2/25/14

Mack’s Morning Report – 2-25-14 – Vegas Pitchers, Ike Davis, Raul Ibanez, The Wilpons



Later today - 

    10 am - Christopher SotoMM's Top 25- #10 CF Brandon Nimmo

      12 pm -  Christopher Wuensch - No Miracle On Ice This Year: A Look Back

        2 pm -   A Re-Review - Franklin for Montero

      5 pm -  Erick Fedde, Isan Diaz, Jakson Reetz, Luke Dykstra

      8 pm  -  A Quick Look - RHP -   Bryce Montes De Oca - Lawrence (MO) HS



Current pitchers ‘on paper’ for Las Vegas squad:

Starters (12) - Rafael Montero, Noah Syndergaard, Darin Gorski, Jake deGrom, Cory Mazzoni, Logan Verrett, Mark Cohoon, Chris Schwinden, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Giancarlo Alvarado, Mitch Talbot, John Lannon          
Relievers (17) - Jeff Walters, Adam Kolarek, Chason Bradford, John Church, Jack Leathersich, Chase Huchington, Daniel Herrera, Joel Carreno, Daryl Thompson, Miquel Socolovich, Ryan Fraser, Jon Velasquez, Ryan Reid, Kyle Farnsworth, Jose Valverde, Dana Eveland, Erik Goeddel     


Mack's Mets - @JohnMackinAde - @AdamRubinESPN - people can't possibly understand the amount of work put in on your morning reports - great work as ever - 24 Feb      
Adam Rubin - @AdamRubinESPN - @JohnMackinAde thanks


Thor and Matz will start Thursday’s  intrasquad  game. Other pitchers to be used:  Gee, Colon, Dice-K, Familia, Carreno, Torres, Valverde


Ike Davis said that he concealed an oblique injury for most of last season, even from the team.

Remember that old television commercial that said “it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature”?  And then, the word would come to an end.

Well, don’t be surprised if Ike Davis doesn’t survive the week in Port St. Lucie. Screwing with Mother Nature is nothing like lying to Sandy Alderson. Remember, Ike is not Sandy’s guy to start with so there is no loyalty factor here.

You may not get a Tyler Thonburg or Nick Kingham anymore here. In fact, you may be down to a bag o’ old balls.

What a stupid thing to admit at this point in the 2014 camp. It has to be a death wish to leave this team.

Davis is a funny guy. For reasons unexplained, he starts every pre-season talking to the same beat reporters and telling them things on the record… then, when the story comes out, he gets upset at the writer for writing about what HE said.

Nobody would really care if he hit 35-HRs, 95-RBIs and .280, but he doesn’t, so his mouth gets him in trouble. 

The last person you want to share something ‘on the record’ with, that is delicate,  is a beat writer. You just made that writer's next story.

            Let’s see what develops in the next seven days.


Raul Ibanez

Although Ibanez is most famous for his terrible arm that doesn't mean he doesn't have other massive flaws in his fielding. Just because someone is awful at one thing it doesn't mean that they aren't awful at another. Personally, I refuse to withhold a perfectly good award from Ibanez just because he was in the running for another award, one that he ultimately lost to a more deserving candidate. As a result I'm honored to give the "MLB's Worst Tools Award" for fielding to Mr. Raul Ibanez. Keep checking in here at Beyond the Boxscore to see who's next in line to join the infamous five. http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2014/2/23/5437456/mlbs-worst-tools-awards-fielding-edition






John Zozo asked –

            Mack:

Why aren't other teams having this problem? Why are we the only ones? Most of the other teams have had new stadiums built in the past 10 years. We have paid our share every step of the way, and because they made lousy business decisions and put all their eggs in one basket we have to pay off their mistakes!!!

So to answer your question I don't think it's fair that the fans have to repay a debt that should have been allocated for already through the years. So they should dip into their pockets and pay up. They seem to have money for other projects that they want to build across the street?

No I am not gonna spend money on this team this year and I hope other fans do the same. They should just sell the damn team already.

