Archive for the ‘Fred Wilpon’ Category

2011 Rainman Suite Team of the Year: New York Mets

Posted: December 28, 2011 by Keith Stone in baseball, Best of 2011, Fred Wilpon, Mets, MLB
0

The New York Metropolitans had quite a year. After flirting with bankruptcy, failing to come through on their promise to sell David Einhorn a minority stake in the team, and finding embarrassing new ways to get fans to come to games in the midst of an uninteresting 77-85 season, this offseason has been brutal. Jose Reyes moved within the division to the Marlins and will haunt the Mets’ dreams for years but my favorite occurrence this winter is the announcement that the Mets will sell minority shares with awesome perks.

For only $20 million, you could own a piece of the Mess Mets and get your own business card! Ever dream of chilling with Mr. Met? Now you can. How about taking batting practice at Citi Field? Done. Also included is a reserved parking space, a weekend at spring training, and discounted merchandise. That’s right! If you give Fred Wilpon $20 million, you can get hats and jerseys for cheaper than they sell at the gift shop.

It’s like a fan club for douchebag investment bankers and lawyers, that is if anybody with an income over $20,000 actually liked the Mets. How about something a little more substantial, like actually being involved with personnel decisions? Isn’t that what an owner does? I’m not saying full-on making the decisions, but at least an invitation to a scouting meeting or something? It’s insulting to offer business cards in exchange for a $20 mil investment. If someone can shell out that much on a third-tier team, they could probably afford business cards. It’s thinking like this that makes the New York Mets our Team of the Year.

Fred Wilpon Is A Genius

Posted: May 24, 2011 by Keith Stone in baseball, Fred Wilpon, Mets, MLB
1

The Mets have been a laughingstock for a few years now. Going back to their 2006 loss in the NLCS to the St. Louis Cardinals and epic 2007 collapse in the NL East race, to the more recent off-the-field embarrassments with Omar Minaya, Tony Bernazard, and of course Bernie Madoff, this isn’t the brightest spot in Mets history. But today is a new low.

In an interview with the New Yorker, owner Fred Wilpon took several shots at his players, his players. Of Jose Reyes, he said, “He’s had everything wrong with him.” Of Carlos Beltran, “He’s 65-70% of what he was.” And finally, of poor hardworking David Wright, whose production has dipped in the cavernous Citi Field, “A very good player. Not a superstar.”

Obviously, this is stupid for many reasons. Wilpon is antagonizing an injury-plagued roster that just managed to get back to .500. He’s also belittling the fans who are shelling out their hard-earned money to see a team that the owner doesn’t think is very good. At the same time, the worst thing is that he’s hurting the trade value of all these guys.

Or maybe Wilpon is a stupid like a fox. The big question of the impending Madoff lawsuit is whether he knew that his profits were ill begotten or if he was just an assclown who fell for the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. After this, nobody will believe he was smart enough to do his due diligence and figure things out. In the New Yorker piece, Madoff himself said about Mets management that “although I explained the Strategy [sic] to them they were not sophisticated enough to evaluate it properly.” Wilpon isn’t a crook; he’s a fool.

ESPN