The New York Mets Thread

[Peanut]

They have no money to pay FAs right now...might not even be able to keep their own FAs, so I don't think there will be much of an immediate pay off in that regard. But I do think it is a good move to adjust the fences. But this might end up being the only thing that happens this offseason that doesn't piss me off.

It really does suck to think about how badly they screwed up post-2006.

[TheInfallibleOne]

Maybe this will attract more FA's, but lowering/moving the walls in is only a small part of the Mets' misery.

In other related news, Brian Cashman flatly denies all reports of the Yankees moving the right field stands back 25 feet.

That means he denied my proposal for a retractable wall that moves back in the top halves and forward in the bottom. Or the one where it moves in 100 feet when were down in the bottom of the ninth and every time Brett Gardner steps up.

[aeromac76]

That means he denied my proposal for a retractable wall that moves back in the top halves and forward in the bottom. Or the one where it moves in 100 feet when were down in the bottom of the ninth and every time Brett Gardner steps up.

Well the Twins did it. (actually with the air conditioning units).

[hellonewman]

Banner Day, retro unis, anniversary patch ... who needs players?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/sp...-and-ugly.html

[GordonGecko]

Mets also announced their partial plan offerings and somehow managed to screw that up. There's no more dedicated day of week 15-game plan. If you want the same seat, you have to buy a 20-game package. Otherwise, there's a 15-game flex pack but if you want to pick only one day of the week you're out of luck because there's only about 13 of the same day in a home season, and you'll have a different seating location every game:

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/tick...game_packs.jsp
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/tick...game_plans.jsp

[SatchelPaigeYankee]

Mets also announced their partial plan offerings and somehow managed to screw that up. There's no more dedicated day of week 15-game plan. If you want the same seat, you have to buy a 20-game package. Otherwise, there's a 15-game flex pack but if you want to pick only one day of the week you're out of luck because there's only about 13 of the same day in a home season, and you'll have a different seating location every game:

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/tick...game_packs.jsp
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/tick...game_plans.jsp

you buy Mets season tickets?

[GordonGecko]

you buy Mets season tickets?

No I don't have any mets season tickets. Last year I was able to get individual subway series tickets and a bunch of opening day tix to flip

[GordonGecko]

Let's kick off the Mets thread for 2012

[Black Sabbathia]

I liked the moves the Mets made the other day. Not game changers or anything, but solid, reasonable moves.

[effdamets]

I'd be very surprised to see the Mets win 60 games in 2012....

[Ram Man]

Let's kick off the Mets thread for 2012

I take it that these fans are cheering for the "ets."

[hongchihkuo]

the mets will miss capuano more than reyes

[Jax Teller]

How do you figure?

[hellonewman]

the mets will miss capuano more than reyes

Capuano isn't very good.

[aeromac76]

I'd be very surprised to see the Mets win 60 games in 2012....

Right now I might agree, you would have to pick them last by wide margin in that division as of right now.

[GordonGecko]

"The Mets claimed righty Jeremy Hefner off waivers from the Pirates, reports ESPN New York's Adam Rubin. They also signed catcher Lucas May and lefty Garrett Olson to minor league deals."

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/1...may-olson.html

[GordonGecko]

Mets owners take $40M loan

The owners of the cash-strapped New York Mets have taken a $40 million bank loan while they try to sell minority stakes in the team.
A Mets spokesman confirmed today that a single major bank extended it the “bridge” loan in the last month or two. In November 2010, the club borrowed $25 million from Major League Baseball to tide it over.
...
A source close to the baseball commissioner’s office recently told the Post that the league is finally had enough of enabling the Wilpons.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...EyFRV3jIheL2MO

[Big_E]

Mets owners take $40M loan

The owners of the cash-strapped New York Mets have taken a $40 million bank loan while they try to sell minority stakes in the team.
A Mets spokesman confirmed today that a single major bank extended it the “bridge” loan in the last month or two. In November 2010, the club borrowed $25 million from Major League Baseball to tide it over.
...
A source close to the baseball commissioner’s office recently told the Post that the league is finally had enough of enabling the Wilpons.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...EyFRV3jIheL2MO

They need to sell the team. They are becoming an embarrassment to NYC, MLB and their fans. They are threatening to overtake the Dodgers mess as the worst in baseball.

