Coincidence?

Bob Ley, host of Outside the Lines on ESPN, pointed out today that in the 19 games since Fred Wilpon’s feelings regarding Jose Reyes became publicly known, Reyes is hitting an astonishing .429. Further, in those 19 games Reyes has tallied 14 multi-hit games.

Adam Rubin pointed out a few days ago that Jose is making it harder for the Mets to let him walk and perhaps even harder to keep him.

Today on OTL, Adam Rubin also said:

• Sandy Alderson plans to contact Jose’s agent at some point before the deadline to get an idea of what kind of money Reyes might be expecting.
• Now that the Mets have reached .500 it is very unlikely that Jose will be moved by the deadline. It is more likely that the Mets will “take a stab” at re-signing him in the off-season.
• The main hold ups are the money (obviously) and the length of a potential contract. Alderson isn’t a fan of signing players to long-term deals, so if Reyes wants 7 years it complicates things, especially considering Reyes would be 35 by the end of that type of contract.

Mets Futility Could Help Einhorn

Adam Rubin wrote an interesting article (linked below) on ESPN New York about David Einhorn and how he could benefit greatly from Fred Wilpon’s financial crisis. In short, Rubin wrote that Einhorn has made a living off of betting on losers. In this case, Einhorn would benefit from Fred Wilpon taking a major blow in his billion dollar lawsuit as well as from the team continuing to struggle on the field and at the ticket office. In other words, the more the team loses, the more Wilpon loses. The more Wilpon loses, the more Einhorn wins.

Three years from now, Wilpon will have the option to accept or reject Einhorn’s increase in team ownership from what it is now to 60%. However, if Wilpon elects to reject that increase, Einhorn would still retain his minority share of the team and have all of his money refunded to him. In effect, this means the worst case scenario for him is that he is currently paying a loan to get minority ownership. Best case scenario is he is the majority owner in three years.

As awkward of a relationship as it might create between the two, Einhorn benefits from Wilpon’s financial struggle. It’s hard to imagine with the team losing and Fred Wilpon seemingly in desperation that three years from now things will have made a turn for the better so much so that he can hold onto the team. From appearances alone, it seems that he is on his way out.

Therefore, if I had to guess, Einhorn will be the majority owner some time around 2014.

Here is a link to Rubin’s article, which has additional quotes from David and some more insight.

Beating This Into Submission

I won’t make this too long.

Thoughts with regards to Wilpon’s comments:

Asinine. Devaluing your franchise player earns negative publicity and criticism. It’s just bad business. David Wright may not be one of the top 10 players in baseball, but his intrinsic value alone makes it purely asinine to make such condescending remarks. Wright is one of the very few reasons people buy tickets these days. He’s a great guy, but the damage may have been done with regards to his next potential contract. Is he going to want to work for a boss that views him as a “nice kid” but not a superstar despite the fact everything about his responsibilities on and off the field projects a superstar image?

How about Jose Reyes? How exactly should Sandy sell him to somebody on July 28th when he’s been labeled more or less damaged goods?  Is Fred trying to devalue him so much that the Mets will be in theory able to re-sign him this off-season for much less than he is expecting? I don’t know. I don’t really expect that to work if that is the twisted logic he’s using.

In short, if you’re to increase the value of a product, telling people that the best parts of the product are overrated and/or prone to fall apart so to speak will not help anything.

The Mets are not cursed. They’re just run poorly.

Fred: We Need An Owner Not A Fan

Dear Fred Wilpon,

When you get a chance read your quotes from the New Yorker below closely.

About David Wright:

“A really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar.”

About Jose Reyes:

“He thinks he’s going to get Carl Crawford money.  He’s had everything wrong with him.  He won’t get it.”

About Carlos Beltran:

“We had some schmuck (referring to himself) in New York who paid him based on that one series.    He’s sixty-five to seventy per cent of what he was.”

I believe you are a fan, and part of me digs that.  So many times I read about owners that don’t give a shit about how the team performs (see the Pittsburgh Pirates or L.A. Clippers).  However, it seems to me that you have no clue how your words impact the entire organization as well as the entire fan base.

