Jeff Wilpon Throws Down the Gauntlet
Perhaps lost in all the excitement and ballyhoo of Terry Collins and Dan Warthen receiving two-year contract extensions were the quotes of Jeff Wilpon. Particularly this one:
“The pressure is on all of us to win. I don’t look at it as pressure, but look at it as an opportunity, how Sandy has looked at it.”
Wait, what? So, is it pressure, or isn’t it pressure?
I think Jeffy was saying that the organization feels the pressure to win, but are choosing to accept it as an opportunity. I also believe this perspective comes from a self-help book — which is cool, as I have read a number of those in my time.
Whatever, it sounds like Jeffy realizes that everyone is expecting some kind of forward movement, after five straight losing seasons, and more specifically, a won-loss record that has gotten worse, worse, and worse again in the three years of “not rebuilding” under Sandy Alderson.
This proclamation is eerily reminiscent of one made in 2009 — when Omar Minaya’s tush was similarly simmering. Yes, I do believe it sounds like Sandy Alderson is on the hot seat. Shouldn’t he be, after three years of seeing a team perform progressively worse? (Hmm … can anything be “progressively worse?”)
During Monday’s presser, much was made about the suddenly dissolved financial constraints, mainly due to the contract of Johan Santana and Jason Bay coming off the books. Alderson made clear that the Mets were in position to make a $100M offer to a player, if it was the “right” player. (We’re not privy to the advanced algorithm denoting what players might be “right,” but we’ll trust that Alderson and co. have that figured out.) Though, from the other side of his mouth, Alderson also said this:
“We’d be in a position to do it, whether it were the right player. But would it be prudent to do it, even for the right player? It’s not out of the question. Will we do it, that is more of a strategic question, not a matter of resources.”
I swear to God that this sounded a lot better to my ears than it looks in type. I swear.
Regardless, even through the doublespeak, it sounds like the Mets have the financial resources to obtain expensive players, and the Mets are expecting a winning season in 2014. Go back to that link a few paragraphs ago and click on it, if you didn’t already. Ironically, that was the same winter the Mets signed the aforementioned Bay.
See what I did there?
Looking back to the past to predict the future, here’s what I’m seeing in my orange and blue crystal ball: the Mets overpay for a free-agent this winter to make it appear as though they’re serious about winning next season. Or, roughly translated, they’re going to sign someone like Shin-Soo Choo or trade for a high-priced talent like Troy Tulowitzki for the express purpose of selling season tickets.
Am I nuts? Or do you believe history tends to repeat itself? And/or that someone other than the GM has been in charge of the Mets ever since Nelson Doubleday was pushed out.
Fire away in the comments.
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Though, if you’re suggesting that they can’t win no matter what they do, then yes, correct.
However, I think getting either Choo or Tulowitzki would help the team on the field. But only Tulowitzki would impact ticket sales, IMO. Further, I think selling tickets — generating excitement among the fans, bringing in revenue — should be a goal of this organization. It would be a good thing, not something to sneer at.
I don’t believe Sandy has it in his constitution to win a bidding war on Choo. I also think Troy’s contract gets more and more reasonable as each day passes. Last season, the Mets basically had Tim Spehr at shortstop.
JP (“2 Guys”)
Alderson is an expert at saying the obvious but then “sandyspeaking” about actions to be taken. I know he is balancing “gamesmanship” with “being truthful to the paying customers”. However, his language is still concerning to me, and I will only believe actions (or inactions). There is a lot of talk about pegging a payroll budget, but the real test is how many holes are on the team when the take the field opening day 2014. As Sandy admitted, the 2013 team (and 2012 as well) had a ton of holes, ie below average players, from the get go. He knew this as well as you or me, but he spun it differently because of the Wilpon Benjamins hitting his bank account every two weeks. Anyhow, they are very close to the vest about how much “freed up” cash they have. The problem here is that everyone in MLB has anothe $15 to $20 mil to spend this year because of the new TV money. So, the 2013 payroll was about $95 mil, that would project the 2014 payroll to be $110 mil. They are tied to about $55mil given contracts and arb projections, so saying they have $30 to $35 mil to spend gets them to $85 to $90 mil, barring a trade of Ike or Murphy. They will have a hard time filling all these holes in a marketplace that has the other 29 teams with extra money. The Choos of the world will cost big time given the laws of supply and demand. Ultimately, I could care less what the spend on payroll – the true test is how many replacement level players they have on the roster. My fear, they sign someone, say a Choo, or swing a deal for Cargo or Tulo, and then cheap out on the other needs – a legit SS, a vet arm in the pen, a quality MLB starter as Harvey insurance, and they spin it as an upgrade when they go to battle with a thin squad. Maybe it will be different, but all the body language I see is that they are still going on the cheap.