[effdamets]

Mets owners take $40M loan

The owners of the cash-strapped New York Mets have taken a $40 million bank loan while they try to sell minority stakes in the team.
A Mets spokesman confirmed today that a single major bank extended it the “bridge” loan in the last month or two. In November 2010, the club borrowed $25 million from Major League Baseball to tide it over.
...
A source close to the baseball commissioner’s office recently told the Post that the league is finally had enough of enabling the Wilpons.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...EyFRV3jIheL2MO

This is Selig's fault in the first place.
If he was actually doing his job, the Mets (and Dodgers) wouldn't be in the financial straits they're currently in...
Instead, he's too busy coming up with ways to make sure the Yankees don't win every year....
A-hole.
I hate him!

[Jersey Yankee]

Mets owners take $40M loan

The owners of the cash-strapped New York Mets have taken a $40 million bank loan while they try to sell minority stakes in the team.
A Mets spokesman confirmed today that a single major bank extended it the “bridge” loan in the last month or two. In November 2010, the club borrowed $25 million from Major League Baseball to tide it over.
...
A source close to the baseball commissioner’s office recently told the Post that the league is finally had enough of enabling the Wilpons.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...EyFRV3jIheL2MO

I understand that the new stadium is what's putting them in more leveraged debt than anything else. That and Santana's hurt, so they can't trade him. I'm not referring to his no-trade, since A-Rod had one also before he came aboard.

[GordonGecko]

I understand that the new stadium is what's putting them in more leveraged debt than anything else. That and Santana's hurt, so they can't trade him. I'm not referring to his no-trade, since A-Rod had one also before he came aboard.

Team debt excluding the stadium and SNY (who happens to own this very NYYfans website) is about $580M. The entity that owns the stadium also gets the sponsorship benefit of $20M/year from the naming rights from CitiCorp. But that's a 20 year deal and the mortgage from the bonds is 30 years I believe, and runs over $40M/year. The team has to cover the shortfall so that has to be a consideration for a potential buyer. I think the Mets would still sell for over $1B though, it's a trophy franchise, no matter how badly it's been run into the ground by Fred Wilpon and his idiot son Jeff

[BBombers85]

Team debt excluding the stadium and SNY (who happens to own this very NYYfans website) is about $580M. The entity that owns the stadium also gets the sponsorship benefit of $20M/year from the naming rights from CitiCorp. But that's a 20 year deal and the mortgage from the bonds is 30 years I believe, and runs over $40M/year. The team has to cover the shortfall so that has to be a consideration for a potential buyer. I think the Mets would still sell for over $1B though, it's a trophy franchise, no matter how badly it's been run into the ground by Fred Wilpon and his idiot son Jeff

Let's not leave out the annual payment to Bobby Bonilla for $1.2M for the next 24 years. Essentially, a waste of dollaz.

[Jersey Yankee]

Team debt excluding the stadium and SNY (who happens to own this very NYYfans website) is about $580M. The entity that owns the stadium also gets the sponsorship benefit of $20M/year from the naming rights from CitiCorp. But that's a 20 year deal and the mortgage from the bonds is 30 years I believe, and runs over $40M/year. The team has to cover the shortfall so that has to be a consideration for a potential buyer. I think the Mets would still sell for over $1B though, it's a trophy franchise, no matter how badly it's been run into the ground by Fred Wilpon and his idiot son Jeff

Where do you get the $580M figure from?

So the mortgage from the bonds, how does that work? Who bought which bonds, for how much, and for 30 years? I'm not a financial person, so perhaps you could explain this to me.

I don't know how much SNY itself would sell for, but I'd imagine that it would relatively pricey. Not as much as the YES Network, but it would at least be expected to be pricey.

I remember that the Wilpons had refused to put Citifield up for sale. They may need to reconsider this, since mortgage fees are supposedly soon becoming due (March 2012 for some payments, I've read somewhere).

I'm not sure that the Mets could sell for $1B unless they included the team, stadium and SNY. I'm not sure how much their various Minor League affiliates would sell for, tho.

[Jersey Yankee]

Let's not leave out the annual payment to Bobby Bonilla for $1.2M for the next 24 years. Essentially, a waste of dollaz.

I thought that you were joking. Wow, and from the Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...108198050.html

He made $5.9M in 1999 (see bottom of link below), his final year as a Met. I guess that they bought out his 2000 year for $26M???

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...onilbo01.shtml

[awy]

i have no words

they probably thought they could get a better return from madoff lOL