Adam Rubin in a tweet today said Mets GM Sandy Alderson said he acknowledges he does expect the 2013 Opening Day roster to look similar to the end of 2012.
Wasn’t it at the end of the season where Sandy Alderson promised wholesale changes to the team? What has changed, the release of Bay? Bay wasn’t here even when he was on the field. This is not a wholesale change. This is a LIE, nothing more. There has not been a single move to improve the team since Alderson has taken the helm. The moves that have been made are all to reduce payroll. Wasn’t it the other day where Jeff Wilpon explained that the deferment to Bay and Wright’s 2013 contract are going to create greater flexibility? The only flexibility I see is to the Wilpons’ bank account.
If you are still on board with the supposed plan that is in place for this team, then you need to really question what has been done to improve the team, because I continue to see NOTHING. Besides wanting to see Harvey develop and those fabulous new uniforms, are we as fans going to see a repeat of 2012 in 2013? Frankly I need a break.
107 comments
srt
12/11/2012-11:16am at 11:16 am (UTC -4)
I heard the same thing you all did about whole sale changes. Something I never quite bought.
Unless SA had some idea about trading Wright – which the Wilpons overruled – not sure where all these changes were coming from.
He couldn’t be including Bay in that, could he? I think we all assumed he’d be gone, just not this quick.
I still think it’s too early though to judge the 2013 team. Let’s see what they look like come end of spring training.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-11:26am at 11:26 am (UTC -4)
It’s not that I really expected a big push this off-season, but when you have last trade deadline of sitting on your hands and this off-season of sitting on your hands, what reason are you giving the fan-base to come out and watch?
You have the ASG coming this year and they are doing nothing to get the juice back. There is a black hole in the entire outfield and there is no attempt to make a subtle improvement.
And all apologies to everything here, I am about to go on “full on core mode” today. I should probably go for a walk and cool off.
srt
12/11/2012-11:53am at 11:53 am (UTC -4)
LOL…I hear ya, Salty.
Gonna be just a tad embarrassing if we host that ASG sitting 20 games out of first place, in the cellar by that time.
TRS86
12/11/2012-11:26am at 11:26 am (UTC -4)
I think he most likely expected Dickey or Wright to be traded and of course Bay gone and new guys in the OF. I still expect some new guys in the OF and a catcher.
Keep in mind wholesale changes doesn’t nec. mean good players.
srt
12/11/2012-11:54am at 11:54 am (UTC -4)
The more I read, the more I’m thinking that SA really wanted to trade Wright and didn’t quite expect the Wilpons to insist otherwise.
Stick
12/11/2012-12:01pm at 12:01 pm (UTC -4)
I think you both are on the right track. While there will be the normal # of new faces (25-33% turnover) on the roster, it will mostly be filler and spare parts, so it will certainly not look wholesale.
The only way he could have said that (and meant it) was if he really expected to trade at least 1 of Wright, Dickey, Neise or Ike. there really was not anyone else.
I suppose still a chance on Dickey, and I would not be totally shocked to see Neise moved if Dickey signs. Ike a long shot. But I also would not be at all surprised to see nothing notable happen.
TX
12/11/2012-11:17am at 11:17 am (UTC -4)
Fabulous new uniforms… Like me getting a new paint job on my busted up Tacoma…
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-11:19am at 11:19 am (UTC -4)
Lipstick in a pig!
darknova306
12/11/2012-11:21am at 11:21 am (UTC -4)
I know I’m in the minority here, but I think the new uniforms look kinda cartoonish. Very much not a fan.
TX
12/11/2012-11:25am at 11:25 am (UTC -4)
Anything is better than the Black unis. I want the white pinstripes, the solid gray roads and am ok with the blue alt. uni.
darknova306
12/11/2012-11:38am at 11:38 am (UTC -4)
I love the black uniforms, honestly. Always thought they were pretty slick.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-11:28am at 11:28 am (UTC -4)
I love the “los mets” jerseys. I was going to pick one up seeing I got $300 in MLB dollars burning a hole in my pocket from my Mets CC, but I just can’t. If I buy a jersey then I am supporting what is going on and I don’t.
Stick
12/11/2012-12:02pm at 12:02 pm (UTC -4)
Hey, did they make you take your gunrack out when you moved? Does not seem very Seattle-ish to have one of them on you pick em up truck.
