1/13/12

Mack and Company about Fred Wilpon



Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal put up a great story today about Fred Wilpon:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204409004577157230680671076.html

Thoughts:

Mack Ade - I really don't care where he came from. It's like when I ask people on this site for donations because blah, blah, blah. Fred Wilpon never cared about the fans when the team was winning. Why should the fans care where he's from?

I've learned over the seven years I have done this that nobody gives a shit. In my case, write about the team and teach me something. In the case of the Mets, play the game and give me a reason to smile.

It's going to take awhile for people to realize that you're never going to be able to get a mortgage from a bank without a considerable down payment and a decent financial statement.

The baseball business must change too, but that doesn't mean fans have to let the people that put this team in this position get another shot.


Stephen Guilbert - "I came from nothing. I meet the challenges. So does Saul and Jeff and our whole family. We're meeting the challenges and I think we'll be fine."

It is not as simple as this optimistic "bootstrapism" that Wilpon gives us here. Economics do not function like that. Debt does not function like that. Given the staggering dollar amount he already owes to multiple entities as well as a lawsuit that could add more to that total, the Wilpons would need a serious cash influx from somewhere. I am not of the thought that these minority shares are going to do the trick. The rebuilding process the Mets have started is going to take years. This means that the 70 million loss from last year is going to repeat in 2012. Maybe not at that total, but do not expect the team to turn a profit (unless they go on some Cinderella-esque playoff run) by any stretch of the imagination. The Wilpons/Sterling are going to continue to lose money and, even with the friendship of the league's commissioner, are still going to have enormous pressure to sell--no matter what or where Fred and Saul "came from" and how they built their empire.



Charles Thompson - I think with 350+ million due in 2014, the Wilpons are as good as gone in two years. Except now, they'll only be selling off 85% of the team because of the minority stakes they're attempting to save the team with now. That's about 150+ million down the drain. At this point, I do agree that the Mets will be better than people think. Yet I am certainly not spending any cash to go see them play. I'll watch SNY, keep the two hundred+ dollars it costs to see them in person, and wait for the new regime to take over in 2014 when the Wilpons almost certainly won't have the funds to pay off both the debt that's looming and the Madoff settlement.



Erik Hudson - Delusional. Fred is absolutely delusional. The Wilpons are the only ones who think we'll be fine under their continued ownership.

They have over $1B in debt. Even if they raise $200M in minority shares, it will only help a bit towards that debt. And really this is just adding more debt to the team, since the minority owners would have the option to get their money back PLUS interest in a few years.

Fred also thinks attendance is going to rise this year. "S.&P. also described as “aggressive” Queens Ballpark’s preliminary projection that attendance will rise to 2.5 million in 2012 from 2.29 million last season."

Seriously, Fred? You expect an extra 200k fans to show up and pay NY prices next year? You've alienated the fans, you've dropped payroll like the fire sale Marlins ( from $143M to about $90M this year, 37% drop in one year. $53M one year decrease would be the biggest ever in MLB.) 44% of the payroll allocated to two huge question marks (Santana and Bay). And you let the most popular and exciting player on the team go to a division rival without even making an offer. Somehow that adds up to an increase in attendance? Are you still using that calculator that Bernie gave you to crunch the numbers?



Michael Freire - In some ways, I guess it is a little sad. You know that the Wilpon's truly enjoy being owners of the Mets. With that said, you have to wonder if "baseball karma" is simply getting even with them at this point for their past transgressions? Personally, I think that they are in denial about the gravity of the situation and an ownership change is inevitable. The only variable is how soon and how low will the Mets franchise stagger along until that happens? Either way, it is a trying time to be a Mets fan.


