Fred Wilpon
Thursday, February 17th – Mets’ principal owner Fred Wilpon speaks about the Madoff mess, with brief interjections from COO Jeff Wilpon.
Audio courtesy of ESPN.com
Feb 17
Audio: Fred Wilpon Speaks About Madoff & The Mets Down At Port St Lucie
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10 comments
metsfan4decades
2/17/2011-12:11pm at 12:11 pm (UTC -4)
Fred:
“Every other business we have, I like. This business, I love. I love the New York Mets. This is part of my DNA, so we’re going to do everything we can possible to bring competitive winning teams here and change our whole baseball system. We’ve done that, and now they have to bear fruit.”
“This is just not a business and we don’t look to make large sums of money from this business. We want to do this because we love baseball, we love the city and there are some people in the city that will tell you the Wilpon and Katz families have contributed a lot to the city.”
********************************
I may be naive but I have a hard time believing Fred is not sincere with these comments above. That’s why the “SELL THE TEAM” rant from some scares me in a way. Fred is a Met fan, it’s not just a business. What happens with new ownership? Maybe we should be careful what we wish for……
stickguy
2/17/2011-12:45pm at 12:45 pm (UTC -4)
agreed.
I know there is venomous hatred against the owners by many posters at the various blogs (though I still say the majority of fans either don’t know or don’t care who the owners are, at least until the whole madoff press came up, which they don’t really understand!).
What I wanted the last couple of years was a coulture change. Hire a serious BB man to run the organization the right way (build from the ground up), and have Jeff and Fred become hands off the operations side. Just keep signing off on a reasonably high payroll, while also investing more (even if it came off the ML payroll) in prospects and the minors/development.
Do that, and I could care less who owned the team.
was is frustrating (sad?) to me is that it seems we finally got the changes in place, then the whole financial mess blows up. Qutie possible though it won’t have a real negative effective (beyond PR)on the team, or even a positive if it means they are forced to build from the ground up (which I think they wanted to do anyway).
I just hope that coumo can get the suit settled quicker, and get that out of the way. At that point, they either will or won’t have the money to continue, so then either Sandy continues to move forward rebuilding, or they sell.
and damned If I know which path is going to be better in the long run.
metsfan4decades
2/17/2011-12:59pm at 12:59 pm (UTC -4)
I heard Ed Coleman on WFAN a little while ago. His feeling is the Wilpons will go through the motions with Coumo but he doesn’t expect them to settle. He said Fred is adamant they’re innocent of all speculation concerning knowing and his integrity means a great deal to him. He expects Fred to do whatever it takes to clear his name.
I thought that last comment translated to expect them to go to court on this.
stickguy
2/17/2011-1:11pm at 1:11 pm (UTC -4)
could be intentional posturing (putting the heat on Picard, who is taking a major risk going to trial).
Or, the dilusional ramblings of a proud old man!
at some point though, the lawyers and accountants take over, and if they get a reasonable offer to settle on the table, they convince Fred to do it. Especially if one option at trial is going totally broke (by losing).
Besides, they will just trot out the standard line people use when they settle (I was innocent, but it would cost more to go to trial, and there was a chance a jury could screw things up).
most likely though a settlement would have to be a lot closer to the bottom line # (47 mill?) than the Picard fantasy (1 bill?)
so , if coumo can convince picard he might lose, and to take a guaranteed 100mill right now and move on to the next patsy, most likely Fred signs off to keep the team.
all MHO of course.
stickguy
2/17/2011-12:51pm at 12:51 pm (UTC -4)
story time (and this should be relevant).
It is about a team without much success in it’s history, that was playing in a ratty old stadium, with owners that were considered by the fans to be dumb asses, that were only interested in making a buck, and not winning. With a series of clowns for a GM. But, they still had a large and loyal (if frustrated) fan base.
FInally, the owners broke down an dinvested in a fancy new state of the art stadium. But they didn’t start to build a good team, and win, until they hired a crusty old BB sage to come in and shake things up, and build the organization the right way.
No, not the Mets. The Phillies, the team that some writers here hold to be the gold standard organization to model.
but until 8 or so years ago, when they brought in Gillick, they were a laughingstock train wreck. But they did have a few young home grown studs to build around (courtesy of the prior regime).
So if this doesn’t seem to parallel the Met situatin (minus the ponzi scheme) nothing does!
Oh, and the ownership group is like the yankees. lots of minority owners, with no one owning a majority (I don’t think). THey just appoint a managing GP (like Stienbrenner was) to lead the group.
metsfan4decades
2/17/2011-1:05pm at 1:05 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, they were the class of the league in 1980 but no too many years before or after that – until recently. They’re one of the oldest franchises in existence but there’s a reason they also have the most losses.
I read your comment above and yeah, it is bad timing that Fred finally did what was necessary to raise this franchise above the laughingstock label we’ve become in the past few years – namely clean house and hire a competent FO. Time will tell what this FO legacy will be but I believe they can’t be graded by whatever happens this year.
And if the Wilpons do wind up selling, who knows what will happen? Whatever they did try and put in place this year will be overshadowed by new ownership and changes they bring.
stickguy
2/17/2011-1:13pm at 1:13 pm (UTC -4)
I still shake my head at some of the posters over at MMO that are already calling Alderson the worst GM ever, a total failure, and the guy that has now sunk the franchise for the rest of the decade, all because they don’t like all the players he picked up this off season.
metsfan4decades
2/17/2011-1:30pm at 1:30 pm (UTC -4)
Yes, I just laugh at some of those comments. Same as the ones who call Wright a pansy a*s and should be traded immediately.
stickguy
2/17/2011-1:15pm at 1:15 pm (UTC -4)
back to Johan.
saw the Rubin tweet in the sidebar (“Alderson on Santana: 3 month flat ground. Early May on mound. Back late June or July.”)
I really hope they don’t rush him, as some kind of savior. If it meant a much better chance of getting 3 more productive years out of him, I would say just hold off until 2012 coming back to the majors. Take it slow.
I guess where they stand in the race by July will have a bearing (they may need the help to stay in the race, or have to decide if they need to be buyers at the deadline). But if they are 10 back of the WC on 7/1, no need to push Johan!
metsfan4decades
2/17/2011-1:36pm at 1:36 pm (UTC -4)
Listening to Johan on with Mike Francesa right now.
He said the surgery went well, the recouperation up to this point so far has gone well. Said the shoulder/arm feels good. Said it’s tight, etc. as can be expected.
He said the doctors told him he’ll make a complete recovery, will be able to pitch, but he needs to have patience b/c it’s going to take time.
3 months on a flat ground, then 6 weeks more work once he hits the mound to be ready to compete. Then probably 3-4 weeks minor league rehab assignment.
In my mind, as I’ve felt from the beginning, we’ll be lucky to see him before the end of Aug. Don’t know where some are getting June/July from.
Johan obviously wants to be back sooner rather than later. If all goes well, it’ll be sooner. He says he cannot wait to get back ‘b/c I’m a competitor. I’ll be a competitor until the day I put the ball down for good’.
Oh, and he doesn’t see the Wilpon issue as any kind of major distraction on the field for the team this year.