The Wilpons are a different story. I’ve always felt they consider fans an inconvenient truth of owning a baseball team – something they have manage risks about rather than listen to. There’s a sleazy, snake-oily feeling to both father and son that I don’t feel about Alderson.
Either way, I expect them to put on a show this offseason that they can point to and say, “see? we got this guy,” but when it comes down to really committing to winning, rather than “competing,” they will once again fall short. It’s simply not in the Wilpons’ nature to go for the jugular. Never has been, never will be.
Otherwise, pretty much agree with all you state.
All of this points to the calculating, risk managing nature I spoke of earlier, and of the idea that winning was never the priority. The Wilpons knew a storm was coming and wanted an articulate, respected voice who could diffuse and deflect problems. To their credit (sort of), they hired the perfect guy.
It’s not that the Wilpons don’t want to win. They’re simply bad at it.
(Right now they may also be broke, but I don’t know what to believe on that score.)
Scott Boras wanted more. The Mets signed Perez in February because they needed a starter, and while the only two good ones were Derek Lowe and Perez, Boras represented both. He knew the Mets would take Erez back, so he signed Lowe with the Braves. If they didn’t sign Perez, they would have nothing.
If Omar had held fast at half the $ Perez got, no one would have topped it. That is why it was a terrible signing. Pay Ollie what he’s worth, and you can cut him when he tanks and still have $ to spend. Instead, Omar sank a big chunk of the team budget into him. Inexcusable.
I’d love to have him, but not for anywhere near the price he’ll command.
It is the end of days for F and Jw. They don’t have the money to run a MLB team. Their holding on to the team is doing more damage then good.
They are running this once proud franchise into the ground
While I’ll allways be a MET FAN , It hurts me to see my team in such sad shape for so long.
Insofar as history repeating itself, that certainly bears watching and again no reason to believe it won’t, the only difference all along is can the Mets get a front office that keeps the Wilpons duitifully on both eyes of the ball. Development and investment. Spend on development, spend on existing talent. That is how the Red Sox, Cardinals, Rangers, Angels (until their owner got free agent crazy) have done it. Spend on both sides of the aisle.
I’m happy to have had the tail end of Johan’s prime rather than Guerra, Mulvey, Humber and Gomez’s growing pains.
I don’t think the problem was giving Jason Bay $64 mil for 4 years either — at the time it seemed fair, and a healthy organization should be able to survive one FA tanking (see Rowand and the Giants).
It’s never been about philosophy, I think it’s simply an issue of competence — picking the right players to move and keep, buying low and selling high, etc. Alderson seems the last to know when his own guys are good or bad or injury risks, and his big signing was Frank Francisco, so I’d say the problem persists.
I would like to see them trade for CarGo – I’d think Duda, Flores, Montero and Lara would be a fair package. Gonzalez has had a home/road split problem in the past, but in 2013 he was better on the road, a pattern that follows what Matt Holliday did going from Colorado to Oakland to St. Louis. He’s also only 29 and signed for only 4 more years.
And I would like to see them get Abreu, assuming their scouts like him. Add a Stephen Drew or similar player for SS and a pitcher like Phil Hughes who can start or relieve (and would be relieved to get out of Yankee Stadium – see his home/road splits) and you have a playoff team and WS contender.
And this past season was the only one in his career that bucked that trend. Possible that he has matured, possible it was a fluke. Taking a risk in either scenario. Tulowitzki on the other hand, he has had at least an .850 OPS since 2009 away from Coors field, that is five years of good strong evidence that he will produce anywhere. Not to mention in what is yes a small sample size, he has RAKED at CitiField.
I’m with Patrick about CarGo, though. He’d be an upgrade, but not worth what he’d cost. Tulo, on the other hand, might be worth it.
In contrast, under the Alderson regime, several minor league teams were cut, the overseas operations almost completely abandoned, and the scouting department was trimmed significantly. So, yes, I’d agree that the Mets system is a far cry from the Bernazard years. I’ll be the first to say Bernazard was poisonous, but as far as the investment in developing young talent, the Mets have gone backward. I don’t see anything better happening now compared to then — we’re hearing about all this pitching depth at the minor league levels, but that’s all it is: minor league pitching. Four to five years ago, there were just as many unproven “prospects” in the minors as today. We won’t know for sure if Alderson’s “lean and mean” system is any better than Minaya’s for several years.
