Thanks to Metsblog for the link:
“We shouldn’t take that complaint as gospel by the way, who knows what is true and what’s not and we should not draw any conclusions.”– Michale Cramer former President of Texas Rangers.
“I would not be fearful for the future of the Mets. If the team has to be sold it’ll be sold and the team will be fine and quite frankly in a year or two we won’t notice the difference”– Michael Cramer
“Fred Wilpon has done the best he possibly can under the circumstances regarding the Mets and it’s hard to believe that he knew something that millions of people unfortunately didn’t know about Bernie Madoff. ” Rick Horrow
I think at this point it would be much more advantageous if we just relax, get ready for real baseball to begin in less than 2 weeks. Let the current issues play themselves out and see where we are at that point.
27 comments
rustyjr
2/6/2011-11:02am at 11:02 am (UTC -4)
Wow it’s amazing to see some members of the press defending the Wilpons.
TRS86
2/6/2011-11:03am at 11:03 am (UTC -4)
I thought so too, especially ESPN.
rustyjr
2/6/2011-11:05am at 11:05 am (UTC -4)
Im resigned to the fact that whatever will be will be – if the Wilpons sell or not – life will go on and so will the Mets
TRS86
2/6/2011-11:12am at 11:12 am (UTC -4)
That’s where I am at right now too. At this point I, I, I, see no hard evidence that it has effected this year’s Mets talent on the field. I hope the story itself is not distracting, especially to Reyes. What happens in July and November COULD tell us the impact but even then I am not sure.
If the Mets do not match a ridiculous offer for Reyes and do not bring payroll back up to 145M does that mean that it’s because of Madoff or is it because of a strategy of Sandy or even a lack of players on the market?
rustyjr
2/6/2011-11:26am at 11:26 am (UTC -4)
I agree, only time will tell and we will go forth when we know the enitre truth.
TRS86
2/6/2011-11:30am at 11:30 am (UTC -4)
Right and if it comes out that it has affected their finances will we ever know how far back it has?
hazmet
2/6/2011-12:22pm at 12:22 pm (UTC -4)
Could be an attempt to slither inside the story by seaming sympathetic.
hazmet
2/6/2011-12:24pm at 12:24 pm (UTC -4)
God I can’t type today *seeming…
yeah, like they were going to Tailor their way in.
TRS86
2/6/2011-11:31am at 11:31 am (UTC -4)
Honestly at this point I would be more than happy if the Wilpons would just sell the Mets so maybe we could talk about baseball instead of the owners.
rustyjr
2/6/2011-11:45am at 11:45 am (UTC -4)
I’ll live that when it happens
rustyjr
2/6/2011-11:45am at 11:45 am (UTC -4)
I’ll believe that when it happens
TRS86
2/6/2011-11:51am at 11:51 am (UTC -4)
Agree. I like the Wilpons and think they have invested a lot of money in the Mets in an attempt to make them a good team. They however, have entrusted a lot of money and control in the wrong people and it has placed them in a tough spot. Just not sure how much it has or will impact the Mets future.
metsfan4decades
2/6/2011-12:07pm at 12:07 pm (UTC -4)
I can get behind this comment.
I feel bad for Fred, we’ll never know the whole story and I’m beginning to wonder if it would be better for the Mets if the Wilpons did sell. If they’re as deeply in debt with Sterling that some articles imply, I fear that will definitely have an impact on how the team is constructed going forward.
TRS86
2/6/2011-12:10pm at 12:10 pm (UTC -4)
I just don’t see it having a large impact. The Mets payroll is the highest it’s ever been this year and is due regardless to decrease next year. Regardless of the Wilpons financial issues Sandy has his work cut out for him.
metsfan4decades
2/6/2011-12:27pm at 12:27 pm (UTC -4)
If the last few days worth of articles can be believed, it’s only going to get worse as far as finances go. Some have reported the Sterling Mets are not in good financial shape. Depending on how much more they have to spend – either in a court battle or a settlement – it could get ugly.
I can see a scenario where the Wilpons just won’t sell and will try and ride it out by not spending any money for the next few years.
