I have to admit that I was taken by surprise by the joint announcement made by Mets owners, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz and trustee for the victims of Bernie Madoff, Irving Picard. It was just before 10 0′clock yesterday morning when it was revealed that a settlement was reached, and Mets ownership was liable for around 162 million dollars.
Fortunately – or unfortunately – depending on whose side you are aligned with, the 560 pound gorilla has been resting itself on the chest of Mets ownership has for the time being been removed. This doesn’t mean that the Wilpon’s will be able to spend money on the team that we root for. If anything there are still mounting debts that need to be paid off, coupled with declining attendance from fans that are just apathetic – or are boycotting the team until the front office somehow turns things around.
I admit that I am not happy with the outcome, but the livid feeling that I had for most of the day has subsided – replace with a dull feeling of melencholy. I readily admit that I am not a supporter of Fred, Jeff and Uncle Saul. But with that being said I can’t quit this team. It is not in my D.N.A.
I have lived through both the bad times as well as the good. I have seen ownership change hands back in 1980 as well as Fred buying out co-owner, Nelson Doubleday back in ’02. I have seen many of my favorite players come and go via trade, free agency injury or retirement. It pains me that it seems like our franchise will not have the monetary advantage to help this team in the near future, but I as a Mets fan will have to persevere.
To use one of the most infamous quotes uttered by a Mets pitcher ” I’m not devastated – but disappointed”. These words were uttered by Mets pitcher Tom Glavine after the last game of the ’97 season one the team we root for was denied a playoff berth on the last day of that season. Life will go on for us Mets fans. Our team may not be contenders this season or the next, but hopefully in the near future we will once again hold our heads high and profess our allegiance for the team.
Hopefully by that time ownership will be replaced. But it is most likely we will be rooting for a Wilpon owned team for the foreseeable future.
And with that said…. HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!
Mets alumni celebrating a birthday today includes:
Outfielder from the ’64 season, George Altman is 79 (1933).
Mets middle reliever from the ’63-64 seasons, Steve Dillon is 69 (1943) .
Reserve outfielder from the ’94 season, Rick Parker is 49 (1963) .
Mets middle reliever from ’95-’96, Blas Minor is 46 (1966) .
Reserve infielder from the ’97 season, Manny Alexander is 41 (1971).
Sadly on this date in 2001, one time Mets middle infielder, Luis Alvarado passed away. He played with the Mets during the ’77 season.
The New York Mets purchased the contract of spot starter/middle reliever, Frank Lary from the Milwaukee Braves on March 20, 1965.
The New York Mets signed free agent pitcher, Octavio Dotel on March 20, 1993. Dotel only pitched one year with the Mets (1999). He had a record of 8-3 with a E.R.A of 5.38. He was dealt to the Houston Astros that off season for stud staring pitcher, Mike Hampton.
The New York Mets traded reserve catcher/first baseman, Jason Phillips to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher, Kaz Ishii on March 20, 2005.
Mo Vaughn isn’t devastated – just hungry !!!!
16 comments
rustyjr
3/20/2012-7:35am at 7:35 am (UTC -4)
Oops – should have said ’07 season .
MetsFan4Decades
3/20/2012-7:49am at 7:49 am (UTC -4)
Speaking strictly as a Met fan, I’m glad it’s over.
A trial would have just prolonged this, the loser would have appealed, it would have went on for years.
Obviously, they had 5 more investors waiting in the wings and as soon as the settlement was announced, they let go with that information. Promptly paid off 2 of the loans.
What they do now from here on out, whether they can afford to keep the team, will be based on known numbers and debt. Debt amounts will be based for a large part on revenues. So it’s in their best interest to do everything they can to get revenues climbing. If revenues start climbing, that must mean the team is worth watching and is winning.
Here’s hoping those revenues start climbing sooner rather than later…..
trs86
3/20/2012-8:10am at 8:10 am (UTC -4)
One thing that I question is now that this is behind them do they have more credit with the banks? In other words with the big payments due in a couple of years can they now roll those loans over into other new loans instead of having to actually pay 400M by a certain date? As for what I know this is a common practice.
saltygary
3/20/2012-8:55am at 8:55 am (UTC -4)
Oh they are going to keep rolling it. Probably won’t start paying it down until they get out from under the stadium bonds.
MetsFan4Decades
3/20/2012-8:59am at 8:59 am (UTC -4)
Glad you responded b/c I would have no idea.
kingman 26
3/20/2012-9:48am at 9:48 am (UTC -4)
Absolutely. With the cloud gone, and some debt already paid off, and Fred’s excellent pre-Madoff history, he’ll be borrowing and rolling over much easier now.
