Why Doesn't Anyone Care About The World Series?

I walk around the streets of New York and nobody cares about the World Series.

It is sad to see, because if you love baseball, you have to love this series. I know the Mets had a rotten year and the Yankees made a quick exit in the first round but this Texas/St. Louis series has some juice. It is a shame New Yorkers don't see it.

You know we all say the New York baseball fan is smarter and more perceptive than any other fans in the country, but if the truth be told we're as provincial as any of those other fans. When our baseball teams are out, we shut down and I guess what that means is we are really not baseball fans. The NY football fan still had interest in the Super Bowl after the Jets were bumped by the Steelers and the NY NBA fans were certainly mesmerized by Heat/Mavericks last year, but if we don't see Yanks, Mets or Phils or Red Sox (only because we hate those last two teams) we shut down.

But this is an interesting series and one that will go the distance. It features a team that had to inch their way into the post-season party and one who is returning to the Fall Classic in a year most thought the Yanks, Red Sox, Rays, and even the Verlander-led Tigers were better bets than then they were. The Texas Rangers are an interesting case because Nolan Ryan had to endure losing Cliff Lee to the Phillies and instead of brooding about it, they went out and signed Adrian Beltre - making an awesome lineup deeper. When you consider that the core bats of Beltre, Cruz, Hamilton, Young, and Kinsler are tough enough, try pitching against a lineup that features a sixth bat in Mike Napoli that crushed 30 homers. Quite simply, it is the most potent lineup in baseball and has the Rangers on the brink of their first-ever World Championship. Texas could actually get by with less starting pitching because of their high-octane offense coupled with a very efficient bullpen that was heavily reinforced with the addition of Mike Adams at the trading deadline.

Standing in their way is the St. Louis Cardinals who also endured losing their ace when Adam Wainwright got hurt in spring training. Couple that with a bullpen that stumbled through most of the summer, the Cardinals were put to bed by the experts in early August, but a slumping Braves team left the door open a crack which the Redbirds kicked in during the season's final week. And oh by the way, they had to beat Cliff Lee in Game 2 and then Roy Halladay in a Game 5 do or die matchup in Philly and then proceeded to take 2-of-3 in Milwaukee where the Brewers were nearly unbeatable this year. And like the Rangers, the Cardinals made some under the radar moves at the deadline obtaining both Rafael Furcal (who saved Game 5 with a defensive gem) and Octavio Dotel who got some real big outs for Tony LaRussa in the ALCS.

A series like this is good for baseball -- it is nice to see different teams in the mix who really had to fight to get here. So why the indifference by fans? What they tell me is it has no juice -- there is no yapping by the players, no wild predictions, these teams respect each other too much.

Is that the world we live in?

The game is not enough anymore -- the back story complete with nasty tweeting is what sells. For me, the game has always been enough and this series is a great matchup of 2 teams that have struggled to get here and that is what sports is all about -- the games that have everything on the line. Not how many twitter followers you have.

Let's Clear Some Stuff Up About Jose Reyes

By Rich Coutinho
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I have sat and listened to the so-called experts pontificate about the merits of Jose Reyes and whether the Mets could or should sign him. All I keep hearing is about the last game of the season and how Jose Reyes should have done this or done that. The bottom line is he led the league in both batting and triples and those facts are undeniable. In a season in which many injured Mets took many weeks to return to the lineup (some took all season) Reyes pushed his body to return and played 100% every waking moment. I'd venture to guess if the Braves or Red Sox had him, we would not be talking about their collapses and Terry Francona would still be wearing a Bosox hat. That is how valuable I think Jose is to a team.

 

Of course, Jose can not do it alone and much will depend on how Sandy Alderson reconstructs his bullpen and what the Mets get from Johan Santana in 2012. But this nonsense about Reyes in the season finale is just that -- nonsense. Aside from the people who paid their way into Citi Field, no one has a right to complain and, the last time I checked, members of the media do not pay their way into ballparks. The bottom line here is most of the media threw dirt on Jose Reyes last year saying he'd never show he could be a great player.