What player developed completely by the Mets’ farm during Alderson’s three years was on the 25-man roster? Harvey was brought in by Minaya, as was Murphy, Davis, Duda, Niese, Parnell, Tejada, Gee, Lagares, Nieuwenhuis, den Dekker, Satin, Valespin, Flores, Tovar, Mejia, Familia, Edgin …. need I go on? Point being, we won’t see the fruits of Alderson’s system, and be able to evaluate them, for a while, so it’s impossible to try to say what he’s doing now is better than what Minaya was doing before.
Would you give him the fact that he has stocked us with some outstanding young talent with the Beltran, Dickey and Byrd/Buck trades? And I see that Dominick Smith was just namad the #4 prospect in the GCL and Amed Rosario #1, Robert Whalen #15 and Chris Flexen #19 in the Appy. Nimmo and Cecchini are looking better and better. Consider Gant, Gsellman, Mazilli, Boyd, Plawecki, Lugo, Lawley, Bowman, Taijeron, Dykstra, Montero, Muno, Mazzoni, and a host of quality relievers too numerous to mention.
All in all, I’d give Sandy pretty good grades in building this organization in his 3 years here.
I don’t need to give Alderson any credit here, as he gets plenty of it at every other major Mets blog. Consider this site the FOX News of the Mets blogosphere — fair and balanced.
As I stated previously, it’s difficult if not impossible to judge what Alderson has done in regard to drafting and acquiring talent, because the players remain “prospects” and “projectable” but until they start playing at the MLB level, it’s all hot air. All the names you mention, I’m sure, are skilled players with great potential. However, they’re no different from the Mets minor leaguers people were raving about 3 years, or 3 years prior to that, etc.
So let me get this straight: Teams usually loose while they are rebuilding. Sandy Alderson comes in with a plan to rebuild the organization. He executes that plan incredibly well and the expected by-product of that plan, the team losing during the rebuilding period, has in your estimation put him on the hot seat? How does an expected outcome of doing your job well make you in danger of losing your job for not doing your job well?
2. What makes what Alderson is doing so “incredibly well”? Based on what?
3. I didn’t say he was on the hot seat. I was inferring he was on the hot seat based on Jeff Wilpon’s statement that the team is under pressure to win in 2014. If the owner of a company says the company must succeed, then to me that means his first report is responsible for succeeding — ergo, on the hot seat.
May I take a stab at answering.
1. A team does not have to lose while rebuilding. Only losing teams have to lose while rebuilding.
2. School is out as to how well he has done it, and that depends on how the players he has drafted turn out. At the MLB level, he has done nothing more than trade stars for prospects, reduce salary, and deploy replacement level players to bide time for three years. You, me, and thousands could have done what Alderson has done to date.
3. Sandy is not on the hot seat, he is in the driver’s seat. The Wiplons (specifically Jeff) are in the hot seat. Sandy will have made $12 million in 4 years, is nearing retirement age, and can fall into either the commissioner’s job, a high paid suit job, or a comfortable retirement. On the other hand, if Alderson has a bad winter and the Mets continue with sub-.500 play, and he flees, the worth of the Mets will take a huge hit, much bigger than it has to date with the declining attendance and TV ratings. Jeff can say whatever he wants, if 2014 is a failure, he will be the biggest loser by far.
Nicely done.
Because it’s a little hard to believe that someone who is paid to follow the Mets could honestly believe that the 2013 off-season is in any way comparable to the 2009 off-season.
For a clue as to why, try reading the first sentence of Dave’s comment above. Then come back and tell me that the acquisition of a top-tier free-agent hitter would be nothing more than a scheme to sell more season tickets.
Where do you get the idea I’m PAID to follow the Mets? This blog is a losing proposition, to the point where it may be shut down due to lack of revenues. Maybe I can get 20 investors to keep the site running, if I promise them a tour of my studio apartment and a seat on my couch as they watch me blog.
I hope this is not true
is that an attempt at a joke?
Can we also trade Murphy, den Dekker and deGrom for Mike Trout while trading Harvey and Syndergaard for Justin Masterson?
Years of financial constraints may have been the result of their bad faith and/or incompetence, but they were real. What they now face is a vicious cycle: they need decent players to lure talent, but that talent is unlikely to join a team that may be years away from competing.
