Above The Fold
Page A1 of the New York Times. Above the fold.
For a Major League Baseball team, about the only time you want to see your name there is following a World Series championship or maybe after a huge free agent signing or trade.
As you may or may not be aware, the Mets haven't won a World Series championship in 25 years. And they've been a little too strapped lately to make any big signings.
Yet Saturday morning, there were the Mets once again: page A1, above the fold.
It's not the first time this off-season, and the way things are heading, it won't be the last.
I'm really starting to get upset with the way Fred Wilpon is handling this financial mess.
And listen...I understand there's probably an element of embarrassment involved here, and there's an uncomfortable piece to talking about your finances - I hate talking money with people - but we're past that. If a New York Times reporter approaches you about taking a loan from Major League Baseball, you talk to that reporter and be up front, not walk away, saying you don't want to discuss the team's finances with a reporter, as Wilpon reportedly did on Friday. We're at the stage that the more you keep from the press right now, Mr. Wilpon, the worse you look.
And Major League Baseball right now isn't looking too great either. These ownership groups in the major sports have always resembled 'old boy networks', and if this move by Bud Selig doesn't reek of that, I don't know what does. Selig and Wilpon are long-time friends. Baseball's executive committee only found out about the $25 million loan last month? That seems like something that should be known immediately, especially when it involves a team like the New York Mets and not the Pittsburgh Pirates, for example. If it's the Mets, that should be a huge red flag for baseball, and everyone and their mother should know about it.
That's a huge strike (no pun intended...OK, maybe slightly intended) against baseball and the way it's set up and Bud Selig specifically.
The loan drew comparisons to last year's situation involving the Texas Rangers, and a sports industry consultant was quoted in the Times as saying "the league is effectively a lender of last resort." The Rangers were under incredible financial distress when they were given their loan, and it also came at a time when their owner was no longer in a position where he could own the team. The Rangers were sold.
It is clear that the Wilpons need to give up on their ownership of the Mets.
There's another story that would merit page A1 of the New York Times, above the fold.
And I wouldn't mind reading that story.