 

Hanley Ramirez and Troy Tulowitzki had their breakout seasons. What about Jose? Well, now that he had a breakout seasons, the media has to explain away why they buried Jose Reyes and so they hang onto "this season finale nonsense". Bottom line is Jose Reyes had enough at-bats to qualify and fully understood how important winning a batting title was both to him and the Mets organization. Important to him because it enhances his "free agent" value and important to the Mets because nobody in the franchise's 50 year history had ever done it.

Football-wise, this would be like Adrian Petersen passing Frank Gore for the rushing title by a yard and then sitting out a meaningless quarter because he did not want to fall back into second if he was pinned with a 5 yard loss. It takes nothing away from Petersen and the same can be said for Reyes. This uproar has little to do with what occurred in the season's last game but more to do with the media always having the last word. You see the media kept telling us all year that Jose Reyes could not have that breakout season but he did. They told us he could not possibly command heavy dollars on the open market but he will.

 

Will that big contract be with the Mets? My guess is both sides want this and for that reason it will get done. I do not think it will be done quickly because chances are Reyes will get other bids for his services which he will entertain. But believe you me -- whomever signs Reyes will be lucky to have one of the true game changers on their roster. Now, a big dollar commitment should be scrutinized carefully and much must be considered. But at no point, will any team waste any time asking themselves if Reyes leaving the season finale after one at-bat impacts their decision. That is unless they are considering changing career paths to become a member of the media.

 

Is Reyes judged too harshly? Leave a comment below.

The Bay Day For Yankee Fans--Oh What A Shame!

I know...I know...The last person a Yankee fan wants to hear from is Rich Coutinho...noted Yankeehater but a lot of my friends are Yankee fans and as a follower of the Mets, I feel their pain today. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm elated the Yanks lost but I did feel compelled to write something about the Evil Empire's season coming to an abrupt end last night.

This is the thing about the high payroll teams in baseball--it generally gets you through the regular season grind but the short series is the great equalizer and a 5 game series is the ultimate equalizer. For the New York Yankees whose payroll is off the charts, the ALDS has been a very painful experience since 2002. When you consider the Yankees have been in 9 ALDS series since the 2001 season and have only gone 4-5 in those series and that all of those 4 series wins came against the Minnesota Twins, you really scratch your head because certainly the Yankees were better than most of those teams.

In fact, since Game #3 of the 2004 ALCS the Yankees are a very ordinary 22-23 in post-season and that includes an 11-4 post season record in their World Championship year of 2009. People will point to many factors when breaking down the latest Yankee playoff meltdown but I really believe it is a complex issue. On first glance, the hitters will get much of the blame but the bottom line here is a simple one. The one year the Yankees won the World Series their pitchers performed at a high level and although the team got creditable performances from their bullpen and a shocking lights out night from AJ Burnett, the team was relying on a rookie pitcher to get them to the finish line in a deciding Game 5. Nova should have been a #3 starter behind CC Sabathia and a second banana in the rotation. That "second guy" was supposed to be Cliff Lee and the team got real lucky with Bartolo Colon and Freddie Garcia in the regular season but the inherent problem is guys like that are generally exposed in the post-season and on a team with a payroll in the stratosphere they should not be starting any game in October.

I firmly believe this series was lost in Game #2 when the Yankees (because of a rain out) went with Freddie Garcia and instead of dropping the hammer on the Tigers, that game opened the door for them. Verlander outpitched CC in Game 3 and despite a gift from Burnett, it was too much to overcome. CC was not exactly CC in this series but that had as much to do with circumstances rather than talent--he never pitched with the proper rest but that is even more the reason to have a #2 behind CC and in front of Nova. I still think that guy could be Phillip Hughes.

Ok that is enough Yankee talk for me on this day--I must know go back to my real job of covering the Mets.

