from another fund, not impacting the current payroll from what I understand and adding on to the time value of money, I remember that the dollars and cents of it really wasn’t that far off if he got paid in 1999 or over the course of 25 years.

I won’t bore you with those details here. But let me give you some lay examples to bring the transaction to light.

In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Dr. Evil comes back from being frozen for 30 years and re-emerges in the 1990s. He requires a ransom of (cue the pinky) “one MEEELLLION dollars” or in non-evil terms, one million American dollars. When his number two man Number Two says that amount would get laughed at in the 1990s, he asks then for “One hundred BEEEEEELLLION dollars!”

Think about that for a second. To us ordinary working-class folk, one million dollars seems plenty, right? To a corporation or small republic, $100 billion is certainly a lot but billions of dollars are spent weekly in the stream of corporate transactions. The most telling part in Dr. Evil’s demands though is that in the course of 30 years, an acceptable ransom has gone up by five additional zeroes. (Meanwhile, when Dr. Evil goes back to the ‘60s and tries to hold the world hostage again, he is laughed at by the $100 billion request, being told it was an imaginary number).

The Bobby Bonilla deal is not THAT bad of a deal and will not be as much of an albatross or worrisome as some make it out to be. I mean, he signed a $29 million/five-year contract in 1992, 19 years ago. Today that player would be considered “cheap,” a STEAL even or at the very least a player who probably is on the downside of his career.

Back in 1999, $5 million was and still is plenty of money no doubt, especially owed to a player who didn’t contribute much and had more ill-will than good over that time. Factor in the time value of money, we know that was once $5 million in ’99 money is not worth anywhere near what $5 million is today. Yes, I know, boo hoo, but he’s got a family to feed right? (That was sarcasm)

Yes, I get it. Bobby Bonilla represents everything that’s bad from the Mets’ past. He is the poster-child of the Worst Team Money Could Buy, and possibly our last image of him was playing cards with Rickey Henderson during the critical Mets/Braves NLCS in 1999.

Our last-ing impression of him will be the fact that he will be “employed” by the Mets for the next 25 years. However, I am here to defend the ownership of the Mets and say it was actually a decent deal on their end, from a business standpoint. Yes, I know, where’s the rock salt? Has Hell frozen over? I’m actually defending the Wilpons. Yes, I know, it happens from time to time, but I do give credit where it is due.

That’s not taking away from Bonilla. Deferred payments are pretty par for the course in contracts; however, you don’t hear a lot about them in baseball due to the fact they are mostly incentive driven (like, a pitcher will have hit X-amount of innings for a deferred payment to kick in or some crap). Please note, I have no record of Bonilla’s terms with the Mets, but it may or may not have included that deferred payment provision (bonus points if someone can find that for me). It was a brilliant negotiating tactic, if that was in fact what happened in the board room when they “bought him out.”

If Lenny Dykstra is any cautionary tale, fact is most retired sports figures do not handle their money well or have a long-term game plan. This was a win-win situation for both sides. Sure, you would like the Mets to put the screws to him but the Players Union says there’s this thing called a contract that guarantees money, so they’d have had to pay him anyway. Why not work it out to the best of their ability?

There is a faction that says the Mets should have just paid him his money and cut ties immediately. Well, sure I certainly agree with that. However, we are not privy to what happened the day he was released by the team. There could have been a standoff or it could have simply been written in his contract, fully expecting to, you know, not play cards during a playoff game.

I think what’s happened is that we people who don’t earn player salaries, tend to look at this as an excess of the Player’s Union, lack of a salary cap and that players are overpaid. Hey, no kidding! This was not meant to be a piece defending the Mets management nor Bobby Bonilla himself. It’s a way of saying, hey, there actually are smart business transactions happening in the Mets management.

And in an evil parallel universe, while the Mets are again paying Bobby Bonilla, a parallel universe could unfold and the Mets might do the opposite of what they did during his Worst Team Money Could Buy era and actually have a decent record.

Hey. You never know.

Until then, the only piece of financial advice I will ever give is to take the annuity payment if you ever win the Mega Millions. It’s the best case scenario for everyone.

When Omar Minaya was hired in 2004 I remember the Mets promising us that the organization was going to turn around.  They didn’t say anything about being a championship caliber team immediately.  They promised that the team would play better baseball and that it would take time to build this team back to a contender. 2005 was much better than 2004, the Mets were in the Wild Card race until the last week of the season and baseball was fun again in flushing.  The Mets promised to be more active in the free agent market, but Omar and the Mets also said that they were committed to building a solid farm system and would not rush their younger players like the club has done in the past.

2006 was a great year to be a Mets fan, at least until Beltran didn’t take the bat off his shoulder. It also changed the plan that the Mets came up with.  Suddenly the team was more in a win now period and was rushing prospects to the majors. The slow approach was out the window.  Look at players like Milledge and Pelfrey.  Both were rushed to the majors.

