Category: mets

I just skimmed the Sports Illustrated Article about Fred Wilpon and I came away bored.  It’s like New Yorker Article Lite.

I don’t really care about Fred’s money, real estate, upbringing, etc….so I guess this wasn’t the article for me.

Two articles along the same lines makes me believe there was a Wilpon PR strategy which appears to have majorly backfired, at least in terms of the sports page.

Two things that I thought would interest you guys…

The payment was based on the return Bonilla would’ve received had he invested the $5.9 million at an interest rate of 8% (which was just below the 8.5% prime rate at the time).

Why would the Mets make such a deal? The Bonilla money would be invested with Madoff, from whom the Mets expected the usual 10 to 12% return, or two to four percentage points above the rate they guaranteed Bonilla. “We were going to make money on Bobby Bo’s $30 million,” says one official who was at the meeting. “I remember the chuckling in the room.”

…

The relationship between Wilpon and Doubleday, who lived three miles apart, had grown so toxic that they rarely spoke—except when Doubleday wanted to complain about Jeff Wilpon, who had risen to the title of Mets COO. Says Fred, “There’s no question there were not good vibes between us. Today I see Nelson, and it’s not a problem. I don’t have animosity toward him today. He hated Jeff. He didn’t like Saul. He didn’t like anybody in my family. He liked Judy. Everybody likes Judy.”

The article is here.

I think we kinda knew this already (didn’t we?) but I like watching everyone panic so here you go…

Fred Wilpon acknowledged to Sports Illustrated that the payroll could go down about 30 percent next offseason.

If the Mets’ payroll is roughly $140 million this year, that means $98 million next year.

via Mets Blog – ESPN New York.

Let’s focus on something positive for a few minutes (at least until the beat reporters tweet from the locker room about Fredgate).

TEAMMATES WEEK: The 2011 “Teammates in the Community
Week” will launch on Memorial Day, May 30 and honor our nation’s
military through a weeklong series of events…Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson, who served in the Marines for four years with a tour of duty in Vietnam, Manager Terry Collins, players and front-office staff will join with Citi executives and participate in programs during the week with active military personnel and veterans…The series of events will include a visit to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, a special ceremony at the Empire State Building, a softball tournament at Citi Field with members of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, a wheelchair softball exhibition in the Citi Field parking lot featuring veterans, and a visit to a Veterans Hospital...The Citi Veterans Network will be engaging veterans for select events.

THIS DATE IN METS HISTORY: Rusty Staub goes 5-9 in a 19-inning affair on May 24, 1973 vs. Los Angeles (NL)…Ed Kranepool’s two-run double plates the go-ahead runs as the Mets defeat the Dodgers, 7-3, to end the marathon.

I’m an old-fogey whose brain doesn’t understand new-fangled “advanced” stats..but Howard Megdal made this interesting point.

Is David Wright a good guy, not a superstar? Well, even including his 2011, mostly played with a stress fracture in his back and therefore not likely to indicate his current talent, Wright has the seventh-highest OPS of any 3B through his age-28 season. The other six include five Hall of famers- Eddie Mathews, Mike Schmidt, George Brett, Home Run Baker, Wade Boggs- and likely Hall of Famer Chipper Jones.

via Fred Wilpon: Wrong On The Merits | The LoHud Mets Blog.