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NY Mets impending purge
spat
Posts: 644
All Mets jokes aside of how bad they are and it won't matter who gets traded or not (believe me I've heard them all), Wilpon is a slimy grease ball and if this is all true, he obviously has lost all respect for the team and the game and he needs to go. now. Hopefully MLB will step in like they did with the Dodgers and stop this guy before he ruins whats left of the team.
http://www.northjersey.com/sports/05241 ... purge.html
Klapisch: Did Fred Wilpon confirm the Mets' impending purge?
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY MAY 24, 2011, 7:23 AM
By BOB KLAPISCH
RECORD COLUMNIST
Crazy, isn’t it, how for the longest time Fred Wilpon was regarded as the gentleman in New York’s baseball community. Out of touch, so tone deaf, he drove Mets fans crazy. But Wilpon had a graciousness that made him the anti-George Steinbrenner. Actually, he was the anti-Jeff Wilpon, as serene as his son was angry.
STAFF FILE PHOTO BY TYSON TRISH
Mets owner Fred Wilpon may have sent a sign to Mets' fans that a purge is coming before the trading deadline.
But all that’s changed in the wake of the explosive 11,000-word story in this week’s The New Yorker magazine. In it, the veneer of Wilpon’s nobility was stripped clean: He took casual, but unmistakable shots at three of the Mets’ best players — David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran — and trashed the very team he claims to love.
“Crappy” is the term Wilpon used to describe the Mets, although he conveniently shields himself from blame. The more important question is why the owner would so willfully devalue his assets?
Is it because Wilpon felt he could impress writer Jeffrey Toobin – well known as a CNN legal analyst – with his candor? Did Wilpon think he’d earn more favorable treatment from The New Yorker as it dug into the core of the Madoff scandal?
Or was Wilpon simply using the forum to prepare Mets fans for the upcoming purge at the trading deadline? According to one major league executive, Wilpon’s observations were akin to a clanging of the Chuck Wagon Triangle bell. All that was missing was Wilpon’s rallying cry: Come and get it!
“You don’t talk that way about your players unless you’ve distanced yourself from them,” the executive said. “Most owners don’t do this.”
Wilpon apparently wants the Mets’ public to do likewise — to believe Reyes isn’t worth Carl Crawford money as he hits free agency this winter. Or that David Wright, the president of Nice Guy, Inc., isn’t the mega-star the Mets had hoped he’d be. Or that Beltran is so late in his prime, it’s time not just to trade him to the American League, but sever the emotional tie now.
Here’s the rejoinder to Wilpon’s slurs:
Reyes never has asked for Carl Crawford money from the Mets. He’s never asked for a penny yet. There have been no contract discussions between the shortstop and ownership, which means Wilpon only has managed to fray the fibers of the relationship. The Mets can forget about getting a hometown discount from Reyes this winter – and that’s assuming they have the money to negotiate in earnest.
Wright? He’s not Alex Rodriguez, but he’s nevertheless one of the five best third baseman in the game, a stand-up guy who has avoided the temptation to point out his failures – at least in hitting home runs — partly is the Wilpons’ fault. They’re the ones who built an absurdly large, asymmetrical ballpark that sabotaged Wright’s home run swing. There would’ve been a different career arc if Wright had played at Citizens Bank Park or Coors Field. Then Wilpon might’ve had a different appreciation for Wright.
One other reminder: Wright has gone out of his way to be kind to the Wilpons during their humiliation in the Madoff scandal. If Fred Wilpon’s payback is to remind the world of Wright’s deficiencies, then Wright should be looking for the door, too.
Incredibly, there are Mets fans who believe it’s time for a cultural revolution in Flushing, one that goes beyond trading Beltran. The lunatic fringe is ready to move Reyes and Wright, too, believing the Wilpons can do better building the next core.
To which we say, really? Whom, exactly, are the Mets going to find to replace the 27-year-old Reyes? The only swap that makes sense is new ownership at Citi Field, one that has enough money to coexist in the same market as the Yankees and has a sensible three- to five-year business plan.
Neither criteria fits the Wilpons, who are suffocating under a mountain of debt – and that’s not counting whatever settlement they make with bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard – and insufficient player-development resources to build a winner on GM Sandy Alderson’s watch.
For now, the Mets are dying a slow, financial death. Sports Illustrated reported that losses could reach as much as $70 million this year. Attendance is down by 15 percent and another sub-.500 season practically is prophecy. And the latest revelation in the Madoff affair – that Sterling Equities considered purchasing fraud insurance against the Ponzi scheme – only deepens the suspicion of the Wilpons’ complicity in this dirty network.
Sports Illustrated also reported that Wilpon fears the $1 billion claw-back lawsuit could cost him the team. Somehow, though, Mets fans are expected to forget all that and buy tickets, visit the concession stands, tune into SNY and fork over money for jerseys, caps and memorabilia. The owner himself is admitting the Mets are a lousy team, but remember, bring your wallets.
The armada of loyalists are supposed to forget that Reyes — whom Wilpon disparaged by saying, “has had everything go wrong with him” — battled through a thyroid scare. They’re asked to gloss over the fact that Beltran’s decline is due, in part, to injury. Wilpon mocks himself for signing Beltran to a $119 million contract, as if the Mets didn’t get a return on their investment.
Beltran is the only Met since the millennium to hit 40-plus home runs and is a key reason why the team made it to Game 7 of the 2006 NL Championship Series – the start of a mini golden era that led to a massive attendance surge, including 4 million in 2008, a franchise record.
Somehow, Fred Wilpon’s revisionism has trashed the contributions of his core stars, which indirectly bolsters the owner’s claim he was too stupid to know about Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Not a crook, Wilpon says, just clueless. That’s at least half right.
http://www.northjersey.com/sports/05241 ... purge.html
Klapisch: Did Fred Wilpon confirm the Mets' impending purge?