TX
12/11/2012-12:09pm at 12:09 pm (UTC -4)
Revolver in the glove box, shotgun behind the seat, glock under the seat. Gun rack not needed.
Stick
12/11/2012-12:12pm at 12:12 pm (UTC -4)
walking tall at Starbucks baby!
darknova306
12/11/2012-11:18am at 11:18 am (UTC -4)
Isn’t this what several of us have said all along? Sign Wright and Dickey and repeat the 2012 Mess?
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-11:23am at 11:23 am (UTC -4)
Exactly. If you can’t sign FA’s because of budgetary constraints then you don’t just re-sign our guys guys and repeat. That is the definition of insanity, right?
I completely get the need to resign Wright for reasons beyond on field performance, but why on earth do you re-sign Dickey when you have no ability or desire to build around him.
TRS86
12/11/2012-11:27am at 11:27 am (UTC -4)
That’s a great question and most likely why he hasn’t been re-signed yet. If you do re-sign Dickey then no doubt in 2014 you have to be going for it all.
TX
12/11/2012-11:28am at 11:28 am (UTC -4)
Which was my plan from the start. And maybe (though it looks like a snowball’s chance in Hades now) they do trade Dickey and it does bring back Olt+ or D’Arnaud. If that happens, then I’ll be tickled orange and blue, but if they do roll with the same team, sans a few minor parts, I’ll be pissed.
darknova306
12/11/2012-11:42am at 11:42 am (UTC -4)
TX, looks like the Mets listened to you. Mike Puma reporting the Mets are ‘kicking the tires on Ross’.
TX
12/11/2012-11:50am at 11:50 am (UTC -4)
I’m waiting for obligatory “has to be white wall tires for sandy to sign them…” comment. Kidding. i actually cracked myself up with that one.
And heavens to mercatroid they better do more than kick some tires on ross. Roll out the Christmas box of chocolates, stat!
Stick
12/11/2012-12:03pm at 12:03 pm (UTC -4)
Sometimes, i hate being able to see the future. Sounds like a good thing, but sometimes it is a curse!
kingman 26
12/11/2012-11:31am at 11:31 am (UTC -4)
Some face truth, some refuse to.
Clearly, the above is the truth.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-11:35am at 11:35 am (UTC -4)
The real joke is their not even attempting to get creative. OK no money, so what. There are plenty of improvements that can be made with no money. They are just not trying. Basically Sandy was quoted as saying Eff It today.
kingman 26
12/11/2012-11:39am at 11:39 am (UTC -4)
I believe what I wrote in my recent piece.
Alderson is:
A–Here primarily as a mouthpiece/salesman/caretaker for the Wilpons
B–Very overrated as a GM
C–Not here to make “wholesale changes”
D–Utterly disinterested in and/or incapable of working long hours to try to find bargains/undervalued players
E–Clearly under instructions not to spend pretty much anything
Choose one or more of the above.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-11:41am at 11:41 am (UTC -4)
Add a couple more and I’ll choose “Z: All of the above”.
Stick
12/11/2012-12:05pm at 12:05 pm (UTC -4)
the only one I question is D. isn’t that what his “people” are for?
J.P. must have the softest job in the world. 7 figures or so to stay home, play with the kids, and occasionally shoot the shit with Sandy. What the hell is he actually doing?
Stick
12/11/2012-12:14pm at 12:14 pm (UTC -4)
not Eff it. More like, “hit me up with another Mai Tai hot momma!”
kingman 26
12/11/2012-11:36am at 11:36 am (UTC -4)
Really, believing that anything is happening aside from carefully calculated actions which are designed to try to maximize revenue with minimum spending is simply being a naive and willfully blind fan at this point.
The Wilpons owe a massive sum in bond/debt payments in the near future, and every $ counts. You don’t do what was done with Bay in November unless you are absolutely desperate.
Some talk of “patience”—the Bay move flies in the face of that. They did it when they did because they may be having issues meeting offseason expenses.
Wright was signed to keep casual fans coming in and buying beers and pretty new jerseys, and Dickey will only be signed at the lowest possible rate if at all.
