Tag: Fred Wilpon

Video: Fred Wilpon on Minaya, Manuel Firings

Here’s some video from Fox Sports from the Mets press conference yesterday. Fred Wilpon takes responsibility for the team’s lack of success over the past few years, since 2008 really.

Wilpon talks about the job of the new GM and manager being to win games and how the Mets haven’t been doing that successfully recently.

If you have trouble viewing the video with Internet Explorer, try Firefox or Chrome.

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Video: Mets done with Minaya, Manuel

Report: Mets Financial Troubles Mounting

Bernard Madoff's mugshot
Image via Wikipedia

The New York Post is reporting that the Wilpon family’s financial situation is so precarious that they cannot add payroll through trades. The report states that adding a front line starting pitcher is the least of their problems. Their debt load is so heavy and attendance is down so much this season that if the trend continues for a season or two, they may be forced to sell the team.

It was almost one year ago that I wrote about the Madoff mess causing talk of the Mets being forced to sell the team. Now those rumors are back. You never really know exactly what the financial situation of the team is. But it’s not a good sign when the rumors of trouble are consistent and persistent.

The key points of the NY Post article are:

  • The team has nearly $700 million in debt
  • The Mets are losing about $10 million/year including depreciation and interest payments on the debt
  • Attendance is down 19% from 2009 and down 35% from 2008
  • SNY is profitable but is leveraged to roughly six times it’s earnings before interest
  • The Wilpon family refinanced about $375 million in loans and kept $75 million for themselves

The article has a little bit of information about the family’s investments in commercial real estate which has been in a down market for three years now. It doesn’t help that the Mets’ fortunes have been down for three years now either. And it won’t be easy to recover. The article states that one of the debt covenants prevents the team from increasing payroll. Taking on Roy Oswalt or Cliff Lee would be great this month. But the Mets can’t expect the Astros or Mariners to take back equal or more salary.

We may be stuck with the pitching staff as it stands now. Maybe John Maine or Oliver Perez will come back and start doing what seems unlikely to most of us. If not, we could be speculating on who will be buying the Mets in a couple of years. Hopefully, it won’t get to the point that the Rangers have this season.

Thanks to MLBTradeRumors for the link.

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Mets Links: The Apple, Sean Green, Fred Wilpon’s House

Queens - Flushing - Shea Stadium - Mets Magic ...
Image by wallyg via Flickr

I really need to get back to the links more regularly. It’s funny how I keep writing that, but never seem to be able to take action on it. It’s clear that I need to clear out my saved reading list more frequently and I’ll resolve to do that.

Anyway, here are some good links from this week in Mets news:

  • Remembering Shea – A great post on the new location of The Apple with a great image
  • MetsBlog – Sean Green is headed to the disabled list and will be replaced on the roster by Raul Valdes
  • NY Times– Fred Wilpon’s former home is up for sale for $7.5 million
  • CBS Sports – Danny Knobler writes about the problems of the Mets rotation
  • Amazin’ Avenue – The “Mass” effect of overweight players – very funny and a good read
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Highest Payroll in National League Should Be Good For Fourth Place

David Daniels writes that the Mets, despite the highest payroll in the National League, will continue to underachieve in 2010.

Courtesy of permanantly scatterbrained FlickrEditor’s Note: This is a guest post by long-time Mets fan David Daniels. David is a Long Island native that gives his take on the state of the Mets in 2010. You can read David’s work at his site on Long Island life and tech.

Baseball’s back! Let the season begin, but before it does here is where I think this Mets team will stand at the end of the year. Stock up on your Rolaids and Tums because we’re in for another wild ride and when the dust clears this team will be in 4th place and possibly fighting for the basement of this division.

Why? This team has entirely too many issues so I’m going to start at the top:

Management – A clown of a GM, two straight collapses, a ballpark dedicated to another team, a manager fired in the middle of the night, a beat writer blamed for the team’s troubles, not to mention the Madoff mess where the Wilpons may, or may not have, lost significant money – Mets Management has one debacle after another to their credit and, yes, we will get more of the same this year. I just don’t trust this management team with making any decision bigger that deciding if “Frankie should go back to glasses.”

From managing the media, to managing injuries to managing the farm system, the Mets have failed miserably at all three. The newest instances with Reyes’ and Beltran’s most recent injuries just reaffirms that management and the medical staff are still not on the same page. Expect more bad decisions by management regarding injuries. I just hope they don’t ruin any careers.

Having solid management from top to bottom is the foundation of a successful franchise. Another losing season and Omar’s gotta go. We’re stuck with the Wilpons because I really don’t think they will ever sell the team. The Mets need a new blueprint for success. Paying top dollar for free agents and plugging all your holes with retread players is a formula that Omar has proven does not work. Let’s cut our losses early this year. No waiting till 2012 when Omar’s contract expires. The Wilpons should have a replacement for him ready to go by the July trading deadline or there will be many empty seats after July. Except me. I enjoy buying $.99 seats on Stubhub. Really!

Continue reading “Highest Payroll in National League Should Be Good For Fourth Place”

Mets Links: Matthews, Offseason Review, Wilpons

Mike Piazza

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I read a great post by Matthew Artus at Always Amazin’ about the Gary Matthews, Jr. trade. It’s become somewhat comical that the offseason hot stove activity has turned into such a frenzy for mainstream media and bloggers alike. Every team is interested in every free agent at some point if you keep reading for long enough. And every pending deal gets up prepared for a blockbuster that almost never happens. Such is the case with the Matthews deal. The Mets acquired a fifth outfielder for a middle relief pitcher. That’s it.

Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports does his offseason review of the Mets entitled “The Mets are getting little traction”. What?!? The Mets already had $100 million in payroll committed to 2010 when the offseason started, meaning they already had most of the “star” players that they needed. They got Jason Bay to fill the hole in left field and the middle of the lineup. The offseason still has five more weeks to go and there are still several capable starting pitchers without contracts. Things don’t seem that bleak to me.

Greg Prince of Faith and Fear in Flushing writes a great piece about the Mets ownership history and current situation with Jeff Wilpon at the helm. It’s a must-read post about how we got where we are today with this team. Considering the fan backlash against the owners in recent years, like the one capably written on this site, the post by Prince is very timely.

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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