Fred Wilpon is Optimistic
Never mind all the naysayers poo-poohing the current state of the Mets — including yours truly. It’s all hogwash and unfair negativity. Mets fans, fear not and be optimistic, because Fred Wilpon is feeling really good about your favorite Flushing baseball club.
A few select quotes culled from Brian Costa’s article in Wall Street Journal:
“How could anybody deny that it’s been a challenging time?” Wilpon said. “But I came from nothing. I meet the challenges. So does Saul and Jeff and our whole family. We’re meeting the challenges and I think we’ll be fine.”
One man’s “fine” is another’s horse dung.
Quoting Bud Selig, in reference to Fred Wilpon:
“He’s been a great owner,” Selig said. “Loves his team. He’s everything you’d want in a local owner. He’s had some economic problems, not caused by himself, and I have a lot of faith in him that he’s working his way through them.”
(Emphasis mine.) I will hold my tongue — but you should feel free to express your reaction to these statements in the comments.
When asked if Reyes’s departure was difficult for him, Wilpon said, “Certainly.…I’m a fan. I understand it, but I’m still pained about it.”
Um … what? Is this Fred’s way of gloating because Reyes didn’t get “Crawford Money“?
“I think we have to get the fans back at the stadium,” Wilpon said. “That’s a necessity. That’s the lifeblood. And to do that, we have to have a good team. We have to be careful that we don’t make some of the mistakes that we made in the past, having long-term contracts that didn’t work out.”
Um … what do long-term contracts that don’t work out have to do with a) having a good team; and b) getting fans back to the stadium?
And by the way, if he wants to get fans BACK TO THE STADIUM, he’ll need to rebuild Shea. Most of the fans he lost were priced out by Ebbets Field II.
“I think we’re going to be better than you think,” he said. “We would hope that Mets fans enjoy going to the ballpark and give this team a try.”
My guess is by “better” he means 72 wins as opposed to 70. And technically, that would be correct.
“This is a tough time,” Wilpon said. “We’re bearing up, I can promise you that.”
Does this make him “bearish”?
Hope you enjoyed this declaration of optimism. Before you rush over to Mets.com to purchase season tickets, please post your effusive comments below.
Cheers!
Get fans back in the stadium? Lifeblood?
On the last day of the 2011 season, I took my family to Citi Field. Five of us. We acquired tickets from two friends – 3 in one section and 2 in another. We convened in one empty section in the Promenade only to be chased out by security in the 5th inning b/c it was a “players” section…empty…players…section…5th inning…
The security guard bull-rushed us out of the section, saying we could be seen on security cameras and that she HAD to move us out. My wife and 3 children…
Stark contrast to the last game of the 2010 season, when we were treated like royalty…Sat on the wall next to National’s dugout, my nephew honored on the field in a “Mets for Vets” ceremony – Wilson Ramos gave him a bat & Jon Niese an American flag. We received a visit from Kevin Burkhardt for half-an-inning.
Earlier in the year, my son – then 11 – was honored at Citi Field for pitching a “perfect” perfect game by striking out 18 batters in a 6-inning contest. We Met the ballplayers, etc…
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If Fred Wilpon wants the fans back in the stadium, he needs to lower the ticket prices and homogenize them so that it’s the same price for every contest. No convenience fees, etc… and lower the price of concessions.
If Fred Wilpon wants the fans back, he shouldn’t criticize his home-grown stars, underpay them, and allow them to leave without so much as an offer. And if, perchance, he cannot afford the home-grown talent, then TRADE HIM for more affordable young talent rather than let him walk down the hall to a DIVISION RIVAL.
If Fred Wilpon wants the actual Met fan back, he needs to contact Frank Cashen and learn how to rehabilitate a farm system. Allowing Reyes to walk without appropriate compensation in not acceptable. For all of the magic that Alderson spun on the Beltran trade, he really dropped the ball on Reyes.
If Wilpon wants the Mets fans back in the ballpark, he needs to focus on his team – the money will take care of itself.
Maybe getting body-slammed is the best thing that ever happened to the Wilpons, because now they’ll have to survive on their baseball acumen, if such exists, rather than by some errant financial artifice operated by the biggest thief in US history.
Very torn.
2010 was a dream year. My son, nephew and I visited team in PSL & met Kevin Burkhardt – he said “see ya soon” at Citi Field. Two months later my son is honored on the field, as was my nephew on the last day of the season.
2011 my family is chased from an empty section in an empty ballpark in the 5th inning of the last game of the season.
Lifelong Met fan.Father, Husband, Baseball coach. Very torn.
Although, what do you mean by Alderson dropped the ball on Reyes? He could have traded him mid-season like Beltran and gotten very good prospects, but instead he got a sandwich pick and the Marlins 2nd rounder; is that what you mean? If so then I guess I can see how he dropped the ball but I definitely wanted to see Reyes down the stretch at Citi Field.
What really got me going about this WSJ article is what Selig had to say; its the reason I posted something about it this morning. Selig is Wilpon’s friend and its alright if he talked about how hard Wilpon is working to get the Mets back into shape, but to say he’s a ‘great owner’ and ‘everything you’d want in a local owner’ is downright disrespectful to Mets fans.
To me, I see little difference between Wilpon and Frank McCourt. Different things caused their financial troubles, but both organizations were bleeding cash at the time of the ousting of McCourt. Selig is protecting his friend because he doesn’t have the guts to confront him about his awful business decisions. He is doing baseball a disservice by allowing the New York Mets to be under the indefinite control of a broke owner.
I agree with Izzy, great post. Fred would be better off saying nothing. Selig’s comments, especially those in bold, are so delusional he could be found legally incompetent on those words along. Then again, he makes $22 million a year, which is just about $22 million a year more than me, so that must make him right.
Really, just stay quiet.