MackJohn, John, John… I’m trying to come up with an easier way of explaining what has happened over on Roosevelt Avenue.

All you have to do is take two things off the table…

1.     The loss of a positive economy that resulted is a huge loss of value to the New York City real estate market

2.     The loss of both business and personal money to Bernie Madoff

The Madoff mess blew up in 2008, the year that the Mets spent $137mil on player salaries. The economy continued to tank, but Omar Minaya had the green light to operate how he wanted to.

So, what does he do? He signs a $36mil deal with P Oliver Perez and a $37mil deal with Francisco Rodriguez, and the Mets 2009 payroll goes up to $149+mil… a year after the Madoff mess hits the press and during the same time he is sent away for life.

I’m not trying to sound like a public relations director for the Wilpons, but there was a decent effort to operate this team. There was even around $143mil spent two years later (and three years ago). The problem?

Simple..  it wasn’t the money… it was the players.

            Gary Sheffield - $28mil
            Oliver Perez - $36mil
            Francisco Rodriquez - $37mil
            Luis Castillo - $25mil
            Jason Bay - $66mil
            Jeff Francoeur - $5mil
            Johan Santana – (last year) $25.5mil

These misfits represent $222,500,000 worth of dead or wasted money that went down the drain as fast as those checks to Bernie… and, you know what? Fred and Jeff Wilpon didn’t pick any of these players to be on the New York Mets. That job was left to his General Manager.
So, what you have here is a business family that specializes in real estate, dump a half a billion dollars into a new stadium for their baseball team, take a right in the stomach from the economy followed by a left from Madoff, and then their General Manager pisses away $222mil on bad baseball players.

John, you have to give these guys a chance to catch their breath, don’t you?


And regarding investing your own money into a business venture… it just isn’t done, especially at these levels of investments. You borrow other people’s money to operate this badly.

23 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Ike must go...he lied by concealing his injury, they were trying to figure him out on the field, losing games and TICKET SALES REVENUES due to a tanking team that a good hitting 1B could have helped be competitive for perhaps a month longer - he screwed them out of $$ they could have spent on Cruz and/or Drew. He's gotta go.

TP said...

Mack, Mack, Mack,
I have to side with John Z. on this one. Yes, we all know about Madoff and the bad contracts, but that is old news. Despite all the panic on the internet this winter about another "doomday" loan coming due, the Wilponzis re-financed with no problem. As a matter of fact, banks lined up, yes, lined up, to loan them $250 mil. Why? Because their assets - a team, a stadium, 65% of a TV network in the #1 TV market in the world, these assets are worth billions. And, even with all their debt, they still hold about 50% equity. This makes them billionnaires before even counting thier others real estate properties. Fangraphs listed them at the 24th highest payroll - only above the Indians, A's, Rays, Pirates, Astros and Marlins. For perspective, the Royals, yes, the KC Royals, are spending $9 million more than the MEts as it stands today. That is downright patahetic. So, these billionnaires have Alderson tell the fans that have endured 5 losing seasons in a row that they will spend more if more fans come to games. Well, how about comparing a Citifield ticket price to those of the 6 teams paying less to players in 2014? Their prices are a fraction of NYC Met ticket prices. Not that spending is the solution, or that Drew will propel them into the playoffs. Heck, I'm fine if they trade for another SS to compete with Tejada. Just don't field a team with holes (SS, bullpen) when there are affordable upgrades available. The may not be able to make the playoffs in 2014, but the closer they are, the better poised they are for 2015. So, I'm with John Z. I spend when they spend.

Tom Brennan said...

It is clear that Las Vegas will need a 40 man roster all by itself with 29 pitchers, even if all on paper. That is some pile to sort out.

Tom Brennan said...

Hey Mack!
Went the G Mail route to post, since the other posting method never resurfaced.