It’s about t-minus 51 weeks until boycott time.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-11:45am at 11:45 am (UTC -4)
LOL I’ve boycotted going to see them at home since the Willie firing and they haven’t given me a damn good reason to come back. Look I still have seen them in other stadiums if I happened to be in the same town and I get the MLB package to watch all the games, but something has to give.
Give me one good reason why I should pack the family up, drive a couple hundred miles to spend $300 on 4 tickets, parking, food, and gas?
TRS86
12/11/2012-12:06pm at 12:06 pm (UTC -4)
Because you love Mets baseball?
kingman 26
12/11/2012-1:29pm at 1:29 pm (UTC -4)
I bet he loves Mets baseball almost as much as you love trusting authority figures.
Almost.
darknova306
12/11/2012-11:49am at 11:49 am (UTC -4)
“Wright was signed to keep casual fans coming in and buying beers and pretty new jerseys”
Re-sign Pretty Boy. Design some new jerseys/caps. Get the ASG. Lie about changing the team as tickets get put on sale early. 2013 is basically a coordinated marketing effort to get $$ rolling in to keep the Wilpons in the game. The logic is so simple Omar could understand it.
srt
12/11/2012-11:56am at 11:56 am (UTC -4)
Looking at what kicking McCourt out and getting new ownership for the Dodgers has done, I’m even more pissed that Selig stuck his nose in all this to help out his old buddy, Fred.
TX
12/11/2012-11:39am at 11:39 am (UTC -4)
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue…
HobokenMetsFan
12/11/2012-2:43pm at 2:43 pm (UTC -4)
lol, and don’t call me “Shirley!”
kingman 26
12/11/2012-11:53am at 11:53 am (UTC -4)
Edit.
Stick
12/11/2012-11:56am at 11:56 am (UTC -4)
There is no plan. I thought that was already accepted as a fact?
and I said when DW signed, “I hope you liked the 2012 team, because you are going to be seeing it again in 2013 and 2014″.
But, I got nothing better to do. Maybe they will finally surprise us (in a good way!) this year.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-11:59am at 11:59 am (UTC -4)
I just helped Cerrone, do I get a cookie?
Mets Merized Online @MetsMerized
Alderson Admits No Wholesale Changes Coming, Dickey Feels Insulted http://goo.gl/fb/LIJ2f #Mets
Matthew Cerrone @matthewcerrone
@MetsMerized Joe, can you send me a link to the text where @MetsGM promises ‘wholesale changes.’ or was it on air?
Gary Palumbo @SaltyGary
@matthewcerrone @MetsMerized @MetsGM Here is ur own article on it Cerrone http://metsblog.com/metsblog/alderson-on-wfan-we-need-an-infusion-of-players-productive-players/ …
Matthew Cerrone @matthewcerrone
@SaltyGary @metsmerized @metsgm thanks. perfect.
TRS86
12/11/2012-12:04pm at 12:04 pm (UTC -4)
What I find funny is the link you provided him was from his blog.
Stick
12/11/2012-12:06pm at 12:06 pm (UTC -4)
why is that funny? not like he reads it or anything.
srt
12/11/2012-12:09pm at 12:09 pm (UTC -4)
I was just watching that Twitter conversation going on with Cerrone. Looks like he’s still disputing SA said ‘whole sale’ changes as a direct quote, huh?
In the end, what difference does it make? He did say in the Cerrone article in late Aug ‘“We need an infusion of players, productive players.”’
Someone else probably tagged that as ‘wholesale changes’.
Not seeing this infusion yet. *whistling*
TRS86
12/11/2012-12:13pm at 12:13 pm (UTC -4)
Now I am wondering about the wholesale changes comment.
If Sandy said We need an infusion of players, that doesn’t mean at all that we will get an infusion of players or that he believes it will happen this off-season.
TRS86
12/11/2012-12:17pm at 12:17 pm (UTC -4)
I am searching the best I can and unfortunately I am going to have to agree with Cerrone. Alderson never said anything about wholesale changes. As I thought at the time, he would never back himself into a corner like that.
srt
12/11/2012-12:21pm at 12:21 pm (UTC -4)
Agree. Someone coined that phrase and attributed it to SA’s comments. Could it have been someone who writes on MMO?
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-12:21pm at 12:21 pm (UTC -4)
The interview is the tenth one down in WFAN feed that we have below. Just listened to it and it’s at minute 26:48
srt
12/11/2012-12:22pm at 12:22 pm (UTC -4)
So does SA actually say ‘wholesale changes’?