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY MAY 24, 2011, 7:23 AM
By BOB KLAPISCH
RECORD COLUMNIST
Crazy, isn’t it, how for the longest time Fred Wilpon was regarded as the gentleman in New York’s baseball community. Out of touch, so tone deaf, he drove Mets fans crazy. But Wilpon had a graciousness that made him the anti-George Steinbrenner. Actually, he was the anti-Jeff Wilpon, as serene as his son was angry.
STAFF FILE PHOTO BY TYSON TRISH
Mets owner Fred Wilpon may have sent a sign to Mets' fans that a purge is coming before the trading deadline.
But all that’s changed in the wake of the explosive 11,000-word story in this week’s The New Yorker magazine. In it, the veneer of Wilpon’s nobility was stripped clean: He took casual, but unmistakable shots at three of the Mets’ best players — David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran — and trashed the very team he claims to love.
“Crappy” is the term Wilpon used to describe the Mets, although he conveniently shields himself from blame. The more important question is why the owner would so willfully devalue his assets?
Is it because Wilpon felt he could impress writer Jeffrey Toobin – well known as a CNN legal analyst – with his candor? Did Wilpon think he’d earn more favorable treatment from The New Yorker as it dug into the core of the Madoff scandal?
Or was Wilpon simply using the forum to prepare Mets fans for the upcoming purge at the trading deadline? According to one major league executive, Wilpon’s observations were akin to a clanging of the Chuck Wagon Triangle bell. All that was missing was Wilpon’s rallying cry: Come and get it!
“You don’t talk that way about your players unless you’ve distanced yourself from them,” the executive said. “Most owners don’t do this.”
Wilpon apparently wants the Mets’ public to do likewise — to believe Reyes isn’t worth Carl Crawford money as he hits free agency this winter. Or that David Wright, the president of Nice Guy, Inc., isn’t the mega-star the Mets had hoped he’d be. Or that Beltran is so late in his prime, it’s time not just to trade him to the American League, but sever the emotional tie now.
Here’s the rejoinder to Wilpon’s slurs:
Reyes never has asked for Carl Crawford money from the Mets. He’s never asked for a penny yet. There have been no contract discussions between the shortstop and ownership, which means Wilpon only has managed to fray the fibers of the relationship. The Mets can forget about getting a hometown discount from Reyes this winter – and that’s assuming they have the money to negotiate in earnest.
Wright? He’s not Alex Rodriguez, but he’s nevertheless one of the five best third baseman in the game, a stand-up guy who has avoided the temptation to point out his failures – at least in hitting home runs — partly is the Wilpons’ fault. They’re the ones who built an absurdly large, asymmetrical ballpark that sabotaged Wright’s home run swing. There would’ve been a different career arc if Wright had played at Citizens Bank Park or Coors Field. Then Wilpon might’ve had a different appreciation for Wright.
One other reminder: Wright has gone out of his way to be kind to the Wilpons during their humiliation in the Madoff scandal. If Fred Wilpon’s payback is to remind the world of Wright’s deficiencies, then Wright should be looking for the door, too.
Incredibly, there are Mets fans who believe it’s time for a cultural revolution in Flushing, one that goes beyond trading Beltran. The lunatic fringe is ready to move Reyes and Wright, too, believing the Wilpons can do better building the next core.
To which we say, really? Whom, exactly, are the Mets going to find to replace the 27-year-old Reyes? The only swap that makes sense is new ownership at Citi Field, one that has enough money to coexist in the same market as the Yankees and has a sensible three- to five-year business plan.
Neither criteria fits the Wilpons, who are suffocating under a mountain of debt – and that’s not counting whatever settlement they make with bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard – and insufficient player-development resources to build a winner on GM Sandy Alderson’s watch.
For now, the Mets are dying a slow, financial death. Sports Illustrated reported that losses could reach as much as $70 million this year. Attendance is down by 15 percent and another sub-.500 season practically is prophecy. And the latest revelation in the Madoff affair – that Sterling Equities considered purchasing fraud insurance against the Ponzi scheme – only deepens the suspicion of the Wilpons’ complicity in this dirty network.
Sports Illustrated also reported that Wilpon fears the $1 billion claw-back lawsuit could cost him the team. Somehow, though, Mets fans are expected to forget all that and buy tickets, visit the concession stands, tune into SNY and fork over money for jerseys, caps and memorabilia. The owner himself is admitting the Mets are a lousy team, but remember, bring your wallets.
The armada of loyalists are supposed to forget that Reyes — whom Wilpon disparaged by saying, “has had everything go wrong with him” — battled through a thyroid scare. They’re asked to gloss over the fact that Beltran’s decline is due, in part, to injury. Wilpon mocks himself for signing Beltran to a $119 million contract, as if the Mets didn’t get a return on their investment.
Beltran is the only Met since the millennium to hit 40-plus home runs and is a key reason why the team made it to Game 7 of the 2006 NL Championship Series – the start of a mini golden era that led to a massive attendance surge, including 4 million in 2008, a franchise record.
Somehow, Fred Wilpon’s revisionism has trashed the contributions of his core stars, which indirectly bolsters the owner’s claim he was too stupid to know about Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Not a crook, Wilpon says, just clueless. That’s at least half right.
My favorite Pearl Jam song: "Corporate Greed Boat Asshole Behind a Counter in the Oval Office"
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David Wright responds via email to Fred Wilpon’s comments:
“Fred is a good man and is obviously going through some difficult times. There is nothing more productive that I can say at this time.”
Sammi: Wanna just break up?