Ruben Tejada Credits Jose Reyes For His Turnaround

It is sometimes very difficult to pinpoint the exact moment a player stops being a prospect and starts being a major league-ready player but clearly Ruben Tejada had that moment during this past season. Injuries forced him to play both second base and shortstop and despite playing well, he was sent down during the season when those injured players returned simply because he had options. But Tejada never sulked-he simply worked at becoming a better player and once he returned to the big leagues, Jose Reyes was there to help him every step of the way.

"Jose taught me so many things about defense and putting yourself in the best possible position to make a play", says Tejada, "and spent so much time with both Justin Turner and myself on how to be prepared to make the right play."

Certainly, Tejada has a smoothness to his defensive game that few young players possess and has the arm strength to turn the double play in very much the same way Edgardo Alfonzo did for the Mets a decade ago. "Tejada has the knack to do that," says Alfonzo, " but more than that, he has a confidence in his defensive game that you need at this level."

It was the offensive part of his game that needed to improve and for advice on that, Tejada went to the NL Batting champion. "Reyes told me to always be aggressive at the plate", says Tejada, "but don't be foolish. I learned that with two strikes you can foul off tough pitches and maybe the next pitch will be easier to hit. And when you are ahead in the count, you must be ready to attack the ball."

When you look at the season Reyes had, that piece of advice he gave Tejada illustrates why Jose has become such a better hitter and he wanted to impart that advice to Tejada at a time when he was learning on-the job at the big league level.

So where does Tejada think he will be playing next year? Shortstop? Second Base? First and foremost, Tejada wants Reyes to stay but does not take anything for granted. "I want Jose to be here next year but whether he is or not, I have to continue to get better. Turner is a very good player and deserves playing time as well but I must be focused on making myself a better player -- getting stronger so I can hit for a high average as well as help with my glove."

The thing that impresses me most about Tejada is that he is mature beyond his years. He is a confident young player but is not afraid to ask for help and has a high degree of humility when talking about himself. I do think the Mets discovered that he is as good as any other NL second basemen defensively and a DP combo of Reyes/Tejada would really help a pitching staff that, for the most part, pitches to contact. Offensively, he is a work in progress but showed real flashes this past year in two specific areas. He was an outstanding 2 strike hitter and very good with runners in scoring position.

Clearly, Ruben Tejada is the Mets second basemen of 2012 and could be the shortstop if Jose Reyes leaves. But my sense is Jose Reyes and Ruben Tejada will be the double play combination for the Mets for years to come.

What's Tejada's role on the 2012 Mets? Leave a comment below.

What Can Mets Expect From Jason Bay?

 

For Jason Bay, 2010 was a year he'd like to forget.  In fact after crashing into the wall at Dodger Stadium and suffering post-concussion syndrome, he might have been forced to forget alot of it.  It was not supposed to be that way for Bay who signed a multi-year contract with the Mets amid speculation he really did not want to sign here.  That was a notion Bay later refuted but the sense was there the Mets were not his first choice.  And talking to Bay in spring training last year, he really felt there was talent on the Mets and thought the team could surprise.

And the team did surprise in the season's first half topping out at 11 games over .500 at one point before the second half meltdown after the All Star break.  But Bay never seemed to get untracked offensively while ironically proving to be a much better defensive player than advertised.  You also got the sense Bay got a little spooked by the dimensions of CitiField as his power numbers were not up to snuff.  He was starting to feel better at the plate by mid-season but then that fateful day in Los Angeles ended his season prematurely.

Bay spoke to me at the end of last season and expressed regret that he got to play so little alongside Carlos Beltran.  "We were like ships passing in the night this year-just when he got back I got hurt and so I do not think we ever got a chance to get things going.  I still feel in 2011 with myself, Beltran, and Pagan we have a real good trio of outfielders."

If the truth be told, there may not be a better trio in the league if they are all healthy and producing.  The back of Bay's baseball card indicates the Mets can expect big things from him in Year 2.  In fact, a middle of the lineup featuring Beltran, Wright, Bay and youngster Ike Davis could be pretty productive even in the spacious alleys of CitiField.

My thought is Bay will return to his 90-100 RBI efforts of seasons past and 2010 will just be a speed bump for him.  If that is the case, the Met offense could have a much different look than it did in 2010.

