Dear Fred,
I must call to your attention the paid attendance for yesterday’s game. 20,338.
There is no typo there. 20,338. Paid.
It was a nice Saturday afternoon.
It was “Harvey Day” as your marketing efforts have heavily promoted, including offering ticket deals.
20,338
Your team plays in Market Number One.
You own your own television network.
You got your new stadium.
You have a charismatic young star who people seem to love.
There are no other tricks in the playbook.
Well, there is one. Winning. We both know winning will bring people to the park.
20,338.
You fleeced the die-hards by starting Opening Day tickets at $63 before you had to drop prices to give yourself at announcing a sellout on Opening Day. My eyes didn’t agree with your announcement.
20,338. Saturday. Harvey Day. New stadium.
How is this in any way acceptable to you?
So let’s try winning. Here is today’s lineup.
Omar Quintanilla – SS
Jordany Valdespin – RF
David Wright – 3B
Daniel Murphy – 2B
Mike Baxter – LF
Ike Davis – 1B
Anthony Recker – C
Juan Lagares – CF
Jonathon Niese – LHP
How many of those folks would start for most of the other major league teams?
Wright would be the 3B on most teams. Niese makes anyone’s rotation. Murphy (and you know I love him) might work his way into other lineups, but might be a 4 day a week player on good teams. The rest might not even make major league rosters.
You have little organizational depth. There aren’t too many guys to call up, and especially apparently not outfielders.
20,338.
The horses have left the barn Fred.
20,338. Harvey Day. Saturday. 20,338.Welcome to 1978.
Next year you won’t have the All Star Game to distract. That means next year is 1979 in Queens.
And you know what happened after 1979, right?
TiqIQ’s job is to find the best deals and sellers out there on the market, get your MLB All-Star tickets with PrimeSport for this summer at Citi Field.
Have to agree with you on this!
I can’t wait for that Mets vs Marlind doubleheader on Sept 14th!
How many people will be there then?…12
Daniel Murphy is a good fielder and hits .290, how is that not the starting second baseman on every team?
Murph starts on at least half the NL teams, and with a reasonable lineup around him would probably hit .300.
The only thing the Mets can do at this point is slash ticket prices. The only thing keeping me from showing up with my new 9-yr-old Mets fan (who’s getting a baptism by fire this season, that’s for sure) are the outlandish prices. There’s no earthly reason I should need to spend $85 to sit on the second level to watch this team lose to the Marlins.
It is what it is at this point. The Mets didn’t get here overnight, and they’re not going to get out of it overnight. There’s no magic wand to wave and make better players appear. You either have to build organizational depth and strength or throw around money on free agents.
There’s been a lack of position players up and down the organization for years; even when we had a 30-homer guy on 1st and a batting title winner at short, there was no one on the bench or in AAA to back them up. For a while, the Mets spent enough on the starting lineup to cover that up (somewhat, anyway; missing the playoffs by a single game twice and having other seasons devastated by injuries to one or two players along the way exposed the precarious nature of running a ball club that way). Now, even the money is tied up by bad decisions and misfortune. People complain about the sub-$100 million payroll, but the Mets’ are spending roughly the same amount as the Braves’ this season (some lists say it’s slightly more, some say it’s slightly less), and the two NL East teams outspending them both are 7-8 games back themselves.
Shannon you said it all, This is NYC the #1 market in the WORLD, so why do we have to keep reducing payroll, wilpons keep saying they have to reduce payroll, have they reduced food and drink prices? All the while the Skankees have at least double our payroll and they are competing…Can we compete???…in the next year???…in the next 5 years??? How is it that we don’t have a decent team or a farm system, simple…BAD MANAGEMENT…
That’s why the wilpons NEED to sell this team, they cant afford it and they can’t manage it…GET THE F#@K OUT OF NYC…We deserve a winner.
LETS GO METS!!!
As I have said often, SELL FRED, SELL!
To make matters worse, the bulk of the 20,338 are the last of the Season & Plan holders still duped by the Wilpon’s into renewing.
Sure, throw in a couple 40,15 & 6 game pack holders and about 4 walk-up sales and that about covers it.
Why these people continue to renew year after year is beyond me. I was a Saturday Plan Holder for 25 YEARS!!! But after the 2009 season, when they changed the plans & upped the price, I SAID ENOUGH!!! Have not been back since…
So come this off season, Stay Away from Fred’s Kool Aid, and when your renewal comes….JUST SAY NO!!!!
P.S. To Anonymous: I too spent $85 a seat but that was for the Braves Game at Turner Field last Friday. I was 5 rows back from the Visitors Dugout…..
Well said, Shannon. Wait until next year… when there is no inducement of the All-Star Game to keep season ticket holders on the leash. I have a ticket stub for a 1983 game vs. Montreal. Great seats. A great time sitting first row mez above home plate, drinking beer and watching a very erratic team with a future far rosier than anyone could imagine. You know how much those seats cost? (And I mean against every team, not just the worst team in baseball with your variable pricing nonsense.) That seat cost $5. I couldn’t go enough. And washed-up Mike Torrez was in the rotation and Brian Giles and Gary Rasijch were everyday players. It was reasonably-priced entertainment of questionable quality. This is overpriced dreck. I can wait for new players. I cannot wait for new owners.
$35 (nosebleed)walk up tix for Marlins game, not gonna pay it. Field level were ridiculously priced as well.