There’s no point going over Omar Minaya’s mistakes again, but I sincerely hope the team learned from them. What the next GM needs to do is come up with a plan and a vision and stick to it. Be honest with the fans like how Omar and the Mets were in 2004.  If 2011 is a great year, don’t stray too far from the original plan, you obviously made that plan because you thought it was the way to run the team.  Don’t promise a championship caliber team next season and then not deliver, that’s the absolute worst thing the new GM could do. We’re willing to be patient if that’s what it takes.

I guess this seems like a victory for the Mets but the Mets were wrong in doing this. K-Rod attacked a 50 year old man at Citi Field in front of the families of his teammates.  The 50 year old had to be taken the hospital after the savage attack.  I find it amazing that so many people are willing to look past this and just move on.

I would have respected the Mets if they had taken this grievance as far as they could even if they lost.  Of course the Mets were only thinking of that 3.1 million dollars.  I understand that they were scared of a union with way too much power, but this was not K-Rod’s first incident here in New York and with the Mets.  Let’s not forget the incident with Brian Bruney where K-Rod had to be held back.  Also last year it was reported that K-Rod had an argument with Tony Bernazard.  Then earlier this season K-Rod had a confrontation with Randy Neimann, the 54 year old bullpen coach. Clearly K-Rod likes to fight with older men.  K-Rod also violated a court order by texting his girlfriend.  It also was reported by the daily news that K-Rod at least on 1 occasion attacked his girlfriend and the mother of his two children so bad that she had to be hospitalized.  Even with all this evidence to support their argument, the Wilpons decided to take their 3.1 million dollars and let this guy continue be handsomely paid and a part of the team.

K-Rod is a bully and an abusive pig, no other way around it. The guy obviously has personal problems and should not be on this team.  I respected the Mets originally for going up against the Players Union but in typical Mets fashion they took what little money they could save and just dropped it.  Everyone wondered why the Angels would let K-Rod walk after a record setting season, and let the Mets sign him.  Obviously it wasn’t just the money, they were just happy to get him off their team.

It’s just a matter of time before K-Rod does something to hurt someone else or make the team look bad.

1) The Ballpark: Citi Field is just too big! I know we’ve been saying that for the last 2 seasons but the Wilpons refuse to bring in the fences.  All you look at what happened to David Wright in his the first season at Citi Field.  His power numbers were down and the last 2 seasons his strikeouts have been on the rise.  Wright’s power at Shea was to the right center.  Citi Field’s right center is about 45-50 feet deeper than Shea’s and it has affected Wright negatively.  Some called it a fluke but then look at Jason Bay’s horrific first season.  The park took away his power. Citi Field without a doubt robbed Bay realistically of 5 homeruns and probably more.  The great fence of Flushing needs to go down too while we’re at it.  It’s time to admit the size of this park was a mistake and change it.

2) Coaching Staff: The entire coaching staff needs to go.  Howard Johnson has been a horrible hitting coach.  The situational hitting since Hojo took over has been non-existent.  It seems like Hojo would rather be their friends than a coach.  I get it he’s an 86 Met and the Wilpons are reluctant to fire him.  The Mets should just give Hojo a job with a nice title and a good payday and let him go away.  Dan Warthen also needs to go.  I know the pitching was better than expected this season but I don’t like all the injuries to our pitchers under his reign as pitching coach.  I didn’t like that in 2009 he didn’t know about Johan’s latest injury and he didn’t know that Santana was skipping side sessions.  I also didn’t like him calling Maine a habitual liar to the press. That’s just something you don’t say.  Razor Shines just needs to go.  Chip Hale seems to be a decent to good coach but at the same time Ron Darling mentioned many times throughout the season that Hale had been working with Wright and changing his defense.  Wright’s defense this year was pretty bad. He committed 20 errors and at times was slow in turning a double play.

3) The 3 Poisons (Carlos Beltran, Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo): Once the Mets finally do hire a general manager that GM (Alderson) must find a way to get these three off this team! Castillo is done, he can’t hit and he has absolutely no range at 2nd base.  Castillo brings nothing to the New York Mets, time to cut ties with him. Oliver Perez should not be on this team, he has done nothing for the Mets since signing that contract.  Perez cares more about himself than the team as he repeatedly refused to go to the minor leagues.  He didn’t win 1 game in 2010!  If you look at the way the Mets played before the all-star break and after the break there’s a huge difference.  Carlos Beltran decided to finally grace the team with his presence and was supposed to be the spark for this team but unfortunately did nothing other than make outs at the plate and miss balls hit to center on defense. Beltran refused to move over to right field to allow the better player Angle Pagan to play center and help the team.  Let’s not forget that these guys also refused to go visit wounded soldiers with the rest of their team.  These guys are not team players, they’re hurting this team and it’s time to get rid of them.

