We've already established that the Mets are the Rodney Dangerfield's of baseball—but this week, they've really upped the ante after a series of interviews, criticisms, and apologies from their beleaguered owner, Fred Wilpon. Earlier this week, there was a sprawling New Yorker feature on Wilpon and the financially troubled team, in which he pulled a Steinbrenner and criticized several of the Mets' stars. The team has been dealing with the fallout ever since...and now there's another gloom-and-doom article on its way.
Among other things in the New Yorker piece, Wilpon said that he regretted signing Carlos Beltran (who he said was "65 to 70 percent of what he was"), criticized Jose Reyes for thinking he is due a big contract ("He's had everything wrong with him. He won't get it."), and he called David Wright a "really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar." He also called the squad in its current incarnation a "s----- team."
As if that wasn't enough for the team to deal with behind the scenes, in a new interview with Sports Illustrated, Wilpon talked more about the dire state of the Mets' finances: he says that team is "bleeding cash" at the rate of a possible $70 million loss this year, due to the ongoing $1 billion Madoff "false profits" lawsuit against Wilpon's company Sterling Equities. General manager Sandy Alderson told the WSJ he couldn't keep up with all the bad press: “Are we talking about the New Yorker article? Okay, well, look, I haven’t read Sports Illustrated, I haven’t read Mechanics Illustrated, Men’s Health. I don’t know what stories may be out there, so until I’ve read those stories, I can’t comment.”
Wilpon did call to apologize to Reyes and Beltran, but the team held a meeting yesterday to discuss the fractured state of the club. Players were all a little surprised by Wilpon's public statements: Wright was forgiving, telling reporters that Wilpon “is a good man and is obviously going through some difficult times." Reyes said that the criticism, "surprised me a little bit, like everybody else. The only thing I can control right now is to continue to play. So he's the boss. He can say whatever he wants to." Beltran added to the dialogue, "It's the first time I have heard Fred comment on the team, and the players in particular, so basically (it) surprised me and everyone...I don't feel 70 or 65. I feel 100 percent."
The team's payroll will likely drop from $140 million this year down to $100 million next year, which doesn't bode well for the immediate future; that means they'll likely be no superstar signings on the horizon, though Wilpon is somewhat optimistic about their younger core of players. He also added that the team is about to bring on their minority-share investor, and he said he would be treating them as a partner.