TRS86
12/11/2012-12:34pm at 12:34 pm (UTC -4)
No. Fatty says wholesale and Sandy says more substantial than subtle changes to those areas are expected.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-12:37pm at 12:37 pm (UTC -4)
Francessa: “Considering the look of your OF and C situation, can the Met fan expect to see wholesale changes in those areas or will they have to except subtle change”.
Alderson: “In the outfield and behind the plate”
Francessa: “Yea”
Alderson: “Much more likely there will be significant change in those areas verses subtle changes. Simply because you have to look at the record and see what kind of production we have gotten from those positions.
Francessa “Zero”
Alderson: Recognize that there is not a lot of capacity for progress there. We know what we got and it is not championship caliber.
Also they said it will likely come from trades opposed to FA.
TRS86
12/11/2012-12:42pm at 12:42 pm (UTC -4)
Right. So no actual mention of “wholesale changes” because he wouldn’t want to back himself into a corner.
Also, I still think that he anticipated that either Wright or Dickey would be traded.
TX
12/11/2012-12:43pm at 12:43 pm (UTC -4)
There isn’t much out there trade wise, unless you want to overpay. And it’s apparent that overpaying isn’t in vocabulary. I would like to see Gomez, as stick wants, and Mike Hammer Willingham, but he’s going to cost a bunch.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-12:46pm at 12:46 pm (UTC -4)
Just because he didn’t repeat the word wholesale, his use of the words “significant changes” is pretty damn close. And then to go and say the players currently there can’t cut it but now backtracking today and saying we should expect the same roster? CMON man.
Earlier in the interview he expressed the importance of signing both Wright and Dickey saying they need to prove that they can begin signing players again.
TRS86
12/11/2012-12:49pm at 12:49 pm (UTC -4)
Salty, he’s too much of a lawyer to ever back himself into a complete corner. That’s all I am saying.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-12:51pm at 12:51 pm (UTC -4)
Normally that is the case but I don’t know how you can’t see him not trapped in the corner crying for his mom to bring his binkey right now.
TRS86
12/11/2012-12:52pm at 12:52 pm (UTC -4)
When someone sales “much more likely” that leaves them an out. When you say “there will be wholesale changes” there is no out.
Sandy can’t dictate the future completely. When he said this, it was clear he thought that there would be trades for these type players and it hasn’t occurred. When you are trading players you are dependent on the other team so you can’t be certain which is why he said more likely.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-1:01pm at 1:01 pm (UTC -4)
I this were MMO I would tell you to take your apologist butt back to the desert
Seeing we are here, I got nothing.
TRS86
12/11/2012-1:07pm at 1:07 pm (UTC -4)
Funny thing is, it isn’t an apology. I never expected wholesale changes this off-season to start with and I never put any stock into what a GM says in an interview.
Stick
12/11/2012-12:11pm at 12:11 pm (UTC -4)
In honor of SRT, I will pose a question.
How much of this is really the FO being craptastic (out of their league, not giving a shit, more interested ina nebulous philosophy than trying to have a good team), and how much is directly from the owners (and frankly, at this point, I think it is Jeffy running roughshod, with however much money Fred gives him)?
is the financial situation still so desperate that they have to continue to lie to everyone and play shell games to hang on by the skin of their teeth? Is Jeffy making all the calls, and really the GM? Will I ever hit Lotto so I can retire?
I just can’t believe that anyone serviing as GM can really choose to do so little. There are plenty of crappy GMs, but usually they do too much (and poorly), not sit with their thumbs up their asses doing nothing but cashing their checks.
TX
12/11/2012-12:17pm at 12:17 pm (UTC -4)
If Bud did enough to force Sandy to get the Mets straight, don’t you think Alderson would say something to Bud if Jeff was being a punk and making problems?
Stick
12/11/2012-1:39pm at 1:39 pm (UTC -4)
no clue. Bud is BFFs with Fred, so maybe that is just how it works?
As long as Sandy is saving Fred’s toy, Bud probably does not give a crap about the rest of it.
srt
12/11/2012-12:17pm at 12:17 pm (UTC -4)
#1 I’m giving this 80/20 on the Wilpons.