 

Tomorrow: Beltran and Reyes in Contract Years--Good Or Bad For The Mets?

Statement From Wilpons On Court Case

 

 

Statement from Fred Wilpon, Co-Founder and Chairman, and Saul B. Katz, Co-Founder and President of Sterling Equities, on behalf of the Sterling Equities partners and their families

GREAT NECK, N.Y., February 4, 2011 -- Following days of leaks and press speculation, the Court - with the agreement of the Sterling partners - has released the complaint that was previously filed under seal.

The Trustee's lawsuit is an outrageous "strong arm" effort to try to force a settlement by threatening to ruin our reputations and businesses which we have built for over 50 years.  This is a flagrant abuse of the Trustee's authority and we will not succumb to his pressure. The conclusions in the complaint are not supported by the facts.  While they may make for good headlines, they are abusive, unfair and untrue.  We categorically reject them.  We should not be made victims twice over - the first time by Madoff, and again by the Trustee's actions.

The plain truth is that not one of the Sterling partners ever knew or suspected that Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme.  Because the Trustee has no evidence to support his claims even after a year-and-a-half review of over 700,000 pages of documents and many, many hours of depositions, he has created a claim that we "knew or should have known" that Madoff was a fraud.  Why should we "have known" when the SEC and other government agencies that had oversight responsibilities did not know?  In fact, the SEC reported that Madoff was above board and legitimate, even after it investigated him many times.  Madoff was not a hedge fund, but an SEC regulated broker dealer and like millions of other Americans, we trusted the brokerage statements we received.  The Trustee is suing not only for what he defines as "fictitious profits" but for monies that we deposited with Madoff over almost 25 years.  That is outrageous, unfounded and inconsistent with the law.  Let us be clear, the Trustee is attempting to seize money originally invested with Madoff, which was earned from the Sterling businesses.

The Trustee also alleges that we were blinded to Madoff's crimes because our businesses "depended" on the returns.  That is complete nonsense.  We have good, sound businesses that were successful years before we invested with Madoff, including both real estate and the New York Mets.  Those businesses never depended on returns from Madoff.

Our previous statements

All of the public statements we have issued to date have been accurate and true.  We said when the fraud was first disclosed that the losses we suffered in the Madoff scheme would have no impact on the operations of the New York Mets and that was true.  At the time, we could not have anticipated that a trustee would file a lawsuit seeking to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in addition to the substantial amounts that Madoff had stolen from us.

As we announced last Friday, we are now seeking one or more strategic partners in the New York Mets specifically because of the uncertainty created by the lawsuit filed by the Trustee in the Madoff bankruptcy.

We thought that Madoff was a friend for 25 years.  That is why his betrayal was so painful.  Each of the Sterling partners and their families invested with Madoff in good faith right up to the day his crime was exposed.  We were as shocked as the rest of the world when the money in our accounts vanished along with the billions he swindled from thousands of other innocent people.

In summary, we are proud of what we have built and achieved as a family.  We have worked very hard for our entire lives, always with character and integrity. We will not sit still while the Trustee or anyone else makes these outrageous and irresponsible allegations.  People who know us know the truth about who we are and what our life's work represents. 

 

Again, we have done nothing wrong.  We played by the rules.  We abided by the court order not to discuss the lawsuit.    Others did not.  We are confident we will win in court.

 

### 

 

Contact:           Dick Auletta

                        R.C. Auletta and Company

                        212-355-0400

                        [email protected]

 

=======================================================

 

STATEMENT BY ROBERT B. FISKE, JR., KAREN E. WAGNER, AND DAVID L. CAPLAN OF DAVIS POLK & WARDWELL LLP  ON BEHALF OF THE STERLING DEFENDANTS

 

NEW YORK, N.Y., February 4, 2011 -- Following days of leaks and press speculation, the Court, with the agreement of the Sterling partners, has released the complaint against our clients that was previously filed under seal.

