3/15/15

Mack - Steve Kettman

Morning.

My thoughts on both the Steve Kettman book about Sandy Alderson, but also the Howard Medgal interpretation of it.

All this comes at a time when a certain amount of both the writers and fan base can’t seem to move on to the future. I consider the billboard just outside of St. Lucie on I95 an insult to the players that had to travel from their home and drive by it.
Let me say one more time before I go on with this… I am not a fan of the Wilpon family owning this team. I thought, and still think, that baseball should have come up with a way to step in and influence a sale for a figure that would have bailed out the people that lost all their money (including the Wilpons) in this fiasco.

That being said, businessmen (and women) invest in the growth of their companies with both cash and debt. That’s how you do it and it’s not much different from how you finance your house. You go to a lending institute with a value analysis of the ‘property’ you want to purchase, a plan that projects how you are going to turn this purchase into a profit (for both you and the bank) and a declaration of how much cash you are going to ‘put down’ on the purchase.

Everything was hunky-dory until Madoff blew up. The team was competitive, profitable, and the salaries paid were online with their ‘big-market’ status. Then, everything went to hell in a New York minute.

Do you honestly believe that the Wilpons did this purposely to themselves?
I don’t even believe that the Wilpons knew the financial end result of all this when it happened, especially since future profit would be tied directly to the fan base coming out and buying tickets for future games.

And it seems to me that it would take a moron to accept the General Manager job and not recognize that there was going to be some financial restraints in the immediate future.

No, this was a mess the day Alderson took over and all the Wilpons could do was give him an estimate of the salaries he could pay for the next upcoming season. It was Alderson’s job to clear contracts, make new deals, sign international guppies, and draft the best player available. Hopefully, the profit and loss sheets at the end of each season would reflect additional revenue from tickets sales. They didn’t, so the Wilpons had to continue to restrict Alderson budget wise.

And by the way… if the Wilpons decided to dig in their own pocket and double the salaries at this point, the government and/or bank regulators would have probably stepped in and prevented this from happening.

No, Kettman and (especially) Medgal are stuck on an old record on a barely usage turntable.

I believe Alderson has straightened the ship and, after five years, has it going in the right direction, though he easily could have been more successful at this point. The waters, at times, have been choppy, but they are getting better. Even the salaries are up close to 25% from a year ago.

The Mets, the writers, and the fans have to move on from all this crap and start worrying about who’s coming out of the pen as a lefty rather than concentrating on how Alderson is reacting to the Wilpon’s hands on the purse strings. 

5 comments:

bgreg98180 said...

Mack
I agree with much of what you say here.

It all comes down to the winning....and the losing.
There has been far too much of the losing recently.
The bad thoughts, comments, and actions by fans will continue and grow until winning outweighs the losing.
Or.... until far worse occurs.....indifference

Mack Ade said...

Though I will read the book... :)

Anonymous said...

I have to disagree. The fan base would be a little more understanding about the situation if the Wilpons wouldn't keep lying to our faces. Make no mistake about it, the reason we are scrambling for a lefty reliever is because ownership wouldn't open up the purse strings to bring one in. In fact, I think the situation is so bad that they couldn't even afford to give out many minor league deals this year.

Anonymous said...

I think the 800 pound gorilla in the room is that the Wilpons in the opinion of many were in on it. I know, I know, the SEC didn't find anything. The SEC is also the worst of the crony financial institution regulators in the US. The one that is built solely to protect the institution they are charged with regulating and the revolving door is notorious.

When push comes to shove, they want to hold on for dear life and I respect that, but I won't participate in it as a customer.

I think the Wilpons think the fans are stupid. And I agree, why would you spend those amounts when the people putting the product out there know it is not worth that price.

I also think Nelson Doubleday was spot on in his comments about Jeffy Boy on his way out the door in 2002.

I am worried about the left handed reliever too, but I know that this has everything to do with the financial situation. Until they prove otherwise, they won't get a dime from me and many people I used to attend games.

Baseball is awash in cash... all except the New York team in the National league? Something stinks....

Tom Brennan said...

I agree we can look back and cry - I certainly hated the past several years - but folks, enjoy what is here now. It is good, and will be for quite a while.

Oh, by the way, Leathersich was 1-2-3 with a K today. He might still be in play for the 25 man, but he'll have to keep the last 2 outings going.