I can be no more blunt than that. For the record, I have pleaded with the Mets ownership to sell the team for quite some time. However, I want to make it clear that for once, my stance does not come from a place of contempt but from a pure sense of concern for my beloved franchise.
I am no financial expert, and the idea of business is very foreign to me, so maybe I'm not the best person to try and understand the troubles the Wilpon family are going through. I have read as much as I can on the Madoff/Wilpons situation to try and grasp what's going on, and the more I read, the more clear it becomes that this endeavor will end with the Wilpons selling the team. It seems like a matter of when, not if, so what's the hold-up? If that is the case, selling the team sooner rather than later is in the best interest of the franchise for future success.
The article that really sealed the deal for me was a fantastic one written by Joel Sherman in today's NY POST (Ashes to Ashes: Wilpons may need all-out fire sale to keep Amazin's, 3-06-11). In the story, Sherman quotes two NL financial analysts who believe the Mets may need to lower their payroll to as little as $70 million by as early as 2012 in order for the Wilpons to keep the team and for their finances to balance out. Considering that their payroll is around $140 million this year, that would include a drastic overhaul of the team. This task is slightly easier because of the expiring contracts of Oliver Perez ($12 million), Luis Castillo ($6 million), Francisco Rodriguez ($11.5 million) and Carlos Beltran ($17 million). However, Mets fans looked forward to these expiring contracts as a time when the organization would finally be afforded more room to add talent and build a contender. In reality, this money will see no productive purpose for a franchise with little hope of a serious playoff run in the near future.
I have always supported a salary cap in baseball, as well as a player salary cap, so this isn't me complaining about the Mets shedding money. I've always wanted the Mets to have a payroll around $110 and to learn to win by building a solid farm system and making smart, economically sound trades and signings. What outrages me about this, though, is the fact that the team will be shedding money without adding or doing anything helpful to the franchise. Unless GM Sandy Alderson can make some brilliant trades and add solid value for the expiring contracts, not much with this team will change, and that's unacceptable.
The article brings up a fire sale, a concept that is though to sell in the New York market and one the Wilpons and Mets team has never successfully committed to fully. Many of the names the article bring sup are predictable: Beltran, Rodriguez, and even Reyes. But the name that really took me off guard is David Wright. The fact that the financial troubles of the Wilpons would force a trade of the team's prodigal son is shocking and saddening. It should never get to that point where the money troubles are going to take over the team. The article mentions that even an under-achieving team with a $70 million payroll will draw at least 2 million fans, enough to appease the Wilpons and encourage a low payroll. Again, the money is now driving the franchise instead of the goal of winning a championship, another reason the Wilpons are now becoming bigger than the team.
The fact is, no matter how much it hurts me as a fan, sports teams are a business. While we assign more meaning to them and let them affect our lives, the truth is most teams are no more than trophies for rich businessmen that gives them more things to parade and show off. But what bothers me is that to the Wilpons, this whole ordeal is no more than a conquest for them to defiantly defend their name and their power. They are holding on to the team because of their arrogance, trying to show everyone that they can and ignoring the best interest of the team, which right now is a new owner with a new vision and no financial limitations.
Are the Wilpons still invested in bringing the Mets a championship or merely surviving and holding onto another busines of theirs? If it's the latter, then it's time they sell the team. Remove the dark cloud hanging over Flushing or the team will suffer.
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