 

While the heated rhetoric in the complaint may generate headlines, it is not supported by the facts, the law, or the extensive discovery record developed by the Trustee before he formulated the complaint - numerous depositions and over 700,000 pages of documents provided by the Sterling partners over the last year and a half.    

 

The bottom line is that the Sterling partners were innocent victims of the Madoff fraud, and the Trustee's massive discovery effort did not uncover one shred of evidence to the contrary.  Nevertheless, the complaint further victimizes the Sterling partners by arguing that they "knew or should have known" that Madoff was a fraud and therefore are somehow liable for amounts beyond their very substantial losses.  This suggestion is false. 

 

With regard to the complaint:

 

The complaint appears to contend that, because the Sterling partners are wealthy and successful individuals, they should have known Madoff was not trading any securities and was engaging in a Ponzi scheme.  Yet the Sterling partners had over $500 million in their Madoff accounts at the time of his failure - some put in only days before - and all of it lost.  Anyone who knows Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz knows that they would not have dealt for one minute with someone they thought might be engaged in fraud.  Moreover, as a matter of elementary common sense, no rational person who thinks his broker might be a fraud would leave such a substantial sum with him.    

 

Contrary to what the Trustee asserts, the returns on the Sterling-related brokerage accounts were not "staggering," "easy money," or "too good to be true."  The $300 million of profit alleged in the complaint, even if accurate, would not be "staggering" or extraordinary when viewed in the context of the amount of principal invested over the past 25 years.

 

In addition, the $300 million claimed in the complaint reflects only those accounts that the Trustee has selected for inclusion because they were profitable.  It ignores numerous accounts that, in the Trustee's parlance, were "net losers," which, according to our clients' analysis, total approximately $160 million. 

 

Madoff investments did not "fuel" our clients' operating businesses.  The Sterling partners' wealth was generated by their hard-earned success in real estate, sports, media, and other businesses - not by investments with Madoff.    

 

The complaint also ignores the fact that Madoff was viewed as a person of considerable stature in the financial community.  He had been the chairman of the board of directors of NASDAQ, a member of the NASD board of governors, and a member of the board of what now is SIFMA - an eminent figure in the investment world.  He also partnered with prominent financial institutions to create Primex, an electronic auction trading system that was approved by the SEC and adopted by NASDAQ.  Moreover, the Sterling partners knew, and relied upon, the fact that the SEC - the federal agency charged with uncovering and prosecuting fraud - had investigated Madoff and taken no action against him.

 

For 25 years the Sterling partners saw nothing to indicate that Madoff was not trading securities as he was reporting he did.  Moreover, the partners took legitimate comfort from the fact that numerous highly regarded and sophisticated lending institutions readily accepted their Madoff investments as security for multi-million dollar loans. 

 

The Sterling partners' dealings with their broker were entirely lawful.  While the Trustee calls payments made to them "fictitious profit," he ignores a large and consistent body of state and federal law that permits a customer of a registered broker dealer to rely on statements he receives from the broker - and which imposes no investigatory obligation upon a customer who in any event would have no way of confirming what the broker was doing.  Payments made in connection with those statements are lawful.  Our entire system of customer dealings with brokers is structured so that customers receive, and rely on, their account statements and confirmations.  Any suggestion to the contrary is simply incorrect. 

 

The complaint appears to argue that the partners should have known that Madoff was a fraud for three principal reasons: 

 

First, they were friendly with Madoff and could have asked him if he was engaging in a fraud.  Neither the law nor common sense supports such a proposition. 

 

Second, in 2002 the partners diversified their securities investments by establishing a new company to be run by Peter Stamos.  The Sterling partners were investors and had no role with respect to investment decisions.  Nonetheless, we understand the complaint to contend that, because two of the partners were involved in the selection of Mr. Stamos and the establishment of the fund, they became expert in market trading, hedge fund due diligence, and broker dealer regulation, and, therefore, if people said things to them like "I don't know how Madoff does it," the Sterling partners should have realized that Madoff was doing no trading and running a Ponzi scheme.  Thus, the theory of the complaint appears to be that comments of this type should have led the Sterling partners to reach a conclusion that the SEC, with the benefit of substantially more information, trained fraud investigators, and subpoena power, did not reach.   

