Today’s post is a contribution form NY Sports Digest writer and patron saint, Anthony Strait. Follow him on Twitter, or check out more of Ant’s stuff by CLICKING HERE.
By Anthony Strait
Just when it seemed like the New York Yankees were becoming the Bronx zoo and hogging the back pages, New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon insured his team will never lose the title as Champions of bad PR.
The Mets are exceeding expectations by overcoming a 5-13 start to climb back close to the .500 mark. Last week we saw the Yankees go into crisis mode following the Jorge Posada soap opera. This week it’s “Owners Gone Wild!” with Wilpon publically bashing three of his top players on the roster. In an interview with The New Yorker, he took jabs at Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran. What was suppose to be an article based on his rags-to-riches story turned into yet another reason why Mets fans would love nothing more than to see him sell the team to someone with a brain.
Some of the comments he made represent the kind of poor taste and classlessness that has played a part in the Mets being a Family Guy punch line. He slammed Reyes by stating he will not be getting a super-huge contract from the Mets.
“He thinks he’s going to get Carl Crawford money,” Wilpon says, referring to Crawford’s seven-year, $142 million contract with the Boston Red Sox. “He’s had everything wrong with him. He won’t get it.”
Granted, Reyes have had injuries the last few seasons that limited his playing time, but this year he is batting around .300 and is well on his way to being the Mets lone all star representative in Arizona come July. Wilpon forgot to mention that Reyes is a two-time all star and is as exciting a player to watch as there is. Even if (when) he is traded at some point this season, this is such a low blow to a player who has publically stated how much he love playing for the organization, its embarrassing.
Wilpons jab at Beltran, meanwhile, was just as laughable. He mentions Beltran’s huge postseason with the Houston Astros in 2004 and says, referring to himself: “We had some schmuck in New York who paid him based on that one series. He’s 65 to 70 percent of what he was.”
If he thought that was comedy material he is mistaken. Wilpon is the one who ordered Omar Minaya to sign Beltran to that big contract. Wilpon was the one who was amazed by Beltran’s 2004 post season. Beltran isn’t the player he was early on in the contract and will never be again. It is still no reason to poke fun at him for taking the called 3rd strike in the 2006 league championship series-even if Mets fans haven’t forgiven him. You have to wonder where were the jokes when Beltran was one of the key reasons they got to that point.
His comment about David Wright was the kicker: “Really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar.”
Wright has only been the face of the franchise the last few seasons while so many teammates went down to injuries. When the Mets win he is front and center; when they lose he is in front of the camera fielding questions. Wright’s power numbers dipped when the Mets moved to Citi Field, but not his integrity to play for a team and owner who can’t stay out of the spotlight off the field. With all the problems this team has had in the public eye- do it really make sense to bashed the one guy who has proven to be a gamer day in and day out? He only played with an undiagnosed back injury for a month.
When the late George Steinbrenner publicly picked fights with players, it was charming yet entertaining. It was his personality, designed for motivation and lighting a fire within the team. In Wilpon’s case, it’s just pathetic and simply sad. Here is a guy who was taken for million’s in Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scam, being sued for $1 billion more by the victims of Madoff. I’ve got no problem trying to make sense of things with humor but never at the expense of your own team.
Wilpon should walk into the locker room and apologize to each player eye to eye like a man-if he still remembers how to actually be one after this. He should also fire his publicist for not pulling him to the side and warning him to be careful with his words, especially with to a journalist. With all that is wrong with the Mets these days, did they really need their sucker for an owner taking shots at their top players in print?
He called his team “snake-bitten” in the article. It’s been unfortunate with injuries perhaps but hard to see a team snake-bitten when all the problems were caused through ownership and the General Manager that worked for them. Fred Wilpon pulled a low punch, even for Mets standard, by bashing his players. The victims of Madoff’s scheme won’t have to discredit Wilpon’s character. as he is doing that to himself these days.
Reyes and Beltran are pretty much gone at some point because they are not getting big contracts from the Mets. Wright’s stature in the organization looks diminished with these remarks as well. They should be shown some pride and respect while they still wear Met uniforms. Wilpon is exactly why no one will be getting big contracts nor will any free agents be coming to Queens. At this point his best bet is to just fade out of the spotlight until portions of the team is finally sold and they can rebuild from yet another mess. Apparently rags-to-riches stories don’t include class or intelligence these days.