If they finances aren’t as bad as some are portraying, and they get an investor or two which allows them to remain competitive for next year and beyond, then no problem.
hazmet
2/6/2011-12:30pm at 12:30 pm (UTC -4)
I keep having this vision of Mr. Met being decked out in a Brooks Brothers suit and a briefcase at the first Mets home game…
TRS86
2/6/2011-12:31pm at 12:31 pm (UTC -4)
Somethings you are kind of locked into however. The Mets regardless would not have a payroll like a small market team, they are locked in to many contracts. As for spending money next year they can still make next year’s team more competitive than this years team and save 30M.
hazmet
2/6/2011-12:22pm at 12:22 pm (UTC -4)
The operatic JG Wentworth commercial was just on and I just couldn’t help thinking of the Wilpons seeing it, ” I need a structured settlement and I need cash now, call JG Wentworth 8776know…..”
ehhh, baseball please…
TRS86
2/6/2011-12:27pm at 12:27 pm (UTC -4)
LOL
kistics
2/6/2011-12:34pm at 12:34 pm (UTC -4)
From what I’ve been reading, it’ll be at least 6 months before the trial begins.. and probably it’ll take another 6 months to a year before they either settle or one side wins.. and probably couple more appeals after that…
so this problem will linger for another year or two..
stickguy
2/6/2011-5:11pm at 5:11 pm (UTC -4)
I still think it will settle. Right now there is a bunch of posturing and grandstanding, but unless one side has an obvious slam dunk, they will settle. Lot’s more “victims” to be going after.
stickguy
2/6/2011-5:24pm at 5:24 pm (UTC -4)
reasonable counterpoint article here.
me, I am tired of the whole situation, and mostly the endless discussions at met sites. Especially since most of them are heavy on speculation, the sky is falling, and imagining the worst case scenario.
bottom line, it is certainly a mess for the Wilpons. And it is going to hit them hard in the pocketbook. But no one now has any real clue what it will mean, so all the speculating is no more valid than making plans for Pujols to join the mets next year.
like real said, this will get resolved at some point, and either they have enough money to hold onto the team and run it normally, or they won’t be able to handle the debt load + the settlement and it will lead to them selling out.
either way, the Mets will continue to operate roughly the same way for the foreseeable future. And count me in the group that expects payroll to tick down next year anyway, something likely to happen without madoff coming along.
I also don’t think Fred is a pathological liar about this. The only thing I specifically remember him saying is that Madoff is not affecting the operation of the Mets, and with the record payroll, at the moment it isn’t.. He never said that madoff had nothing to do with Met finances, and frankly, I don’t care about that. If the team has the money to make payroll and expenses, that is all that really matters right now.
and finally, it is quite possible that payroll could drop quite a bit next year, with the team actually being better. Hell, just cut the dead wood and that’s 18 mill right there.
metsfan4decades
2/6/2011-8:24pm at 8:24 pm (UTC -4)
It’s ‘roughly’ that worries me. If Fred is adamant about not selling, and they really do have problems with financing for the Mets and he holds on until the bitter end, I think it will affect how they construct the team going forward. As in will we be waving bye-bye to Reyes strictly for no other reason then they can’t afford him?
Sigh…..pitchers and catchers in a little over a week? I can’t wait.
TRS86
2/6/2011-8:43pm at 8:43 pm (UTC -4)
There is no situation that the Mets could not afford Reyes. Although it might limit them in other moves for sure. It’s not like Sandy would let 60M come off and not spend any of it producing an 80M payroll.
stickguy
2/6/2011-9:05pm at 9:05 pm (UTC -4)
I agree with that. and like I rambled about, if all they do “big” is resign reyes, and go young at the other holes opened up (1 OF, and possibly closer), I can live with that. Depending on what happens this year with the rotation of course!
stickguy
2/6/2011-9:18pm at 9:18 pm (UTC -4)
MF, not sure why, but for some reason I don’t think that Fred would do that. I know that he wants to keep the mets as some family heirloom, but I suspect that even more he does not want to go completely broke.
And I don’t think that he will take the step of gutting the payroll like that, to the extent of trading the core guys making decent money (and in effect, letting reyes go over money would be doing this too). If it got to that, they would either find a way to scrape up the missing money, or they will pack it in and dump the team.
it will, however, be a fine line of not adding expensive outsiders vs. not retaining the core!
maybe the people that said that the team needed to be gutted an rebuilt will get there wish! and that does go back to what I said before, that if there was ever a good time for a financial retrenchment, this might be it (even if the reason might be bad, the end result could be positive).
metsfan4decades
2/6/2011-10:55pm at 10:55 pm (UTC -4)
But do any of us really know what the Wilpons will or won’t do?
If published articles over the past few days are to be believed, they’ve made some very questionable decisions on all things Mets in the past several years.
I don’t think the lack of spending this off season is any indicator on the health of the Mets finances, but going forward, I think it certainly will be. I guess we’ll find out when it comes to resigning Reyes, or spending/trading mid season if they’re in contention.