 

Similarly, we understand the complaint to claim that, because Merrill Lynch, when it acquired part of the Stamos company in 2007, would not permit investment with managers employing "black box" or other similar strategies, the Sterling partners should have concluded that Madoff's registered brokerage operation was fraudulent.  In fact, many people invest with managers using such proprietary strategies, which are entirely lawful.  That Merrill Lynch decided not to means nothing. 

 

Third, the complaint suggests that, because Sterling Stamos had invested in the Bayou hedge fund, the Sterling partners should have realized that Madoff was a fraud.  Again, the proposition is wide of the mark - the partners had no involvement with the Bayou investment, and Bayou was a completely different situation.  Bayou was a hedge fund.  Madoff's brokerage entity, on the other hand, was a registered broker dealer, regulated by the SEC, that issued statements reflecting trading for customers.

 

The complaint is further undercut by another fundamental fact not mentioned by the Trustee:  if the Sterling partners had thought Madoff might be engaged in a fraud - a conclusion they never reached - their recourse would have been to go to the SEC, the watchdog that licensed Madoff and that is there to protect customers.  This would have been a futile exercise.  As we know now, the fraud would not have been uncovered.

 

The complaint, in our opinion, is an unwarranted reach by the Trustee.  The Sterling partners lost more than money in the Madoff fraud - they lost faith in someone they thought was a trusted friend.  But their faith in the legal system remains strong, and we are confident they will prevail.

 

                                                            ###

 

Contact:           Tom Orewyler

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

212 450-6039

[email protected]

.

Court Documents To Be Unsealed: Litigation Ahead For Mets?

 

 

 

So, the next step in the Madoff scandal has begun to come into focus: Both sides have dug in and settlement talks are, at the least for the moment, done.  The defendants in the case have agreed to drop their motion to keep lawsuit documents sealed and so they may be unsealed as early as Friday morning. 

What does it all mean?  In the short term, not much as most of this stuff has likely been revealed with the apparent leaking of information to members of the media.  Rightfully so, the Wilpons felt what's the point since most of what is inside the documents have already been unveiled for the world to see? But now the real chess match begins as the sides seem destined to be embroiled in a long court case that could take years to litigate. 

My sources indicate that the Wilpons have cooperated fully with the Madoff investigation from jump and have provided hundreds of pages of documents to aid in the inquiry.  What you must remember here is the documents that will be unsealed are merely contentions of the plaintiff and should not be construed as evidence until they are presented in court just as the defendants refuting the claims are contentions as well.

Ok enough legal babble--what does this mean for the Met fans? Well, a couple of things.  First and foremost, this issue will not go away any time soon as a court case of this magnitude could drag on for 2 years or more.  Secondly, it makes the prospect of a minority owner a remote possibility because they will not need the money until this case is settled (unless of course they re-enter settlement talks) and more importantly, any minority owner will want this resolved before he jumps in. 

The biggest thing though is this will hang over the Mets like a dark cloud every single time they don't make a trade or not sign free agents or shy away from a top draft pick because he is represented by say, Scott Boras for instance.  The litmus test might very well be if the Mets are in contention by the All Star break are they buyers, sellers, or neither?  Whatever words are said, their actions will speak volumes as to where their finances are at that crucial point in the season.

Sandy Alderson's track record is to do more with less so he may desire to take that route anyway but the public perception will be that he may be hamstring by the organization's cash flow or lack of it.  The ironic thing is if the Mets are out of contention by July 31, the proper course would be to become sellers which will send flares up that the Mets are dropping salary to curb costs.

The moment these documents are unsealed, it will set into motion a series of events that could have this case linger in the minds of Met fans for years to come and that is why I think the Wilpons wanted to settle.  And the plaintiff in this case might have missed a window of opportunity because you get the feeling the Wilpons just wanted this to go away but with the contents of the lawsuit leaked, the repuation of Fred Wilpon is at stake making him more apt to take this to the finish line in court.