#2 Yes, the financial situation is still that desperate – without a doubt. Both AA and Rubin did very indepth articles on the Mets financial situation sometime last off season. Getting out from under the Picard billion dollar lawsuit was only part of it. The Mets still have massive debt, which is probably why they’re restructuring the SNY deal to try and squeeze some bucks out of that for operating expenses.
Not sure what they’re going to do next year when monies are due on the stadium (bonds, etc.) and the revenue from ’13 isn’t enough to cover it. Between minority investors and SNY, looks like they’ve might have drained the well dry.
#3 It’s been a life long fantasy of mine to win the lottery. If I ever do, it’s probably going to be when I’ve got one foot in the grave and my ‘estate’ will enjoy those winnings.
srt
12/11/2012-12:19pm at 12:19 pm (UTC -4)
Just want to add one more thing….
I really have no idea what type of GM SA is. To me, it’s hard to gage b/c I think he’s been operating here so far with his hands virtually tied. Then…going into this off season, I believe his plan was to trade Wright and the Wilpons shot that down. That had to change much when it came to his ‘plan’.
TRS86
12/11/2012-1:09pm at 1:09 pm (UTC -4)
I am not so sure that his plan was to trade Wright. I am not so sure that thought really ever entered the Mets mind from the beginning and most likely when he came in it was told to him that the Mets were going to keep Wright. Now Dickey on the other hand… I think he expected him to be traded. I also think he expected to trade some other guys like Duda, Flores, and maybe even a guys like Murphy, Ike or Niese.
TRS86
12/11/2012-12:20pm at 12:20 pm (UTC -4)
However, after meeting with Sandy Alderson and Jeff Wilpon early in the off-season, and after seeing their plan for the future, he was confident he would get a new deal… and he did.
Wright said he only signed the extension because he believes in what Alderson is doing, he believes in the farm system and he was convinced the team will soon have the financial flexibility to help improve the team.
“I didn’t sign back here to finish in fourth place again. I wanted to make sure, if I’m gonna go all in, I want the organization to go all in as well.”
srt
12/11/2012-12:37pm at 12:37 pm (UTC -4)
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/12/11/mets-3b-reyes-final-act-at-citi-wasnt-wright-dickey-a-win-win/
Was just going to share this too. Interesting comments by Wright, especially in regards to the plan going forward.
Cryptic enough with Dickey to get that if the Mets get what they want, he’s gone.
And….Wright didn’t exactly approve of Reyes’ last at bat in a Met uniform, did he? Or I should say didn’t approve that he took himself out of the game.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-12:53pm at 12:53 pm (UTC -4)
I think David believe in running around NY with Molly Beers.
Stick
12/11/2012-1:43pm at 1:43 pm (UTC -4)
He is young, apparently (according to my sources in the Core) pretty and dimply, and has more money than almost anyone not named Bill Gates. Plus he is the big cheese on a NY team, and living the good life in the city.
so yeah, maybe that is more important than spending the next 5-8 years in some backwater like Texas or Missouri because there is a theoretical better shot at winning a ring with them.
Prismo
12/11/2012-12:51pm at 12:51 pm (UTC -4)
Patience is STILL a virtue.
I will make a judgment going into spring training, but not before. If the payroll is $85 million and the roster is the same as it is today I’ll be upset with the Wilpons (well, I always am) and Sandy Alderson. But I don’t take what he said today seriously at this point in time.
TRS86
12/11/2012-1:10pm at 1:10 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed. Honestly even if they don’t make a whole lot of changes this off-season I assumed they weren’t going to until after 2013. That’s still the cut off for me and nothing has changed to make me think otherwise.
kingman 26
12/11/2012-1:38pm at 1:38 pm (UTC -4)
Patience is of course sometimes a virtue.
But after what we have seen over the last two years, it also is very, very naive when it comes to the Mets.
2/20 being offered to Dickey is–if true–not a serious offer at all–it is an offer clearly designed for him to refuse.
Prismo
12/11/2012-1:49pm at 1:49 pm (UTC -4)
It’s definitely a virtue for us. Unless you have some say in Mets management decisions. :p
kingman 26
12/11/2012-1:55pm at 1:55 pm (UTC -4)
May I ask this—assuming the Mets offered Dickey 2 years and $20 million as is being reported—do you think this is a sincere and fair offer?
