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Selig Begins Con Job To Save Wilpon Ownership


By Mike Silva ~ March 6th, 2011. Filed under: Mike Silva, New York Mets.

One thing I have learned from my brief time in the media is how organizations can use the power of the press to “trial balloon” a proposition. Often you see anonymous columns about acquiring player ABC, or trading player XYZ positioned as a discussion. It could be speculation from the writer in an era where news competition is at its highest. It also could be a team floating an idea to the public to see how they respond. I don’t know what category this morning’s Joel Sherman column in the NY Post falls into, but I will be the first to send a message to the Wilpon’s: don’t you dare, or suffer the consequences.

In case you are wondering what I am referring to, the column “Wilpon’s may need all-out fire sale to keep Mets” sounds an awful lot like a trial balloon to the public. In the piece Sherman brings up points which I don’t necessary agree with like the barren farm system, fan loyalty with a stripped down club, trading away core superstars, and the notion this current group can’t win as constituted. Even though I don’t have the vast wealth of baseball experience of a Sherman, I find these statements silly, and agenda driven, since the Mets have more to work with than most teams.

The main premise of the piece is the Wilpon’s may need to strip the payroll down to keep the team long term. The theory is the current state of the franchise doesn’t lend itself to winning (false), the farm system is barren (false), and you can’t win if the payroll is in the $110 million dollar range (false). If the key to the Wilpon’s keeping ownership of the Mets is stripping down the brand at a time where it could prove fatal to the franchise, then the answer is obvious: go away and sell the team. Go to Brooklyn and run the Cyclones. Better yet, go sell real estate, which is the kind of gray area, fugazi business that lends itself to the lousy management style you guys have exhibited throughout your tenure. You don’t have to be a genius to make money, just have the right connections and the deck stacked in your favor. Unfortunately, baseball is played on the field and not Bud Selig’s glad-handing boardrooms, or maybe the Wilpon’s would be yearly champions for being “good guys.”

The fact that Sherman quotes “two executives heavily involved with major league financing” tells you this could be Selig’s way of beginning the public relations campaign of “saving the Mets.” Why do the hard part of finding a new owner? Why bring in a Mark Cuban who you can’t control, and doesn’t want to hang out at the country club. Keep your buddies, the Wilpon’s, in charge and fool the fans that everything will be ok in the long term.

The Mets lost a generation of fans in the early nineties, undid the progress they made post 2000 Subway Series the last decade, and are starting off a new decade with a Ponzi scheme at the forefront of their name. How will you grow your brand for years to come? The same executives quoted in Sherman’s column claim a “stripped down” Mets will draw no worse than $2 million fans. From 1992 to 1997 they didn’t draw two million fans. It took Mike Piazza’s arrival to get them over that hump. Of course, they will blame Shea Stadium, but prices were more reasonable to go to a ballgame during that time than now. No way a family of four spends $300 dollars plus to go to the Shake Shack. We also weren’t in the terrible economic times that we are today where families are being pinched in every way imaginable. The new ballpark luster wore off in Baltimore and Cleveland. Do the Wilpon’s want to have the National League version of the Baltimore Orioles? A beautiful empty ballpark and a fan base that hates the product on the field? Follow Sherman’s anonymous executives and that’s exactly what you see.

If the Wilpon’s think they will leverage fan loyalty to help them save their ownership of the team- think again. A “fire sale” will only heighten anger and draw new fans to the team across town. The lack of business acumen and future solvency makes me believe the Wilpon’s aren’t rich enough to own a major league baseball team anyway. It’s time to go and sell some buildings, an arena that clearly you know how to succeed in.

Want a picture the result of what the plan called upon by the genius in Sherman’s article? Think Shea Stadium circa 1979, but instead of an empty upper deck there will be ushers disguised as the Maytag repairman at the various eating establishments throughout the ballpark.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
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8 Responses to Selig Begins Con Job To Save Wilpon Ownership

  1. Scott
    March 6th, 2011 at 8:49 am

    Joel Sherman is a bigger idiot than Jon heyman. A fire sale will anger fans, heighten the fans hatred of the Wilpons & drive more away. No reason you can’t build around DW, Ike, Thole & niese & build up a decent farm system with finally a real GM who knows value & talent, I.e. 2 year deal to dickey.

  2. Stu B
    March 6th, 2011 at 8:55 am

    Well said, Mike. One thing I learned from my brief time in the media is that even the most veteran writers and columnists don’t know any more than a lot of fans – they’re just plugged in to more sources of info.

  3. joey
    March 6th, 2011 at 9:02 am

    It’s “Wilpons” not “Wilpon’s.” You did that, what, six times in this article?

  4. Mike Silva
    March 6th, 2011 at 9:29 am

    Thanks for the editing help

  5. tobias d. robison
    March 6th, 2011 at 1:33 pm

    Last time I checked, a baseball team needed a pitching staff to win. I know the Mets will begin the season with one genuine starter, and a closer (unless he implodes again). Where’s the staff?

    The Mets could have strengthened the club this winter with a few deals. Too bad, if the current management might not be able to afford them.

  6. Russ
    March 6th, 2011 at 11:16 pm

    Sherman’s not an idiot and angering the fans is not the Wilpons’ concern right now, they have bigger fish to fry.

    Things can’t stay as they are with the mess they are in right now financially. At some point, the juggling will stop and the balls will fall.

    Not only do they have all the Madoff money to deal with, but now they owe MLB 100 Million Dollars. If you can’t sell real estate, and if you can’t raise your baseball revenues then one very real option to pay off the debt is the cut payroll.

    If the Wilpons can trade off high priced veteran talent and remove say 50-60 million dollars from the payroll, then theoretically they can pay off the 100 million dollar loan they owe MLB in 2 years.

    I’m no business guy but to me, it seems perfectly logical to look at a fire sale as an option to pay off that debt if they truly don’t want to sell the team. Desperate times call for desperate measures and the Wilpons may have reached the point of desperation. Sure, from a baseball standpoint a fire sale could be a PR disaster but from a business standpoint wouldn’t it be irresponsible of them not to at least research it as an option?

    Besides, with Beltran approaching free agency, Reyes 2 years away, Santana possibly being damaged goods and the closer being a head case would a fire sale this season really be something that the fan base wouldn’t agree with? Wright is really the only one that you couldn’t make the case for trading not making baseball sense. Unless it gets that far, I really don’t see where Mets fans would have a reason to be upset or why a fire sale isn’t a viable business option for them.

  7. Jason
    March 7th, 2011 at 12:22 am

    Pitch perfect post Mike. This is exactly what I fear is going to play out over the next 3, 4 years. Not enough fans are indignant over the future of the Mets if the Wilpons don’t sell immediately.

  8. Pablo
    March 7th, 2011 at 5:34 pm

    I agree with Mike 100%. If Selig bails out the Wilpons by allowing a firesale so they can keep the team, then he is just as guilty of killing this franchise, as the Wilpons themselves. I honestly believe this would cause several Mets fans to desert this team altogether. The Mets are already a joke around the league. How much more BS can we take?

    I’ve been a Mets fan my whole life and had to deal with the constant teasing from Yankee fans, which is one thing. But now we’re a joke on a national level. Everybody in the media to baseball fans all over the league have fun at our expense and its because of the Wilpons. I am sick and tired of the Wilpons. If they really cared about the Mets, they will sell this team. Mets fans would not have the patience to watch them gut this team, and wait for them to rebuild. And its not because we’re averse to rebuilding, but because we’re scared of what rebuilding under Wilpon ownership would be like. We don’t feel they could get this team turned around because we have absolutely ZERO confidence in them!!!!!

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