Don’t get me wrong, you are entitled to have these opinions. Just keep them away from the public.  Jose Reyes, David Wright, Ike Davis, and Carlos Beltran don’t care what I think.  They certainly care what you do.  They are your employees.  That is a huge difference between you and me.

I’m glad you recognize that you alone are the one to blame for the size of the Beltran contract. Personally,  I don’t have a problem with it, because I have enjoyed watching him play.  But I also understand that contract has impacted what you have done with other players.

The problem with what you said is, other potential free agents will read this article.  Do you think they want to play for an owner that will flat-out dog a player for his worst professional moment in public like that?

I agree with your assessment of David Wright.  However, he is the face of your franchise, and sells tickets.  You just de-valued one of your few remaining money-making assets.  Not to mention, you probably created a situation in which he will press even more, probably in an effort to prove you wrong.

Don’t think this would be a good thing if he succeeds either.  He’ll probably sign with the Phillies when his contract expires so he can shove it down your throat the rest of his career.

On to your comments about Jose Reyes which are by far the most idiotic of the bunch.  There are fans out there that agree with your assessment.  The problem is you completely hamstrung your front office in terms of either trading him or re-signing him.

Any team interested in trading for Jose just started taking players off the table for a potential deal before it was even offered.  Jose and his agent now have more motivation to look for more money to prove you wrong as well as have a motivator to leave New York high and dry.

Oh, by the way, you probably alienated your entire front office in this article as well.  It is going to be a great deal more difficult trying to build a winner with comments like this.

I believe you are passionate about the Mets.  Even your buddy Saul said you feel they should win 162 games a year.  The difference between you and me is that you have the ability to affect change.  Your biggest problem is you can’t get out of your own way (see all of the evidence listed above).

After this lack of professionalism, how can you possibly expect fans to buy tickets knowing that you destroyed any leverage you have in potential future decisions regarding the most important issues facing the Mets?

My perception of you is that you have a hard time separating business from your personal opinions.  Obviously, I don’t have all of the information, but I feel this is a fair assessment from what I do know.  Look at the Madoff mess for an example.  You are in the middle of a billion dollar lawsuit because of this issue.

We are all frustrated that your team hasn’t made the playoffs since 2006.  Kicking people while they are down and hamstringing your front office doesn’t seem like an appropriate solution to the problem.  How can you not see this?

If you need more advice feel free to contact me at midwestropolitan@gmail.com, or by our Twitter account, or our Facebook page.

Respectfully,

Jason, The Midwestropoitan

Summing Up The Madoff Mess

If you are like me, trying to ascertain the true impact of the Madoff mess is a gargantuan task. Did they or didn’t they? One billion or $300 million? Positive net worth or negative net worth?

One thing is certain, this situation is not drivel created by the media to entertain the masses. This is an affair that Met fans should pay close attention to.

Howard Megdal summed it up best as he wrote the following:

“But make no mistake: the resolution of Irving Picard’s suit against Fred Wilpon is not a mere distraction. Reasonable people can disagree about the need for steroids coverage, but it is indisputably re-litigating the past. The result of Picard’s suit, and the financial maneuvering it forces upon Fred Wilpon, will impact the way the Mets are run for years to come. This will be true whether with a new owner, a financially-compromised Wilpon ownership, or a minority partner empowered in some way with the team (authority or cut of profits).”

Typically, I believe that the truth lies somewhere in the middle in most matters. This lawsuit is probably no different. The problem is, the middle of one billion and 300 million dollars doesn’t exactly drum up thoughts of smooth sailing for the Mets operationally.

The Wilpons have sealed the deal in terms of starting us off with another season of uncertainty. Sadly, the financial issues the Mets face are ginormous in comparison to Carlos Beltran’s knee or Jose Reyes’ impending free agency.

Thanks for the annual bout of pre-season torment Frank, Jeffy, and Uncle Saul.

Look at it this way, paying Oliver Perez 12 million dollars this season doesn’t seem like all that much money anymore. There is always a silver lining……

Originally published on Mets Gazette.