My question remains this: If the Mets made $ off the Madoff scandal, why would they hold salary this off-season and why would they be seeking a minority owner to bail them out?  Secondly, how could the Wilpons be held accountable to have known the true story behind the Ponzi scheme if the SEC, who is trained to spot these issues, missed it?  And the fact that the Mets fully cooperated with the authorities by providing over 700 pages of evidence would refute the statements that they knew what was going on? All good questions that will now be answered in court in the next 30 months or so. That is unless a settlement alternative can still be reached.

Are The Wilpons Getting A Fair Shake From The Media?

 

I know all about the media in this town as I have both been a New Yorker all my life and have covered the Mets for over 20 years but it must be said the hatchet job being done on the Wilpons is both unfair and misguided.  I can not say I am surprised but enough is enough already.

Is it so hard to understand that a lawyer in a lawsuit brought against the Wilpons would try to exert pressure by leaking details of the lawsuit in order to either extract a settlement or a much richer one?  Yet, until this morning no one in the media even entertained that notion.  I know very little about the legalties of this case but it would be hard for me to believe that the Wilpons would get a fair shake in court if those sealed documents were released on February 9.  They are high profile public figures and as such, it would be hard to try this case in court after it has been litigated in the "court of public opinion."

So, the question remains why would Wilpons offer to settle here?  Simply put, these stories are damaging their ability to do business because of all the negative publicity.  It stands to reason this has hurt their ability to pursue players, sell tickets, and even generate revenue for advertising both inside the stadium and on SNY.  I am sure they want this resolved for those reasons and a variety of others including the care and concern for families affected by this.

The offer to pursue minority ownership is to defray the cost settling these cases might have on the Mets ability to conduct business in the way a New York franchise should.  While we are on that topic, lets be clear that the Met payroll is still one of the highest in baseball and while you may quibble on how they spent it, make no mistake their payroll levels are more than enough to win.  This notion that the Wilpons do not invest in their team is pure nonsense fabricated by people who never let facts get in the way of a good story or have an ax to grind with either the Wilpons or the past general manager who was treated very unfairly in many corners of the media as well.

My sense is the Mets tactic of letting a new general manager advocating a wait and see approach once he can truly evaluate his players is a sound strategy.  And more to the point, it is a strategy that would have been employed whether the Madoff case wreaked its ugly head or not.  But if you hear the media tell it, the case has been tried and completed before we even have all of the facts.

I wrote in this blog just a few days ago that we should all take a wait and see approach whichever side of the fence we sit on and let the evidence guide you once it comes out.  You can not do that when info about the case is leaked to the media by a lawyer who has a hidden agenda and because of that, so much is being assumed before we know all the facts.

And that is just flat out wrong.

 

2011 Mets Might Be Better Than You Think

 
 

When you bring up the topic of the 2011 Mets,most baseball experts say they are a .500 team at best and were even picked to finish last in the NL East in some circles.  I say stop the insanity--they were pretty much a .500 team last year without some of their core parts and with a new manager, you have at least give Terry Collins a chance to put his stamp on this team.  Sandy Alderson has assembled a very impressive roster in the front office whose baseball acumen might very real re-define the "mission statement" of the team.

The team does have question marks and will reside in a division that houses some of the best pitching in the sport.  The strategy to stay put, evaluate what you have, and wait until you have more economic flexibility is a sound one which should not be surprising knowing what a solid baseball man the new GM is.  And my sense is there is serious talent on this roster--I mean All-Star caliber talent like Wright, Reyes, Bay, Beltran and K-Rod and budding stars like Angel Pagan and Ike Davis.  This team will hit plenty even in spacious CitiField and so the 2 big questions will be: Is there be enough starting pitching and who is the bridge to K-Rod?