When one considers what he has been paid and will be paid in 2013, his record, and what other players have been receiving this offseason–do you think 2/20 is a sincere and fair offer?
Or an offer designed to be refused?
Prismo
12/11/2012-2:06pm at 2:06 pm (UTC -4)
I think it’s an offer designed to give them more time to try and trade him.
If they offered him 2/26 like he wants, and his camp accepts…that’s probably the end of it. But this way talks stay open and they can still try and trade him.
kingman 26
12/11/2012-2:09pm at 2:09 pm (UTC -4)
Interesting perspective.
I would counter by saying that if that is the plan, they should not have made an offer of 2/20 and should suspend negotiations.
2/20, considering what others are getting, is just bad public relations and certainly not going to make Dickey enthusiastic about returning.
Stick
12/11/2012-2:12pm at 2:12 pm (UTC -4)
that was my placeholder comment, just to say talks are moving along (though slowly).
and it seems pretty clear that Dickey wants to sign a deal now, because he is afraid that if 2013 blows up on him, he will have lost his one shot at a retirement golden parachute (AKA an Omar special)
Prismo
12/11/2012-2:13pm at 2:13 pm (UTC -4)
I think that’s a good point – why make an offer at all?
I have to admit, I’m wondering if Sandy is lowering expectations on purpose just to surprise everyone.
On the same day information leaks that they lowballed Dickey and everyone thinks he won’t resign. ALSO Sandy says that the team will look exactly the same in 2013.
What if this is a ploy so that when Sandy eventually increases the offer/signs Dickey, and then signs Cody Ross and/or another free agent Mets fans are surprised and happy about the moves.
kingman 26
12/11/2012-2:18pm at 2:18 pm (UTC -4)
Well Prismo, while Ross does not excite me, I truly hope you are right and I am wrong.
But every issue like this has shaken out the same way for two years now.
Prismo
12/11/2012-2:20pm at 2:20 pm (UTC -4)
Oh I totally think either of us could be right. I just want to wait and see.
Trust me, if they made Wright take an $8MM pay cut, made Bay defer money, etc….and then they spend NOTHING…I will be as pissed as you are. I promise you that. I’m just biding my time at the moment haha.
Stick
12/11/2012-2:41pm at 2:41 pm (UTC -4)
based on the post here with his contract details, it is not 8mill. Just 5 (dropped from 16 to 11).
Mr North Jersey
12/11/2012-2:46pm at 2:46 pm (UTC -4)
Stick it dropped from $16M to $11M and the $11M drops to $8M because $3M is then deferred on top of it as well.
Prismo
12/11/2012-2:53pm at 2:53 pm (UTC -4)
Stick I’ll save you some time in the future – I’m always right.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-12:54pm at 12:54 pm (UTC -4)
Lets add some gas to the fire even the Royals are still adding:
Royals Sign George Sherrill & Dan Wheeler
TX
12/11/2012-1:04pm at 1:04 pm (UTC -4)
And if the Mets got them, it would be a flame war about look at the crap the Mets are signing.
TRS86
12/11/2012-1:11pm at 1:11 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, those aren’t very notable signings considering what they did last year. I guess they are recognizable names though.
Stick
12/11/2012-1:45pm at 1:45 pm (UTC -4)
so was DJ and Fat Franky.
actually, after some research, they both had pretty good years prior to signing with the Mets. DJ surprisingly so.
I am still amazed how everyone the mets sign now does not slowly fade, but seem to plummet off a cliff instead.
greggofboken
12/11/2012-1:14pm at 1:14 pm (UTC -4)
Well…I understand why given the crushing demand for their services. (Dayton Moore just wanted something to wipe the Myers headlines off the top of all the websites.)
TX
12/11/2012-1:16pm at 1:16 pm (UTC -4)
And Willy Taveras!!!!
darknova306
12/11/2012-1:20pm at 1:20 pm (UTC -4)
2016, folks. As I’ve said off and on since 2009, I don’t expect a true contending team in Queens until 2016. As Prismo says, patience is a virtue.
Poor Kaptain Payday, he’s gonna have to hold up a while to have a shot at that ring…
kingman 26
12/11/2012-1:35pm at 1:35 pm (UTC -4)
It’s irrelevant. The Wilpons are operating literally probably a few days at a time.