A finish above 4th place wouldn’t hurt either, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves…
mrose
3/20/2012-8:28am at 8:28 am (UTC -4)
I can understand disappointmentment, but as I said last night… I think that the Wilpons biggest flaw in owning the mets aside from being Dodgers fans, is that they have always picked the wrong GM’s. Think about how different the 2006-2008 years could have been if Omar wasn’t juts signing high priced old people….
I for one am willing to let this play itself out with a competent GM, if Sandy is that person and with the ability to spend money again.
Philly is likely past their peak, the Braves don’t scare me nearly as much as the Phils did for years, and the Marlins and Nats have a lot to prove.
Lets just see how the years go, but the owners have no excuse right now!
Stick
3/20/2012-9:01am at 9:01 am (UTC -4)
I agree that the key is actually learning something, and putting the real decision making in the hands of a pro and leaving it there. IOW, get out of the meddling business. That is probably the biggest issue they have had.
Hire a smart guy, and give him the resources to work with. Easy Peasy.
MetsFan4Decades
3/20/2012-9:02am at 9:02 am (UTC -4)
When they first hired Omar and he came on board, I liked what I was hearing from him – the plan he outlined for getting them back to being competitive.
Somewhere along the line he obviously deviated from that plan. I really didn’t understand the extension the Wilpons gave him. To me, that was the final nail in the coffin.
Stick
3/20/2012-9:25am at 9:25 am (UTC -4)
Actually makes me happy. Fred and the gang were staying anyway (or if they left, they were taking the team down with them!). For the LT (and ST) health/success of the franchise, this really was the best outcome. Getting the process over with now was a huge lift.
Now can just concentrate on actual on the field baseball stuff!
Like I replied above, the key to me is if they did learn a lesson finally and will let real pros run the operation, if the finances are stabilized, there may finally be a chance to see the team take advantage of the resources a big market team should have.
IOW, spend but spend wisely = winning.
kingman 26
3/20/2012-9:50am at 9:50 am (UTC -4)
Totally agree Rusty.
Totally.
It’s great news for Fred & Co., but whether it is great news for us fans is very, very much still in doubt and remains to be seen.
billy
3/20/2012-10:22am at 10:22 am (UTC -4)
Bad news for the fans. The wilpons will always con and decieve there fan base into believing in them.
When a real comissioner replaces this fraud that person will force these dirtbags out from ownership
Stick
3/20/2012-10:28am at 10:28 am (UTC -4)
not a chance. You could replace Selig tomorrow, and the Wilpons would be going nowhere.
The only possible way they were getting bounced is if they end up defaulting on payments (missing payroll,etc). Now that the finances are stabilized, there is absolutely no justification to force them out. There really is no rule that a team has to spend more than 90mill on payroll if they don’t want to!
Not sure how they con fans. Until this year, they had one of the top payrolls and a lot of big names.
billy
3/20/2012-10:38am at 10:38 am (UTC -4)
Finances balanced ? 400+ million in debt. What about the lies over the last 2 years on how this lawsuit wouldnt affect the team when it was first announced.
kingman 26
3/20/2012-12:49pm at 12:49 pm (UTC -4)
Hmmm, so the Wilpons are the only owners who lie?
Are you actually suggesting that them lying about the effect Madoff would have on finances is a serious reason for them to be forced out of owndership?
Stick
3/20/2012-10:36am at 10:36 am (UTC -4)
anyway, still trying to move on from $ talk (everytime I think I am out, they pull me back in…).
Now that the madoff stuff is down (cloud of uncertainty lifted) you can go back to looking at the real elephant in the room (and what caused the immediate need to slash payroll): atendance (or lack of same!).
You can’t lose 500K ticket sales and not feel it (actually, was it more than that since 2009?). Even at a conservative estimate of $50 per arse spent, that is $25mill in lost revenue. a million fans (drop from 3mill to 2mill) at $100/head is 100million dollars just vaporized.
Madoff would have been a big non-issue if attendence had held steady at 3-3.2mill, since the team revenues would have been able to cover the cashflow out.
So most likely, the only way payroll increases significantly (more than say 10-15mill in the next 1-2 years) is if the FO is successful with converting to some new young core that excites the fans, and starts winning games. Then add a key 1-2 vets to move the next step forward. And the fans come back out to support the team.