What Mets fans talk about when not talking about the actual games.
Number 16 is 56 today. Here he is picking up the Fonzie Award earlier this year.
Here’s some 70’s Uni action. I want one of these.
And here he is from the Opening Credits of How I Met the Mets.
Very, very interesting read from NYTIMES.com. I will comment as we go along.
The Mets, long one of baseball’s most highly valued franchises, have lost millions of dollars in recent years, including nearly $50 million in 2010, according to two people briefed on the team’s finances.
Nearly lost 50 million dollars last year? And this isn’t even the stuff about Madoff. Just cost of doing business expenses.
The losses — the club’s falloff in revenue was the largest year-to-year decline for any major league team in recent years — are certainly jarring for a franchise operating in the nation’s most lucrative market. In 2009, the Mets, boasting one of the sport’s most expensive payrolls, opened the season in a new park, Citi Field, and the club took in revenue of more than $350 million. Still, it lost close to $10 million, according to the two people briefed on the matter.
Opening up of a new ball park and lost close to $10 million. Has that happened anywhere before? I am far from a financial guru and I definitely do not know about other baseball cities and their finances at all. But, WOW.
The falloff in revenue in 2010 for the Mets was one of the most striking for any club since the losses suffered by the Florida Marlins in 1998, when their roster was decimated by cost-cutting ownership a year after the team won the World Series.
Really? This is as bad as the Marlins fire sale in ’98? OUCH!
And sales of what are known as full-season equivalents — a mix of small and large season-ticket packages — are projected to top out at 10,000 this year, less than half the total sold just two years ago. Without any major player signings after last season’s 79-83 record, there might not be much for fans to root for.
The Mets would not comment on their financial situation, other than to say that ticket sales for the 2011 season are up over the same time last year.
Ticket sales are gangbusters I thought. I guess maybe single game ticket and flex plan sales are up. The people who had plans must have ditched them and went for the smaller flex plans and single tickets.
There is a lot more in this article and its getting late. So, you can read more here and get your own take on the story.
Shannon,
Came home from work today, and there was a package from the Mets, larger then usual. Turns out this year they really classed up the season ticket packaging, as well as included really nice gift….a Mets watch! Yeah, I know, its black, but still, more then I expected. I’ve attached some pictures of the unboxing, feel free to post them at your discretion.
Ethan
(Shannon here – these are for full seasons. I actually like the watch. I could improve it but I like it.)
Sandy Alderson was kind enough to join the Mets Bloggers in a conference call tonight.
A full transcript is on Mets Blog. Before you read another word here please support Honor Among Bloggers and visit Mets Blog and also Michael Baron’s website – it’s a LOT of work to transcribe a call, so Michael deserves some web traffic.
I tried taking notes but I was sitting on a bus squashed next to a fat guy who insists on sitting next to me even though half the time I get up when he does. I know I am a “fat blogger” but this guy is huge and drives me nuts. I digress…
I really like Sandy. He has a presence. I trust him.
As you would expect the majority of the call was about baseball stuff. I tried to go somewhere else with my question. I’m also going to pull out a few things that perked my ears.
Regarding fan opinion and roster moves: “Short answer for Castillo: Yes, for Perez, probably not..” And later he said “Honesty is the best policy. Thought it would’ve been disingenuous if I hadn’t said fan sentiment didn’t have anything to do with the decision”
Can they add a player if in the hunt?: “If we are in the hunt, the money will be there to add a player.” He discussed that when adding a player later in the year you’re only taking on half or a third of a salary.
My turn…and now I realize this is a shortened transcript (told you it’s a lot of work)
Shannon from Mets Police: As you head forward and build a roster, what non-baseball factors into building a roster?
They may not have significant weight, but they come into play. Isringhuasen is a good story, Chin-lung Hu has developed a following because of his last name. Its not going to determine whether or not they make the team, but it is the case in some small magnitude. Izzy’s case might have slight weight.
My question was longer (not bitching about the transcript) and added something like “do you factor in t-shirts, or ticket sales, or TV ratings, or legacy and how a particular player might fit into team history” – I didn’t name any specific players but since this is a forward thinking question you can decide for yourself who I meant. I wasn’t out to ask a “gotcha” question, nor am I now which is why I’m not saying who I had in mind…but my key words were fans and legacy and team history. Maybe a different transcript will show up – like I said, I was being squashed by a fat(ter) guy.
And along those lines 😉
John Delcos: Regarding Jose Reyes, what do you have to see from him to warrant giving him an extension? Do you have to see that prior to the All-Star Break?
That’s a compound question. First off, what do I have to see – he’s a very dynamic player. Its hard not to notice that. I think he is working on a couple of things which have been discussed publicly. Speed is his game, but for it to work, he’s got to be on base, and he’s acknowledged that. If Jose Reyes had a .400 OBP, I don’t know if anyone would be debating this, given what he does. We will see how it goes through the season. I think he’s a team player. As far as mid-season is concerned, I think part of it depends on how he performs over the first half, and how the team is performing at the deadline. If he performs well, and the decision is to sign him, I don’t think it matters how the team does. If the decision is to not sign him, and the team is performing well, I don’t think he’s going anywhere (for the rest of the season). The financial situation hasn’t impacted us yet. Will it in the future? Who knows. Given all the money we have coming off the books, even the money we anticipate Reyes trying to get, we should be able to accommodate, even if there is a reduced payroll.
Sandy then joked that they might not be able to sign anyone else if they signed Reyes, but there is potentially “Reyes Money” (me making up a phrase, not quoting Sandy.)
Money came up several times, and he was convincing that he’d be able to make moves.
…
I think it’s great that the Mets do this sort of thing from time to time, and I have to admit I spend half the call wondering how the heck I am on a call with the GM of the New York Mets.
For a bunch of amateurs, and most of us have no desire to be anything more, we are a pretty “professional” bunch. It’s a solid call with no knuckleheadism or “dumb” question where you’d roll your eyes.
Thanks to Mr. Alderson (as so many of us addressed him) and the Mets staff for putting this call together.
….
I’ll have another post tonight at 10pm with the Mets season ticket gift. It’s pretty cool.
I was down in Florida recently and attended several games, including a Mets-Braves game at Lake Buena Vista (pics to come soon).
Before the game I had the opportunity to chat with a few of the Mets. One of them (not saying who) directly told me:
“…most of the guys in the clubhouse would love to ditch the black [uniforms and trim] and go with a blue alternate instead….we have a new clubhouse guy and he asked Dave [Howard] about it. Dave told him it was purely a marketing decision, that the black sells.”
So the guys in uniform AND the clubhouse guy all want to do away with the black.
The uniform discussion lasted several minutes and included thoughts on alternate shadings of blue (going back to a lighter shade) as well as orange trims.
Oh and as Shannon has pointed out many many times, if you look at the top selling items in the online Mets store, almost all are blue. Dave Howard, are you paying attention?