The new GM when he/she is finally hired has a lot of work to do and a lot changes to make.  Without these changes we can expect another losing season.

There’s some good news and there’s some bad news about Oliver Perez.  The bad news is he’s under contract for the 2011 season.  The good news is that 2011 is the last year of Ollie’s contract.  2010 is done for the not so amazin’ Mets.  Hopefully 2011 will be better for the Mets.  The Mets have a lot of questions next year and one big question is what will be done with Oliver Perez.

Perez after 2010 will still be owed 12 million dollars by the Mets.  Oliver Perez has not won a game this season.  His ERA is over 6!  Ollie spent time on the DL with an “injured knee” before coming back to the bullpen.  Perez has hardly worked out of the pen and rightfully so.  Unfortunately while Perez sits on his backside in the pen, thinking about how he’s going to play around with his facial hair he is occupying a much needed roster spot.  This cannot happen next year!  Perez is not going to change, it’s time to release him, 12 million dollars or not!

I understand 12 million dollars is a lot of money, especially with owners who are in financial trouble.  I don’t understand the thinking that it’s better to pay Perez to suit up, sit in the pen and take a roster spot.  Perez if he has to sit in the pen again next year also hurts the strength of the pen as the manager next year will not have a complete pen to manage.  Not only does releasing Ollie free up a roster spot, it does send a message to the rest of the team that the kind of play we’ve seen the last few years will not be tolerated regardless of what you’re being paid which let’s face it, this team needs a jolt like that.  There are too many guys on this team, veterans and rookies alike that are too comfortable, sending Perez packing will hopefully change the mindset of some of these players and make them play harder.

The Wilpons are bad owners.  At times they have not been too involved with the baseball activities and other times they have been too involved.  Right now they’re too involved in the baseball operations of the Mets.  Many “insiders” claim this past off season Jeff Wilpon handcuffed Omar Minaya and told him to get more with less money.  The Wilpons the last few seasons continue to lower their payroll.  Most teams not all of them but most when they move into a new ballpark generally up their payroll.

Sure the Wilpons spent money but not wisely.  They gave Omar Minaya a huge extension in years and dollars even though he didn’t earn it.  They allowed Omar to sign guys like Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez to big, bloated contracts that they didn’t deserve.  Look at how they spent their money this off season.  Omar gave Cora $2 million dollars, Tatis got $1.7 million.  Some accuse them of being cheap but that was not the case from 2006-2008.  They didn’t spend their money wisely plain and simple.  They also refuse to eat contracts.  It’s no secret that this team for the last 2 years has been trying to get rid of Castillo.  I’m not a Luis Castillo hater; he has been good for the team last season and so far this season.  I object to his contract and how much he’s being paid.  If you don’t want the guy on the team just eat his contract.  The same goes for the $36 million dollar relief pitcher Oliver Perez.  Also Gary Matthews Jr. makes less than 5 million but the team will not eat that contract.

They also wait too long to take action.  Look at last week as a perfect example.  Jeff Wilpon flew down to Atlanta for an emergency baseball meaning.  He said himself he was not there to fire anybody as it was “too soon” in the season.  If someone is not doing a good job, i.e. Jerry Manuel what does it matter if it’s 40 games or 70 games into the season?  Did he forget that both in 2007 and 2008 the Mets failed to make the playoffs by just 1 game?  In 2008 they had plenty of time to fire Willie Randolph if that’s what they wanted.  There was that horrible series against the Padres but they gave him a little more time and turn it into another mess.

To conclude you can fire Jerry Manuel, you can send Omar on his way, get rid of some players but the Wilpons will be here for the foreseeable future.  They need to take a lesson from the baby bosses over in the Bronx.  We know how involved George was but his sons are now in charge, they for the most part are very quiet now and they let the baseball people run the team.  They sign the checks, Cashman runs the team, that’s pretty simple and the Yankees are benefiting from that.  Wilpons need to fire Omar, get some good baseball people and just sit in their luxury boxes signing the checks.  Otherwise there will be new faces but this will still be the same old Mets.

This Spring we’ve gotten to look at some of our young prospects and they have impressed fans, the media and the team.  The reports that the farm system was dead have been greatly exaggerated it seems.  Fernando Martinez, Ike Davis, Jon Niese and Jenrry Mejia are having great springs, so of course there has been plenty of talk about them joining the big team once camp breaks. 

Coming into Spring Training, the fifth sport in the rotation was Jon Niese’s spot to lose so it’s not a big a surprise if he makes the 25 man rotation.  Jerry Manuel has expressed his desire for Ike Davis and Jenrry Mejia to make the team, but Omar Minaya has stated on several occasions that both youngsters as well as F-Mart will start the season in the minors.

