As Mets fans we've all heard the debate over whether the Wilpon's are financially struggling. Fred Wilpon and Dave Howard have both refuted reports that the Madoff scandal has lost the family/team a tremendous amount of money. Meanwhile, it's been speculated, reported and even published in a book that the Wilpon's are so strapped they may have to sell the team...
What do I believe; I believe actions speak louder then words and as I see it, there are some troubling actions speaking for the Wilpon's. I fully admit as a fan, during an awful season that I maybe reading too much into what I'm seeing and looking to project blame onto someone, even if it's a none baseball entity like Bernie Madoff. But to me, as I attempt to be as objective as possible, it appears that the Mets are hurting.
The first sign is that this off-season was business as usual until after the J.J. Putz trade, right around that trade the Mets drastically changed their approach to the off-season which seemed to coincide with the announcement of the Madoff scandal.
Since then I'm not seeing one or two troubling indicators, but multiple signs that this team is financially in trouble...
1) Failed to sign a left fielder, despite several left fielders becoming available at a drastically reduced rate.
2) Failed to sign several reasonably valued players for the bench such as Pudge Rodriguez and Orlando Hudson.
3) Refused to eat a bad contract in Luis Castillo despite other teams making that decision such as Detroit with Sheffield.
4) Picking the cheaper starting pitching contract in Oliver Perez over the more expensive starters, compounded by not signing a second tier starter when they became reasonable as depth but instead signing four lower level starters ( Fossum, Garcia, Hernandez, Redding instead of Garland or Wolf).
5) After passing on Abreu and Dunn, while denying it was about money and more about believing in Murphy, signing Sheffield because he was almost free.
6) Denying they needed a second left handed reliever when good ones were available but expensive ( Affledt/Beimel) then signing several inexpensive lefties ( Takahashi, Switzer, Fossum, Misch, Lopez) and admitting during the season they needed one to step up from what they had.
7) Early in the season when a trade or two would have made a difference but would have added payroll, not making one by using the excuse that there wouldn't be room for the player when the injured returned.
8) Towards the deadline not making a trade and using the excuse that it would have cost too much in prospects despite several players moving for one lower level prospect ( #15 or higher).
9) At the same time the Mets resisted making trades ( early on when the matra was that there was concerns about room when players returned) they let several players go from Buffalo ( about the time you could tell Buffalo's season was over) who had major league experience; Wily Mo Pena, Javier Valentin, Bobby Kielty.
10) While not making trades and cutting expensive AAA players, then acquiring cheaper players off waivers such Angel Berroa, Wilson Valdez, Arturo Lopez, Anderson Hernandez.
11) It's my belief that they didn't make any trades because they knew the extent of the injuries and knew the season was over, strung along fans to keep attendance up.
12) Once again taking a slotting approach to the draft, many minor league followers I have read had serious questions about the players they draft and then allowed two players to go unsigned.
13) Trading Billy Wagner for all of his salary instead of sending some money with him and getting better prospects.
14) Cutting Livan Hernandez just before his incentives kicked in despite having several pitching concerns.
15) Allowing Johan Santana to pitch in the second half despite arm trouble during a losing season, which seems like another attendance getter despite being a huge injury risk.
16) Allowing players to risk further injury by coming back; Beltran and Maine with Wright to a lesser degree.
17) Moving the instructional academy to DR which has been excused by saying they would have more camps to play but also saved significant money.
18) Not calling up several players who have been kept on the 40 man roster and are veterans, either they're of no use and should be cut or they're not being called up for financial reasons.
19) Many struggling teams in these economic times, have rewarded their fans by having $1 concession stands and other similar promotional nights while everything is still full price.
20) Rumors that payroll will be reduced despite needing a 1B, LF, catcher, #2 and set-up man at the least.
Even the worst GM and medical staff in the league don't make this many tactical errors in one season, I truly believe these are all indicators that the Mets are in financial straights. After the Madoff scandal broke the Mets have done everything possible to cut cost in payroll without looking like they're in economic distress and tried everything to keep fans coming. Whether it's having players fight through pain to continue playing or comeback, to the hope that a player is coming back, and only when too long has passed with too many questions being asked is there a sudden but vague set-back.
Francoeur appears to be a great deal for us and I don't want to miss the positive, but it really isn't relevant to this post since it was basically an even swap and while it doesn't support my argument it also doesn't counter it.
0 comments:
Post a Comment