They owe SO much money in bonds/debt payments over the next couple of years that speculation about what they will spend in 2014 is utterly meaningless.
They have lied about absolutely everything for nearly two years now, and they cannot–and will not–come out and say:
“Fans, we are largely broke in terms of Met-related cash flow. We are NOT spending our personal money to bail out Sterling and the Mets. We have trouble meeting our debt obligations, and unfortunately that takes the top priority in our thinking right now.
We respectfully ask fans to be patient. We are actively courting new investors, but as of now we have no intention of selling, and we have instructed Sandy that after Wright, there simply is not enough funding to make any other serious moves.
We apologize but this is the way it is.”
Would be nice for them to be truthful, and that is something like what it would sound like.
We can be patient all we want.
We can also be realistic.
To paraphrase Hyman Roth, this is the team we have chosen.
And we all are likely, as fans, to continue feeling like he and Johnny Ola did at the end of Godfather II.
Stick
12/11/2012-1:48pm at 1:48 pm (UTC -4)
well, I would love to see that (even though it would suck as a fan) simply because of what it would do to the legions of “Sandy is the devil” core members.
kingman 26
12/11/2012-1:53pm at 1:53 pm (UTC -4)
He’s not the devil. He’s just an older man who is not going to work as he did 25–30 years ago, and he was absolutely not brought here to build anything or execute any “plan.”
Believing that is inane.
He’s here to preside over Wilpon survival. He has nothing to spend and virtually no trade chips, which is not his fault. His moves have almost all been poor or mediocre, but he has little to work with.
Again, if Dickey was offered 2/20, after what he has given for what he has gotten and will get from 2010-2013 and considering the 2012 offseason contract market, anyone who believes that offer was not designed to be rejected is just plain naive about the business world.
srt
12/11/2012-2:07pm at 2:07 pm (UTC -4)
Kingman for Mets PR front man!
kingman 26
12/11/2012-2:10pm at 2:10 pm (UTC -4)
Hahaha! I would never take the required pay cut, and I’d be fired before lunch on day one!
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-3:13pm at 3:13 pm (UTC -4)
Even Cerrone is on the same page. This is not a good sign where all the major Mets blogs are coming out today and saying 2013 is going to go by the wayside.
Gary Palumbo @SaltyGary
@matthewcerrone @MetsMerized 2013 another punted season.
Matthew Cerrone @matthewcerrone
@SaltyGary @metsmerized that’s what it feels like. very frustrating.
Stick
12/11/2012-3:26pm at 3:26 pm (UTC -4)
so the only thing we have to hope for is that sometimes seasons with big expectations go down in flames, and other times where you expect little the team turns out ot be pretty good.
I imagine there was a lot of we punted with the A’s last year.
Just have to see how the season plays out. At least it seems we have the potential for a very good rotation. And that alone can keep you hanging in the WC race.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-3:35pm at 3:35 pm (UTC -4)
I didn’t have big expectations at all. I had small minor expectations that there would be some attempt to start the trend back up. All they are doing is contracting still. Payroll is going down again, there is no other way to look at it. They deferred money on existing contracts this season and Sandy has already confirmed that the deferred dollars MAY not get used.
They should be taking steps to get the excitement back and they are doing zilch.
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-3:38pm at 3:38 pm (UTC -4)
And in typical Mets fashion they have their holiday party and these are the headlines that came out:
Dickey’s feels insulted.
Roster will be the same as end of last year
Money saved will not be reinvested.
This organization is owend and run by a bunch of clowns.
THis^^^^^ and the core salutes me LOL
darknova306
12/11/2012-4:16pm at 4:16 pm (UTC -4)
Not surprising. If they can’t go an help hurricane victims without making bad headlines, how could they ever hold a holiday party without the same things happening?
This team has just miserable public relations. No wonder they wanted to keep Wright around, without his cliches and dimples the ‘face of the franchise’ would look like a beat up whore…
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-3:15pm at 3:15 pm (UTC -4)
What a wasted opportunity by the Mets. Got the ASG, Piazza may get into the HOF, we got Mr. Dimples in a Mets jersey until he is ninety and can’t walk and nothing else.