If you mean win games and compete for championships, then no, I disagree and will look on eBay for a new crystal ball.
Of course, no one wants to lose, but people have priorities. Winning baseball games is nowhere near #1 on the list for the Wilpons, and never has been, in my opinion. Based on their actions and comments over the past 30 years, it seems to me that it’s always been about being “sports moguls” and re-living Fred’s childhood romance with Ebbets Field.
Again, based purely on actions I’ve seen through the years, and conversations I’ve had with people directly involved, the Wilpons spent JUST ENOUGH to create the appearance of “winning at all costs.” There were several opportunities from 2005-2008 to pick up one or two of the right “final pieces,” but the decision not to pull the trigger was due to dollars — and we’re not talking hundreds of millions, either.
Whether that refusal is a lie or ineptitude, it doesn’t sound like “spending just enough for appearances” to me. Can’t you come in second on one of those free agents if that’s your goal? Can’t you dump Glavine to clear payroll and spin it as a youth movement? I dunno, man.
I was going to mention 2002′s splurge as well, but then I looked it up and saw that Doubleday wasn’t out until late 2002. So I suppose the Wilpons’ track record is shakier than I first thought.
For years the Wilpons flexible payroll, though confusing, was pitched as a way to add if needed. Minaya told reporters every year that he’d been approved to spend, but there were no good deals to be made. Were these all 100% lies?
Trades-Wheeler for Beltran
Buck, Darnaud and Thor for Dickey
Signing Byrd
Trading for EY
He has made bad moves as well – drafting Nimmo when Jose Fernandez was the pick right after him
Trading Pagan for crap
Letting Reyes go for nothing
So far Alderson’s draft picks have not developed
So we need a Power Hitting OF – Sign Beltran and Byrd again short term 2 years
We need a solution at 1B – Sign Abreu 5 years
We need a solution at SS – Sign Peralta or Drew 2 years
This way we leave our pitching depth alone and fill gaps with spending…which we were told they should be able to do and if they don’t we know its time to look for another team to root for unless the Wilpons are dumped…
Nice nickname for Syndergaard, BTW.
I’m no defender or apologist for the Wilpons, but they aren’t Jeff Loria, either.
As bad as the Mets have been under Sandy he can hardly be blamed. If given no money to spend how can he really build a contending team? Even trading can add to payroll. His hands are tied.
Plus I believe October 2014 his contract is up. So I don’t see him being fired. He was simply brought into slash payroll, help with the debt and put together a bit of a miner league system. Assuming the Wilpons pay off or pay off a good portion of their debt the next GM will have more of a budget to sign players plus enough of a minor league system to pull off trades. So really Sandy is setting up the next GM to build a winner
In other words, Jeff is blowing smoke up our you-know-whats.
Jeff never seems to have credibility because he makes empty sounding comments, and this is the latest example. Alderson was never brought here to win now, but it seems like he was brought here to build a cheap winner for the long run.
The Wilpons have always, always taken the cheap fix to things and so they are quite happy waiting for the money to start coming via the Tampa/Oakland method. Imagine for seven years of contention and 3.5 million customers at about $60 a head, but always having rookies come up so your payroll is about $75-85MM.
2B – Young
RF – Aoki
3B – Wright
LF – Cuddyer
SS – Peralta
1B – Duda/Satin/Davis
C – d’Arnaud
CF – Lagares
That’s an acceptable NL lineup, though the Young-Peralta defense will probably cost us.
I dig buying low on Haren, but only with a strong defensive team. The man doesn’t walk people, but he does give up a lot of hard contact.
Mujica is an above-average reliever, but paying him Proven Closer money would be waste. Frasor + Hughes might be better.
Let’s forget the Mets for a few weeks and enjoy the playoffs!
I agree with most of you points, but not all points.
1. My understanding is that they did not give Bay more money. They reached an agreement with him to spread payments over 3 years instead of paying him the 2013 salary and buyout in 2013. In turn, Bay got his release and a change to reignite his career elsewhere. It was a win win, and Bay got more money out of it based on being paid from his new team as well as the Mets so long as he could maintain a MLB job. The Met motivation provided some cash flow benefit, but it also gave Alderson some 2013 flexibility should the Mets actually compete (however unlikely) and need an addition.