This is welcomed news that clearly shows Omar has finally learned from the mistakes of the past in rushing young talent to the majors.  Mike Pelfrey was rushed and as we have seen it ended up being wrong for the team and Big Pelf as well. Lastings Milledge was nowhere near ready when he was called up and his career has suffered ever since.  Last year F-Mart was rushed and in turn delivered terrible results until finally getting injured and missing the rest of the season.

Allowing the prospects to grow in the minors until they’re ready, might be Omar’s saving grace as he tries to make a last stand for keeping his job.  We have heard for the last few months that Omar and Jerry’s job’s are both on the line this season and they need the team to avoid a slow start.  Personally, I believel that Omar is safe for now and that he won’t be released until after the season if things do go bad, but that’s a different post all together.  I believe that due to the emergence of these solid prospects waiting in the wings, all of whom were acquired by Minaya, and his new 3 year extension which is just now kicking in, Omar will be able to save his job moving forward.  It’s a shrewd and smart move on Omar’s part to avoid rushing theses kids, but the decision could pay off handsomely when they are inevitably called upon and they make their impacts felt in the win column.

Ultimately, it’s the right move and indicates that Omar is willing to do what is best for the prospects and the team in the long run. I look forward to seeing Mejia, Davis and F-Mart all get the proper seasoning before rejoining the team and giving our franchise and it’s fans many years excitement and solid play.

One particular area of criticism that’s often pointed out is the Mets farm system, or lack there-of. The farm system is cultivated mostly by signing amateur free agents and the draft.

The draft is basically like the tax code, the better off your team plays the lower the draft pick you receive. Conversely, the worse you play the higher draft pick you receive the next year. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see teams who succeed get the top draft pick. Talk about a motivational tool.

As interesting as it may sound I really don’t put too much credence into having the top draft pick. But keep your collective powder dry my friends, the Wilpons and Omar aren’t out of the woods with me just yet.

The Mets have had the luxury, if you take pride in having the worst record a luxury, of having the first overall pick in the draft 5 times since 1965. Putting them in order from 1965 to present you have Steve Chilcott, Tim Foli, Darryl Strawberry, Shawn Abner and Paul Wilson.

Out of that list other than Strawberry, nobody really ever made a huge mark. Now I totally understand getting on Omar for his share of mistakes over his tenure. However, when it comes to the draft, to me it’s akin to playing the slots in Atlantic City.

You go to your favorite casino and sit at the fancy machine with the brand new computerized layout with your drink in hand and bloodshot eyes. You put the fresh twenty in and viola, you usually get the same result if you handed the twenty to a bum on the boardwalk. Squat.

I can’t get upset that Omar hasn’t brought his Miss Cleo crystal ball to draft day during his tenure. You can have the very best scouts going and still not hit the jackpot with the draft.

Take the 2006 draft. That year the Royals drafted Luke Hochevar number one. Evan Longoria was taken 3rd and get this, Tim Lincecum was taken 10th. I’m sure there are a few teams in there who would like a do-over in that draft.

Going back in Mets history , Keith Hernandez was taken in the 42nd round by the Cardinals in 1971. Mike Piazza was taken in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft by the Dodgers. Sounds unreal doesn’t it? Drafting isn’t an exact science to say the least. You get the best advice you can and you go with your gut.

Now there is a second and in my opinion the most important component used to bring in talent and that is through the signing of amateur free agents. This is where you can begin to light your fuses.

On November 20th 2009 in an article in the NY Times by Ben Shpigel he stated that the Mets spent less money than ANY other team on the 2009 draft, citing Baseball America as his source.

Allow me to repeat, less than any team. Less than the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates who ironically spent the most of any team. Go figure. In a quote,

 The Mets divvied $3,134,300 among their 35 signed picks, more than 50 percent less than their 2008 outlay, when they had two first-round selections and a first-round supplemental pick. By contrast, the average for all 30 teams was a shade more than $6 million. Without a pick until the second round, No. 72 over all, the Mets’ spending was destined to decrease. But their 2009 strategy resembled that of a small-market club that sometimes bypasses talented players in earlier rounds because it does not want to spend more on them than players available deeper in the draft.

Shpigel went on to quote Jim Callis, the executive director of Baseball America and an expert on player development.

 ”Hardly any team has spent less than the Mets the last two years. On the other hand, the team that has spent the most money is the Pittsburgh Pirates, who hardly have the revenue stream that the Mets do. They recognize that they can’t compete for free agents, but they can compete for amateurs.”

Well, there you have it in a nutshell. The Mets are in the largest market on this planet. Their revenue stream is wider then the Hudson. They have a new ballpark and television rights that are the envy of the league other than the Yankees. What is the excuse? Omar? Fred? Anyone? This is to me the core of the problem with the Mets and as much as we want to beat Omar around for it, it’s ultimately the Wilpons’ fault. They’re the ones who should be ashamed of this, yet I’m sure there isn’t a drop of remorse in them.