I can't read thru all the draft possibilities stuff - too much detail for me - but if you were the GM right now and the draft were tomorrow, who would you pick for say the Mets' first 5 rounds, figuring what guys might be available in each round? Also, especially for the first round, who would you wish the Mets could have picked that likely will have just come off the board a few picks in front of them?

Mack Ade said...

Thomas -

I'll answer your draft question in Wednesday's morning report...

Regarding the comments section here...IS THERE STILL PROBLEMS posting them?

Mack Ade said...

TP -

Okay... I tip my cap to you and Zozo...

I was just trying to give an explanation from the Wilpon side of things.

The bottom line is they did what they decided to do and your choice, like mine, is whether you still root for and attend games of, the team you love.

Regardless, it seems to me that the team is working their way out of the woods... but, don't waste any time or print on wishing that the Wilpons sell this team.

It's not going to happen.

Unknown said...

Mack
I am pretty sure that other owners that have new stadiums had to deal with the economy as well and payoff stadium debt but you don't hear about them?
And as far as Madoff, they "made off" pretty well for a number of years and also made off by not having to pay their whole share that the government was going after.
Also we were paying top dollar tickets this whole time and I believe there was enough there to payoff those lousy salaries that u mentioned. I am not asking them to spend just on anybody, but if you don't spend top dollar don't charge top dollar.
Is SNY losing money as well? I doubt it. I believe the network is worth more now than the actual team is? We should be asking is SNY paying its fair share towards the team regarding local tv revenues like other big city teams receive from other tv outlets or are they pocketing the extra sum?
By my calculations they are making $20 mil for citi naming rights, lets say $80 mil for ticketing ( $40 avg price x 2mil fans), $40 mil in Aramark/ clothing sold at stadium (my guess is $20 average per fan at stadium). In my estimation that's $140 million and that's not counting advertisement money, local tv revenue (which I never heard how much they pay), this years MLB tv revenue of $53 mil, sales of other merchandise not at the stadium, parking fees at the stadium, and maybe they make some $$$ on international merchandise, even though they don't even entertain the possibility of signing any one not over the age of 18?
So to me they shouldn't gripe about losing money unless they shows us all the numbers, if not do not be afraid to spend the money we are getting charged.

Mack Ade said...

Zozo -

I'm not getting anywhere here and I have no desire to be the press secretary for the Wilpon family.

I understand your pain.

Unknown said...

Ok no problem, I am a stubborn sob and won't let myself brush this stuff under the rug.

Hobie said...

>> it wasn’t the money… it was the players. >>

Unsaid so often. Now we (OK, I) don’t know how often the Wilpons vetoed a baseball decision. Personally I find it hard to believe Omar wanted Lowe and they insisted on Perez (or Costillo, etc.), but of course they signed off on all of these.

Mack Ade said...

Hobie -

You may remember I was really connected with this team back then (remember I had the exclusive nationally on the Perez signing...). What people didn't realize is that Lowe DID NOT chose to be a Met. He's the guy I always quote saying a form of "ya know, if your around 30 and you haven't won a ring and you have one more contract in you, the road just isn't going through Flushing anymore..." or something like that.

Mack Ade said...

Adam, Ike does this every year. And the beat reporters just suck him up and write away...

bgreg98180 said...

John,

I am right there with you with your frustration. I posted months ago at my frustration at the Mets owners and front office lieing/misrepresenting/not saying quite the truth.
They say they have NO money problems but they claim they don't have the money to increase payroll, close down one of their minor league teams for a year, let a all-star home grown shortstop go for nothing, etc.......
They have consistantly said one thing but done another over and over again for the past few years.
The fans were told to wait until this 2014 season and things would change. This would be the year the team was a serious contender again. Loyal fans waited, continued to invest their time, money, angst, etc.....
Now the fans are told..... the same fans that have put up with this for the past few years.... that THE FANS have to buy tickets if they expect the owners/front office to invest more into the team.
NO! NO!! NO!!!
The owners/front office are the ones that just don't seem to understand. Yes, they do own the team, just like Mack points out. That is absolutely true. It will continue to be true as Mack points out because it is what they want. Not a business decision here.... a Wilpon family personal decision that they Want the Mets and they have the money to keep it.

