Get 'em Wilponzi

Dear Mr Wilpon...I agree-ish

It has been a long held idea that ownership shouldn’t criticize the players on its payroll. I think for the most part I agree with that tradition, but in the case of the recently printed feelings of Mets owner Fred Wilpon I am willing to make an exception. For the record I can't stand when players, coaches and managers call out others for under performing. Some things are just better left to our friends in the NBA, don't you think? Currently Wilpon is being sued by victims of the Madoff scam for the money they lost and he gained. This is an important context to keep in mind during this blog post. I am a firm believer in the importance of understanding where someone is coming from before judging their comments and feelings. He has remained relatively quiet throughout the ordeal, until now.

Beltran, Wright, & Reyes

Wilpon made some rather surprising comments about his three “star” players in a recent New Yorker article. Everything he said about Beltran, Wright and Reyes is true. Everything. Although true, these comments have the sharks of media in a feeding frenzy over the supposed blood in the water. I guess there is no room for honesty in the world of sports when someone’s ego is involved. Of course the media will make an exception for honesty whenever they are the self righteous ones delivering the necessary package of truth.

For me, one of baseball’s major issues is that contracts are based on past performance more than on future expectation. This is one of my biggest points of tension with the financial system of baseball. If you sign a player to a big contract (see Kevin Brown) you are stuck with whatever he does on the field without much recourse. You can get insurance for injuries, like the Braves did with Mike Hampton, but that is about it. In the NFL you can cut an under performing player and only be held responsible for a fraction of their salary. There are cases where that isn’t fair to the athlete, but the NFL is a more healthy business than the MLB, NBA and NHL. Baseball players say that they have earned the big contract, but a business man wants to hear “I will earn every penny you are going to pay me in the future.” Wilpon is a business man, he expects return on investment and he hasn’t gotten what he hoped from the “little” three. Here is my take on his comments by player.

Jose Reyes:

He called Jose Reyes a racehorse and injury prone. Jose Reyes signed for a lot of money in 2007 and for that investment got a couple of great years followed by diminished return due to injuries to his body and his injured commitment. Jose Reyes is going to seek monster money in the off season, and the Yankees will give it to him for sure because players with his speed are not common. Sadly though, you cannot argue that Reyes is a snagged spike on the infield or carelessly trimming a hang nail away from another trip to the DL. He has been an ok return on the investment, but Wilpon’s criticism was about his future value, not his past. There isn’t an educated baseball fan in the world that didn’t want Reyes in 07-08, and there isn’t an educated fan in the world that would sign him to a big contract now. He was/is banged up, but even while sitting around injured he collected his paycheck and never offered to return it. When young players rely on their legs for everything, and they incur a ton of injuries to them, the future is always in doubt. He never said he wasn’t a good player, just a dinged up one.

David Wright:

He said David Wright is a good kid and a good player but not a superstar. I am torn on this one. Wright is a fine player as evidenced by a 30/30 season, a 20/20 season and a career average over .300. I also know that he doesn’t strike a lot of fear into anyone. Anytime reports come out claiming that the park a hitter is playing in is “too big” for his power, you have a problem. As a rule, when your clean up hitter can’t muster the power to jack one out of his home field you have a serious problem (also keep in mind Wilpon signed black out Bay to an albatross deal). Would I take David Wright on my team…yes. Is he a superstar? No. If he didn’t play in New York he would be Mike Lowell.

Carlos Beltran:

This is what Wilpon got for 120 million.

Year	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2005-2011	NYM	785	3396	2930	511	818	192	15	142	518	97	16	411	511	.279	.366	.500	.867	127

This is an interesting stat line for comparison. This is the stat line of a man who made 23 million over 6 years for multiple clubs, but with comparative at bats. Care to guess who?

Year ▴	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2000-2006	Multi	815	3116	2805	434	726	158	20	152	469	110	38	252	714	.259	.325	.492	.817	108

I like Carlos Beltran, but he was a lousy return on investment. I am sure he is a good guy who plays with kids and has pet bunnies, but he is shell of himself. If you read the comments of Wilpon carefully you will see that he is ribbing his own stupidity more than making a criticism of Beltran. If Beltran wasn’t running at a low percentage of his previous self the baseball world wouldn’t be surprised by his solid start this season would they?

Let’s get back to the comments made by Wilpon. I personally think that athletes nowadays are paid so much money that the expectation of return should be intensified. I am so tired of the “fair market value" tag. If it is fair market value, based on future returns, then Beltran’s market value should be adjusted and he should be making a fraction of that contract. Wilpon is being sued by people who are angry that they were robbed and they are looking for someone to blame and make it fair for them. Their investments were poor ones and they want compensation. Wilpon was robbed of a lot of money by Beltran and Reyes, but who makes it fair for him? Selig? Please. I think as the owner you have the right to make any comments you want about your company and your investments. Players are investments in the same way new stadiums, logo designs, bobbleheads and foam fingers are an investment. Your goal is to have them bring a return worthy of what you paid for them. Beltran hasn’t done that. Reyes as shown a glimmer of it, but that star is fading. Wright has time to change that take, but it looks more and more everyday like he is just a really good player (which isn’t a bad thing at all). If they don’t like what Wilpon had to say they can go cry themselves to sleep in a giant bag of Wilpon’s, I mean Madoff’s, I mean Joe Investors, I mean someone else’s money. Money they didn’t earn.