David Rubin - Once upon a time, we all wanted the Wilpons to be great baseball team owners...not necessarily George Steinbrenner, but perhaps a less mercurial version, willing to spend when necessary to ensure the team on the field was the best they could afford at all times. However, from the time Nelson Doubleday was bought out, the Wilpon/Katz combo relied almost entirely on the fake-Madoff-gains to "keep the spice flowing"...(sorry, a reference to DUNE.) At this point, it's partly "be careful what you wish for" (signing of huge contracts) catching up with Fred and Company. Everything that the Wilpons have touched (new ballpark, roster, GM, etc) have come off as second-rate, since the '86 season. Basically, as Mack likes to say, the team is 2 and 48, NOT a great winning percentage at all. The Wilpons time is long past due, but with Selig in office 2 more years, it's hard to imagine that they'll be gone any time soon, if at all...sad to think that so many Met fans will be rooting for a bankruptcy trustee and a crippling claw-back lawsuit in order to see a restoration of the team to greatness and new ownership...just a sad state of affairs all around...(by the way- I think Fred Wilpon is a good man with good intentions - that doesn't mean he's not wrong in how he's handled things, from firing long-time employees to making CitiField into an Ebbet's Field replica. What it doesn't do is give him the right to plunge this team into an even longer period of "darkness"...)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mack, I would like to see the Mets get new owners and speed up the rebuilding process as much as the next guy but how do we know that the Mets situation is as dire as everyone says? Doesn't anyone remember when the Wilpon's, with the help of Bud Selig, basically swindled Nelson Doubleday out of his shares of the team by the Wilpon's and major league baseball cooking the books to show that baseball was losing money? The Wilpon's are masters at playing shell games to make it look like the situation is more dire than it is. Remember that the 70,000,000 loss for last year came out the day the Mets lost Reyes. While the losses may all be true they may not be also. If you were trying to settle a lawsuit or set yourself up to look sympathetic to a jury without being held in contempt of court for poisoning the jury pool wouldn't you want to paint as bleak a financial picture as possible. Losing one of your franchise players is like the cherry on the top. I guess as an attorney and long time baseball fan I am a little more guarded as to believing what I hear in the media. I could be wrong and the Mets situation could be as dire as it looks but don't underestimate the Wilpon's. They didn't make billions of dollars being dumb. Why does anyone believe that these leaks about the Mets finances are accurate when the financial books of the teams have always been so guarded that strikes have occurred because the owners would not release the information. Is what we are hearing true or is it part of public relations scheme leading to up to negotiations or if they fail a jury trial in the madoff scandle? I don't know but all I'm saying is that Mets fans seem to think that the Wilpon's are going to be forced to sell and that just might not be the case. The Wilpon's having made their money in real estate would know how to finance a real estate transaction to maximize its success wouldn't they? Why would they purposefully front load major payments? My only point here is that everyone wants to believe that there is a light at the end of the tunnel because the Wilpon's will be forced to sell but I think we should all wait until after the Madoff case is settled to see where the Mets stand before we rush to any conclusions. I for one, am looking forward to baseball season so we can all start to talk about how the younger players are doing. I was kind of surprised that Alderson didn't come out and explain why they let F-Mart go. I don't understand that. I also haven't seen any comments from Martinez. Just a bizarre set of events. I really hope the bullpen holds up but Alderson has never been all that great with pitchers in general let alone relief pitchers. I just hope they all do better than D.J. Carrasco. It is kind of funny to me that Alderson is getting all the accolades for rebuilding the Mets farm system when all of the Mets prospects are for the most part Minaya's picks. Mack one question, does Martinez'departure mean that the Mets are going to push Den Dekker to AAA to start the year? My guess would be that in order to protect Neuewenhuis non throwing shoulder from all the dives in centerfield that they would start him out in left or right field so that would leave Lagares at other corner outfield spot. Raul Reyes as fourth outfielder and them needing a centerfielder. Your thoughts? Thanks, Mark

Mack Ade said...

Anonymous:

Regarding the Wilpon financial mess, you have this family figured out. We at Mack's Mets have done the homework and there are things we simply chose not to elaborate on.

Trust me. The lawsuits are far from over and this is a proforma that needs to be broken up.

Regarding den Dekker, I don't expect anyone to be rushed this season. Torres will hold down centerfield and Mets fans will love him.

I do think that Lagares has an outside chance of getting to Queens, but not until after the all-star break.

BTW... explaining why F-Mart was cut would have hurt his chances of gettng picked up by another team. He's a great kid, but he is genetically flawed.

I can't get anyone to talke to me about Captain Kirk's rehab. Either way, he wil play Buffalo at least thrugh June.

Charles said...

Great comments anonymous...we can make assumptions, but the truth is that the Wilpons are probably playing this all perfectly. They are swindlers and are very smart. Einhorn thought he had a deer in the head lights, but Fred figured that out and got him out of the picture real quick.