Comments on: News: Wilpon loses $300 Million

By: Gina

Gina — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:50:51 +0000

Yeah, Ellsbury, Buckholz, Craig Hansen(part of the package to get Bay), Jed Lowrie, Bowden were all drafted in 05. What’s funny is they also drafted Pedro Alvarez and Allan Dykstra, both first round picks this year, that year.

It’s amazing how quickly you can transform a team when you draft well.

By: Gina

Gina — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:45:43 +0000

lcx487, really it wasn’t until the last decade, mostly when Epstein was brought in in 2002, that they completely revamped their scouting departments and the way they approached the draft, mostly since 2004 is when they’ve been pouring money into the draft.

By: lcs487

lcs487 — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:33:18 +0000

Thanks Gipper….

Gina, I agree 100%….I think in the case of the Red Sox, you had DECADES of not winning a championship and a rivalry with the Yankees that helped facilitate that spending on the farm system. And it paid off huge….twice. Good for them.

If anything, I believe we need to replenish the farm system with quality talent. Hopefully this team continues to replenish the farm system and at the same time put a good team on the field that can contend. But it is a delicate balance to say the least.

By: gipper82475

gipper82475 — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:11:26 +0000

lcs487 (20),

Very well said.

By: 300Million

300Million — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:48:17 +0000

wilpon you lost me i want to come back!

By: rosemarymets

rosemarymets — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:42:26 +0000

maybe they will sell the team to someone who REALLY wants to win and is a Mets fan and not an old Dodgers fan…but i really do think they dont draft nearly as well as a lot of teams and i am sure that has a lot to do with the scouting system, etc…anyway….we got what we got and it aint half bad…

By: BringBackDaveTelgheder

BringBackDaveTelgheder — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:09:48 +0000

Enough with the heart and grit stuff – you still need quality players that produce. Maintaining good chemistry is a plus, but you’re not winning a World Series with 9 David Ecksteins – no matter how hard they try.

By: Gina

Gina — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:00:19 +0000

The Red Sox don’t use a lot of money? Even before their payroll sky rocketed the Red Sox poured money, and believe me when I say poured, into scouting and development and consistently have spent more than basically everyone else on the draft, and usually in IFA too. The Red Sox spend way more money than you would think just on their payroll, their payroll which is already one of the highest in the majors.

IMO our problem isn’t not spending on free agents, even though the economy is no excuse because we have another 33 million coming off the books next year and they’re already spending less than some of thier big market counter-parts relative to how much we bring in, it’s been not spending in those other areas that aren’t as public but probably more important and more correlative to winning.

By: lcs487

lcs487 — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:50:40 +0000

“Winning the World Series still creates more revenue. Spending money does not equate into winning. Being smart and knowing baseball does.”

100% agreed Razor. If you see the moves the Yankees made this past week, you’d think they were trying to buy themselves another ring. The Phillies, Red Sox, Marlins, D-Backs and yes, even the Cardinals, have proven that it doesn’t take a lot of money to build a good team….it just takes a few guys with a lot of heart.

I think Omar realizes the mistakes he’s made over the course of his tenure as GM. The recent acquisitions of Johan Santana, K-Rod and JJ Putz have completely re-energized the fan base and brought excitement to this team which had not been there for a long time. A lot of people on here THINK they know how to put together a good baseball team, and that’s fine….so do I…..but at the same time, we all need to think and realize that sometimes the best team on paper does not always translate to the best team on the field. That happens over the course of a season.

By: lcs487

lcs487 — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:46:09 +0000

“Good, serves them right for not cancelling the taxpayer/Citi Field rip-off. Screw them. Now they know a little bit how mot people feel when they get screwed out of job, pensions and rip offs at Shea/taxpayer field.”

Rod, do you think before you post? You must feel great that the “rich man got his due”! I’ll bet you’re one of those guys that doesn’t work any harder than he has to and when review time comes around, you complain about your paycheck, right? Man, if I woke up like you every morning, i’d kill myself. It’s called a recession! People lose thier jobs, find new ones and then everything is back to normal again. We just happen to be in a global recession where most of the world is in the same boat.

At the heart of this is the Wilpons. If I lost money, and I don’t care how much it is, i’d start looking into my business and seeing where things had to be trimmed as well. I’m pretty sure they know what its like to lose something, and its probably on as large of a scale as someone losing thier job and/or pension. My advice….stop throwing stones and getting off on someone else’s misery. You’ll be a much happier person if you invest in success for yourself and/or someone else.

And if you didn’t Shea was a taxpayer field, you are SORELY mistaken.