2. Focus on 2014 is clearly for baseball reasons. The Mets will be able to refinance the $250 mil loan coming due simply because they still have plenty of collateral in their baseball assets…based on the Dodger sale and YES sale to FOX, the Mets franchise plus SNY is worth over $2 billion, and their debt is under $1 billion, so banks will have no problem refinancing. The only issue is the bleeding from consistent operating losses, due to declining revenues and high interest payments. The banks may actually spend more time questioning the business plan going forward to make the team profitable. The fix is to have a better team, which requires more spending, so the banks may actually cause pressure to spend more, which will hopefully be good for the fan base.
3. Unless any of us personally know the Wilpons, and I don’t, is is somewhat of a guess as to how badly they want to win. I think Jeff would like nothing more than to ride down broadway in a victory parade as owner of the Mets. The problem is that, as you stated, they were very smug with the Madoff situation and the illusion of beating the investment marketplace, and they made other bad business decisions like overleveraging themselves to build Fred’s Palace in combination with starting the TV network. Despite the mess and the debt, these guys are collectively net billionnaires. They need to spend there way out of the mess, and that begins now.
There’s no right and wrong, it’s really just wild-eyed speculation at the end of the day about the Wilpons’ finances. Pretty sad that we Met fans hang our sorry hopes their wallet, but the unfortunate reality is in recent years this speculation has been more entertaining than the baseball.
You simply have to look at it that way: a wild card is not a playoff spot, it’s just a chance to play for one. That’s fine, whereas “we made the playoffs and were eliminated in one game” isn’t. It’s not a format issue, just a presentation issue. They just need to rename it GAME 163.
As for division races, that part didn’t pan out so hot this year as 5 out of 6 division leaders ran away with it. But at least I got to root for the Pirates to catch the Cardinals — in 2011, I wouldn’t have cared, because both were in the playoffs for real regardless of who won the Central.
This is what I see:
That’s why I am saying don’t get over emotional about this team and don’t expect a star-studded off-season. Not when the Wilpon’s are your owners and u have 30 mil to spend. It scares the hell outta me when I read the other day that Johan and Dice-k have a strong chance of coming back to this team, the mets are on the hook for 5.5 mil already for this year on Santana this year, it would not shock me for them to throw a mil or 2 at him and bring him back for the year. When I hear Dice-k is a Terry Collins favorite, I almost threw up, but that tells me he’s coming back and they don’t want to spend 1 dollar more then they have to on SP, because they want to spend on offense. But with only a 30 mil spending limit, I see Ethier coming whether its for Murphy straight up (50-50), Parnell straight up (25% chance) or Mejia and Flores (better then I thought), I see Marlon Byrd coming back, he owes the Mets for giving him a chanceb when no one else would, he will be a cheap price also around 2 yrs 8 million and I see the SS Peralta coming 2 yrs 16 million. It will either be Young at 2b and either Murphy or Duda at 1b. Ike will be dealt for a backup C, rp or a prospect, they probably bring back Latroy Hawkins and they get a backup c. I thought the mets had 30 million to spend this off-season, if its 40 mil and I have another 10 mil and this uncertainies with Parnell’s neck are real then I would sign Joe Nathan 2 yrs 20 million, 10 million per, But I think Dan Haren is the guy they get. That’s their off-season.
Lineup-Byrd in Lf, Lageras in CF, Ethier in Rf, Wright at 3b, Peralta at SS, Young at 2b, 1b-Murphy or Duda
SP-Wheeler, Neise, Gee, Haren, Mejia
RP-Parnell, Black, Hawkins, Rice, Edgin, German, Famila
Bench- Backup C, Tejada, Turner, Den Dekker, Satin
I’m still projecting a 30 million spending limit, if its true, someone pointed out a bargin OF that could be someone the mets go after and that’s Nate Mclouth. We may not trade for Ethier because of it, but were still going to the flee market when it comes to free agent shopping and not Tiffany’s. I could see
LF-Nate Mclouth 2 yrs 10 million
Rf-Marlon Byrd 2 yrs 10 million
SS-Jhony Peralta 2 yrs 16 million
Dan Haren 1 yr 8 million or 2 yrs 16 million
Rp-Latroy Hawkins 1 yr 2 million
Backup C 1 yr 2 million.
Their determined not to give up their top pitching prospects and their also determined not to give up their draft picks 1st and 2nd for any free agent. Plus Alderson always talks about flexibility and short term deals, these 5 guys are no more then 1 or 2 yrs.
If they had 10 million more to spend and their spending limit was 40 million, yeah why not sign Joe Nathan 2 yrs 20 million, 10 mil per.