Amazin’ Reactions
David Wright:
“Fred is a good man and is obviously going through some difficult times. There is nothing more productive that I can say at this time.”
Scott Boras:
“This is not consistent with the Fred Wilpon I know,” Boras said. “I think an organization’s best chance to succeed is to conduct itself in a positive and supportive manner.” He added, “I believe that any evaluations or internal perspectives that an organization may have about a player are best kept to themselves.”
Terry Collins:
“I’m not going to get into that comment. I can’t. These guys are professionals and I don’t think a lot of that stuff fazes them.”
Joel Sherman:
Wright, for example, just played hurt for a couple of weeks. He has spent years standing in front of his locker, professionally accepting the role of player spokesman; offering hopeful words amid the hopelessness of the situation; pledging his allegiance to this franchise, this ownership, painting pictures of a better tomorrow. Why would he ever do any of that again?
The reality is that Wilpon had Wright defined ideally: Great kid, but no superstar player. But that truth should be left for people like me to tell. It is simply ungrateful sounding from this owner.
Mets quotes courtesy of ESPN.com
Updated 8:45 AM
Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker appeared on WFAN this morning and said that if the Wilpons lose this lawsuit they will have to sell the Mets.
He was very adamant that Fred Wilpon is a stand-up guy and will not deny he made the statements quoted in the artcle.
Despite what Fred said, Toobin believes that they will most likely try to re-sign Jose Reyes, but there will also be a “huge housecleaning”.
The interview was conducted over a period of five meetings with Fred.
Original Post 2:20 AM
I just finished reading an eye-opening 12-page article on Fred Wilpon in the New Yorker by Jeffrey Toobin. Obviously, the article goes into a lot of the Madoff mess, and some things you may or may not already know about Fred, but it was some of the quotes he made about the team and some key players that really caught my attention.
On Jose Reyes
In the game against the Astros, Jose Reyes, leading off for the Mets, singled sharply up the middle, then stole second. “He’s a racehorse,” Wilpon said. When Reyes started with the Mets, in 2003, just before his twentieth birthday, he was pegged as a future star. Injuries have limited him to a more pedestrian career, though he’s off to a good start this season. “He thinks he’s going to get Carl Crawford money,” Wilpon said, referring to the Red Sox’ signing of the former Tampa Bay player to a seven-year, $142-million contract. “He’s had everything wrong with him,” Wilpon said of Reyes. “He won’t get it.”
On David Wright
After the catcher, Josh Thole, struck out, David Wright came to the plate. Wright, the team’s marquee attraction, has started the season dreadfully at the plate. “He’s pressing,” Wilpon said. “A really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar.”
On Carlos Beltran
When Carlos Beltran came up, I mentioned his prodigious post-season with the Astros in 2004, when he hit eight home runs, just before he went to the Mets as a free agent. Wilpon laughed, not happily. “We had some schmuck in New York who paid him based on that one series,” he said, referring to himself. In the course of playing out his seven-year, $119-million contract with the Mets, Beltran, too, has been hobbled by injuries. “He’s sixty-five to seventy per cent of what he was.” Beltran singled, loading the bases with one out.
On Ike Davis
Ike Davis, the sophomore first baseman and the one pleasant surprise for the Mets so far this season, was up next. “Good hitter,” Wilpon said. “Shitty team—good hitter.” Davis struck out. Angel Pagan flied out to right, ending the Mets’ threat. “Lousy clubs—that’s what happens.” Wilpon sighed. The Astros put three runs on the board in the top of the second. “We’re snakebitten, baby,” Wilpon said.
You can read the article in it’s entirety at the New Yorker.
I think we just found out how the Mets will proceed with soon to be free agent Jose Reyes later this season. If you take what Fred said and add it up with some of the things that Sandy Alderson has said, it’s certainly beginning to look like Reyes will be wearing a new uniform come 2012.
As for Wright, I was surprised that Wilpon referred to David Wright as a “very good player, but not a superstar”. Even if it were true, why would you tell that to the media about the face of your franchise?
What may have been the most surprising was that he referred to the Mets as a “shitty team”. Wow.
