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"...)