Category: Management

Mets Cancel Fall League To Save Money

Multiple media reports today are covering some comments that former Mets GM Jim Duquette made on Sirius XM Radio. Duquette says that the Mets canceled their fall instructional league to save roughly $300,00. That’s the cost of running the league and housing and feeding the players and coaches.

Duquette says it’s a big mistake to reduce costs by cutting instructional time for the team’s young players. Of course, this adds credibility to the stories that we’ve heard about Fred Wilpon experiencing serious financial problems. So serious are those problems that it’s reported that he may be forced to sell the Mets next year.

Besides the obvious concern about the financial condition of the Mets, there have been serious questions about the quality of players that the Mets are developing. The Mets spent the least money of any team in Major League Baseball on their high draft picks this season. And Jeff Wilpon recently went to Buffalo and Binghamton to apologize to fans for fielding teams that weren’t even close to competitive this season.

The writing will be on the wall in the off-season if the Mets reduce the payroll from their current $140 million. That will be the tell-tale sign of financial trouble for the owner. In a brand new stadium, with new sources of revenue, there’s no reason to cut payroll. Until the free agency period gets going in a few months we’re left to speculate and have plenty of reason to be concerned.

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Fred Wilpon Denies Forced Sale Of Mets

Fred_WilponThe big news over the last couple of days is the bombshell that Fred Wilpon lost so much money in the Bernie Madoff scandal that he’ll be forced to sell the team. The story originated from author Erin Arvedlund, who’s writing a book about the Ponzi scheme called “Too Good To Be True”. In an interview promoting the book, she confidently told Marketwatch.com that Wilpon’s losses will force a sale of the Mets as early as next year.

Richard Sandomir of the NY Times spoke to Wilpon from his vacation in Aspen, CO.

“I’m fine, my family’s fine, my business family’s fine,” Wilpon said

It’s a good read from Sandomir. He even gets some quotes from Bob DuPuy, the President of Major League Baseball. Of course, DuPuy says that Wilpon is financially sound, etc. What else would he say? DuPuy isn’t dumb enough to start a panic by telling a reporter that one of his owners is financially distressed, not to mention that he’d be devaluing the Mets franchise. DuPuy just finished dealing with one MLB owner in bankruptcy with the Cubs situation.

It’s hard to tell fact from fiction here. Arvedlund has an interest in making splashy headlines to promote her book. And Wilpon has an interest in denying financial distress to maintain the value of his assets like the Mets and SNY. Each has the motivation to act accordingly.

Only time will tell if Wilpon is forced to put the Mets up for sale. We’ll have to look at some potential buyers for the Mets in a future post here. Do you have an extra $900 million?

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Mets News Aug. 28,2009 Wilpons, Fans, Injuries

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: Johan Santana #57 of...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The Mets make their annual trip to Wrigley for a weekend series. There are a few stories that peaked my interest today that I thought you might like. By the way, if you haven’t been to Wrigley it’s a fantastic venue for a game. The stadium is still holding up really well, the neighborhood is perfect, and the Cubs are perennial losers so you have a pretty good chance to see the Mets win in most seasons.

Anyway, here’s the news for today:

  • Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports gets into the Mets injury situation. Basically, he accuses the Mets of not taking proper care of their players.
  • Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog links to an article that says that the Wilpons lost so much money in the Madoff scandal that they’ll be forced to sell the team as early as next season. I can think of several readers that will be thrilled to read that.
  • The Daily News has an article about how nobody showed up to watch the Mets-Marlins on Wednesday at the Ziegfeld Theater. Big surprise! Mets fans are smart. This team isn’t worth paying to see.
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Piling On Omar Minaya; Mets Won’t Fire Him

New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya befo...
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As the 2009 season slips away, it seems that more fingers are pointing in Omar Minaya‘s direction when we try to determine who’s to blame. Although Minaya didn’t cause the severity and depth or the Mets injuries this season, he didn’t have a good backup plan either. As I’ve said all along, I can’t see the Wilpons firing Minaya with three years left on his contract.

Sure, Minaya has his share of bad deals. Oliver Perez certainly comes to mind. But don’t forget that he’s also the one that brought Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez to the Mets with very fair contracts. And he didn’t give up much of anything to the Twins to get Santana.

Certainly, I don’t defend Minaya’s meltdown/attack of Adam Rubin. Those were the actions of a person that isn’t prepared to be in front of the public. I’m sure that incident put him on extremely thin ice. It had to. I don’t think it was a fire-able offense, but I’m sure it means that Minaya needs to watch his step over the next year or so. Continue reading “Piling On Omar Minaya; Mets Won’t Fire Him”

Mets News Aug. 25, 2009: Wagner, Sheffield, Minaya, Santana

ST. LOUIS, MO - APRIL 3: Billy Wagner #13 of ...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

For a team near the bottom of the National League standings, the Mets sure have a lot going on right now. You would think that they would be playing out the string and cruising into 2010. Did you know? There are only five teams in the NL with a worse winning percentage than the Mets; Nationals, Pirates, Reds, D-Backs, and Padres.

Here’s the news:

  • Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports writes that Billy Wagner will exercise his no-trade clause to block a move to the Red Sox. The deal must be completed by 1pm today.
  • Adam Bernacchio of The Ghost of Moonlight Graham writes about how several Mets players told the media that they expect Johan Santana to have season-ending elbow surgery
  • Nick Kapur of Ump Bump writes about how the Mets have mismanaged Johan Santana by allowing him to pitch injured for the last two months
  • Danny Knobler of CBS Sports writes about Gary Sheffield’s future. He wants to play next year and beyond in his pursuit of 3,000 hits. Sheffield needs 311 more hits to reach 3,000.
  • Jon Heyman of SI.com writes about Fred Wilpon’s vote of confidence for Omar Minaya and the Billy Wagner trade to the Red Sox scenario
  • Jon Boise of AOL Fanhouse writes that the Mets injuries this year may be evidence that God hates the Mets
  • Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports writes that Omar Minaya will have a difficult time turning things around in 2010
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Fred Wilpon Supports Minaya For Mets 2010

NEW YORK - JUNE 23: General Manager Omar Mina...
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We haven’t seen much of Fred Wilpon this year and with good reason. Nobody wants to watch the stumbling, bumbling 2009 Mets. They stink. But Wilpon did make a rare appearance at Citi Field last night because the ’69 team was in the house.

Wilpon would only answer one question from the assembled media. “Will Omar Minaya be back in 2010?” His answer: “Absolutely. That’s a fact.”

I’ve heard about this topic from Mets fans since April. “Fire Minaya!”. And I’ve always said that there’s no way they’ll fire Minaya with three years remaining on his contract. It’s just not happening. He could be the worst GM in baseball (you could make that argument) and they still wouldn’t fire him and eat three years of his contract.

You might want to read Joel Sherman of the NY Post today. It’s the “Bernie Madoff Effect”. The Mets got taken for ride by their good friend Madoff and their real estate business is struggling. They just don’t have the stomach to lose more money on Minaya and replacing the entire front office. Sherman estimates that the cost would approximately $12 million. That may not seem like much by baseball standards, and it’s not for on-field talent. But teams don’t eat that kind of money for the support staff. And that’s a fact!

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Mets News Aug. 15, 2009: Citi Field, Livan, Ricco, Beltran

In a lost season, the Mets can still get an occasional win as they did over the Giants last night. The bigger news may be that the team unveiled some long awaited changes to the stadium. We still don’t have a Mets Hall of Fame and Keith’s number 17 still isn’t retired. But they’re making some small steps in the right direction.

Here’s the news:

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