BUT what the Wilpons/front office do not understand is that they may own the team/run the team, just like any team owners/front office.
The team really belongs to the fans. It is the fans that keep the team going from generation to generation. It is the fans that will keep the team in their memories and stories. It is the fans that create the great teams in sports history.
Loyal fans look at the team as THEIRS. Players, managers, general managers, and yes even owners may come and go, But it is the fans that remain if they are loyal and the team simply keeps their trust.
The past few years misrepresentations/half-truths/ out right lies have broken that trust. That is why many of the missing fans that have brought attendance down from 4million to 2million. Broken trust is why Met apparel lingers on retail store racks well into their lowest clearance prices.
This broken trust is why many Met fans are telling the front office/ownership..... NO!
Win, earn my trust back by being open and honest, or atleast have your actions match the words you say BEFORE I buy one more ticket/t-shirt or watch on tv when other choices are available.

TP said...

Mack,
I'll still root for the team, it is in my blood. And I will go to a game, because it is an annual family tradition. I will get tix from Stubhub, which does not directly go to the Wilpins (yes, I know it indirectly supports them), we'll spend minimally at the park by bringing our own food, and they'll need to show a financial commitment that merits their ticket prices in order to get us to go to Citifield more frequently.

Reese Kaplan said...

I had opined elsewhere that Ike is the hitting equivalent of Mike Pelfrey. He's a guy with unquestionable talent, but whether it's confidence, confusion or some other mental shortcoming, his head is getting in the way of his success at this level. We were well rid of Pelfrey (a few years too late) and it may soon be time to draw the same conclusion about Ike (latest tirade notwithstanding).

Mack Ade said...

Adam Smith · Boston University School of Law
Good morning Mack. Great work as always. The problem with Ike isn't so much that he talked to a reporter this week - though the thought process behind that was questionable - but that he actually played (and stunk) last year through an injury, when he should have taken a trip to the DL to get right. I understand the competitiveness, and pro athletes by nature always have a sense of "I can do this, I'm fine" but he certainly did himself no favors.

As to Mejia, I've been a fan of his for some time, but even to me, he was a revelation last season. If this kid can't crack your rotation, either someone's not paying attention, or your team is a playoff lock. The procedure he had last year was minor, he ought to be good to go. I understand the issue about having minor league options, versus some of the vets with opt-outs if they're not on the big team, but I'm certainly excited to sit back and watch this kid pitch for us whenever that dust settles. He should be a huge asset for years to come.

Mack Ade said...

Bob - and add one more... the loss of the St. Lucie broadcast team, public relations director, and broadcast of games

Mack Ade said...

Reese - IMO, both Ike and the Mets have to move on without each other.

bgreg98180 said...

Mack,
I just want to trust my team again. Trust that they are making good baseball decisions....not for example....holding onto a player (koff koff Reyes) in order to get fans into the seats yet have no intention of re-signing him when they could have traded him for talent or paid him.
trust when they say there is a need to improve a position, that they will actually make a change to improve that position, not bring back the same player and claim they are comfortable with the same player (koff koff Tejada)

Winning can happen... as a fan I know most teams do not win each year, but as a fan I should not have to be worried that I am being Tricked by my team.

As far as Ike goes..... just letting him go for nothing makes no reasonable sense right now. It is an emotional reaction. It would be terrible if he was traded for nothing and then started hitting again elsewhere.
unfortunately Ike has to be given the beginning of the year a chance to prove he can hit again. If there are no signs that he can return to hitting and there is a better option available, then you have to make a move.

IBfromWhitePlains said...

Collins has to put Ike in a position where he can succeed and get some production out of 1st base. The platoon might be the trick.

bgreg98180 said...

Mack

congratulations
20+ comments and counting

Mack Ade said...

20 comments !!!!

Boy, Joe D better start worrying... :)

Unknown said...

100% agree