Literally the GM states that they can’t win with what is in the OF and C just 2 months ago and it needs to change and now he is saying it won’t change.
kingman 26
12/11/2012-4:17pm at 4:17 pm (UTC -4)
He is a lawyer and a spokesman. Not much more.
It is PRECISELY the same as “We’re buyers!’ at the break in 2012.
Throw things out there, and many will listen; then gradually shift the goalposts until reality sets in.
kingman 26
12/11/2012-4:18pm at 4:18 pm (UTC -4)
I just do not understand why this surprises anyone!
Folks, this is a corporation that is massively in debt and cannot spend anything else.
It has been this way for two years; it will remain this way.
Stick
12/11/2012-4:28pm at 4:28 pm (UTC -4)
I understand money constraints. But does that mean they can’t even try to make some moves that are revenue neutral?
and what bugs me more, if they knew they were going to have a stretch like this, why not take advantage and go ahead and rebuild right, when they had no shot at competing anyway?
the way they are doing it, they will end up broke and sucky, instead of just broke!
SaltyGary
12/11/2012-4:31pm at 4:31 pm (UTC -4)
THANK YOU!
kingman 26
12/11/2012-5:30pm at 5:30 pm (UTC -4)
Because as I have said forever, the “PLAN” is Wilpon survival and ONLY Wilpon survival.
Winning/rebuilding/etc. is not even a consideration.
Wright brings people in and sells jerseys. No other player does this as much as Wright and the entire rest of the team might not do it as much as Wright.
And Wright is every bit as full of sh*t as they are when he says he did not re-sign to finish 4th. He re-signed to get $140 million guaranteed.
And they might keep Dickey and let him walk, the same way they did with Jose, if that is what their calculations tell them will sell the most tickets and bring in the most extra revenue.
How good the team is is for fans to worry about; the Wilpons right now could care less.
Of course they would rather win, and you get 50,000 per game instead of 20-something when you win a la 2006–2008, but when you have to release Bay to free up a few mil to pay bills, concerns like this are not even in your remotest thoughts.
Surviving next week’s or next month’s debt payments are what they are thinking about.
We saw Bay defer, then Wright roughly a month later?
Here’s a prediction–when more bills come due, they offer Dickey a deal–a better deal, IF he defers part of his 2013 salary. That might be the next move.
darknova306
12/11/2012-5:48pm at 5:48 pm (UTC -4)
“Here’s a prediction–when more bills come due, they offer Dickey a deal–a better deal, IF he defers part of his 2013 salary”
If that happens, it’s the biggest smoking gun I’ve ever seen. That’s when the fanbase should revolt and go full on boycott (which will never happen).
Stick
12/11/2012-7:20pm at 7:20 pm (UTC -4)
He only makes 5mill anyway in 2013. What do they expect, he will cut the team a check every payday?
Hazmet
12/11/2012-8:39pm at 8:39 pm (UTC -4)
I have to apologize that I couldn’t make it through your post the other day since I’m still pretty much burnt out from having to pull together a 510 slide presentation to the government and then precede to to present it for 2 days. That being said, I didn’t really have to read it since I’ve historically been in the same camp so I’ll take this opportunity to add my spin on Sandy and his history.
My take when they hired him was: OK fine, let’s see how he does. But, how’s he going to do without being able to add that magic elixir of ‘roids and performance enhacing drugs that were to me so much in the fabric of those successful A’s teams. It’s one thing to take a scrub and pump him full of enhancements and watch him thrive and another thing to pick a scrub and not be able to do that and get what your left with: a scrub. Or, the Padres roster he oversaw – well that’s a bit harsh since I’m sure they had a player or two.
So here we are. Now on David, if he really wants to prove his leadership and all that’s separating RA and the Met’s is $6M than defer another $6 of your deal and get RA on board.
This team is just a disaster and how they expect to sell any ticket packages next year is beyond me. Who wants to show up to watch this team on a consistant basis? I really don’t know.
Now I can already hear the Sandy speak: we’re a better team since we’ll have Ike removed a year from his surgery and disco fever or whatever it was he had and we’ve got Harvey and Wheeler coming and blah blah blah it’s the same old same old with a couple of young power arms but no proven bats to help give them run support. I half think they signed Wright so that he didn’t walk in as an All Star on another team and so they have one lone marketable position player for when / if they enter the sell the team mode.