One scout told me, "If Young does for them what Dickey did last year, they will be OK especially if Pelfrey duplicates 2010 and Santana returns for the second half.  They will hit and they are pretty solid defensively."  The 8th inning question is a tough one but not an uncommon issue around the league--that is why the Yankees paid so much for Rafael Soriano.  So, the rotation is the rub here and more specficially, how they perform on the road where the Mets lost in walk-off fashion too numerous times to mention a year ago. 

Many experts pinned that on the bullpen but you could make the argument that an anemic offense put the team in those positions due to the loss of injured players.  And then there is the question of in-game managing.  It is no secret that I was very critical of Jerry Manuel and the way he handled this team but let me be very clear--I personally liked him alot and always said that I'd want him to manage my son in high school or college but at this level, I think he misstepped quite a bit.

 Terry Collins will do a better job of communicating roles to the players and will do less tinkering with the lineup.  This is a group that needs that and needs to play with passion.  My sense is that Jerry sometimes tried to think too much "out of the box" when a simple approach would have served the team better.  Trying to bat Jose Reyes not once but twice indicated to me his stubborness clouded his judgement and in the 2009 season his opposite field hitting drill proved counter productive especially with his big power hitters.

When I look at this team its pretty simple, Reyes is the catalyst, Wright is your fulcrum, Beltran when healthy is your best all around player and Jason Bay, aside from last year has been an RBI machine.  Pagan and Davis are great complimentary pieces and so what will decide the Mets fate is health and starting pitching.

Which makes them very similar to a handful of NL teams aside from the Giants and Phils.  Lets remember the Mets were 10 games over .500 midway through the season last year before that fateful West Coast trip after the break which for all intents and purposes, ended their season.  With a little luck, (which they are overdue to receive) they just might surprise the naysayers.

Rex Ryan Blazing A Trail To Super Bowl Glory

 

When the playoffs began just a few short weeks ago, many experts felt the road to the Super Bowl was filled with land mines for the New York Jets.  After all, they were a #6 seed and beyond that, their road to the first Sunday in February went through Indy, New England, and likely Pittsburgh which meant Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Ben Roethlisberger.  It could be argued no team in recent memory had to go through that tough a journey--all on the road.  The fact that the Jets had became a hated team that talked far too much made the detractors of the team relish the chance to see them go up in flames.

But that very thing brought this team together and Rex Ryan used it as a motivating factor to "build the impossible dream."  Don't get me wrong--Ryan did not only use words--he devised unique game plans that quite frankly, parked his "blitz first" mentality at the door knowing his defense needed a different strategy against both the Colts and the hated Patriots.  It's the mark of a great coach to be flexible enough to change philosophies in order to win.  Pat Riley did it with the Knicks as his philosophy changed dramatically from his "Showtime" Laker teams when he came to The Big Apple.  His Knicks were "lunch pail players" that were physical and mostly about defense and rebounding, aside from Patrick Ewing's offensive prowess.  But he did it because it was the shortest road to winning and that is the biggest strength of Rex Ryan.

I know he's cocky and brash and will mix it up with anyone but make no mistake--he is a tireless worker and an innovative game planner.  And the adjustments he makes at halftime round out his resume as a complete coach.  But the real value in Rex is he has an impeccable sense of what his team needs.  Last week, he needed to be brash because of the history with the Patriots but this week, he's been humble and my sense is that's because this game will be more about bulk than syle.  So, expect the Jets to build a more aggressive defensive game plan with complex blitz packages designed to confuse a Steeler offensive line that is hurting.

The Jets are breathing hard on their first Super Bowl appearance since 1969 and moments before kickoff I am sure Jet fans will think about the tarp that was missing in Miami in 1982, the second half meltdown in Denver, or last year succumbing to the arm and brain of Peyton Manning.  But I suspect those thoughts will be long gone later in the night as Rex Ryan may finally deliver to Jet fans what so many coaches failed to do--a trip to the greatest of all sport spectacles--a Super Bowl.

And that will make Rex Ryan's name reasonate in this town much in the same way the names Davey Johnson, Mike Keenan, and Bill Parcells did when they satisfied long-suffering fans of their teams.  It would be rarified air for a coach who would deserve every inch of praise that he would receive.