Fred Wilpon's Criticism of...Himself?

The New York Mets are 23-26 after today's loss to the Cubs.  As it has for each of the past five seasons, this year's version of the Mets is disappointing.  Burdened by overpaid contracts given out to closer Francisco Rodriguez, shortstop Jose Reyes, right fielder Carlos Beltran, and starting pitcher Johan Santana, coping with lower attendance at the newer Citi Field, dealing with the franchise's $427 million debt, and trying to recover from losing money in the Bernie Madoff scandal are the problems the franchise has to deal with these days.  The franchise's poor decision making has put them in this position.  And majority owner Fred Wilpon's recent comments on his own team have sparked a wide public reaction.  Wilpon may or may not have intended for these comments to be released to the public, but either way I think they're borderline hypocritical and inappropriate for someone in his position.

Shortstop Jose Reyes, whose large contract is one the Mets have been trying to move recently, is looking to cash in on an even bigger contract this offseason when he hits the free agent market.  Wilpon said, "He thinks he's going to get Carl Crawford money," talking about Crawford's 7-year, $142 million contract with the Red Sox.  "He's had everything wrong with him.  He won't get it."  Carlos Beltran's huge postseason for the Astros in 2004, not even including his terrific stretch run that included going 28-for-28 in steals after being traded over from the Royals, was the main reason the Mets overpaid for him, says Wilpon.  "We had some schmuck in New York who paid him based on that one series.  He's 65 to 70 percent of what he was."  The only player Wilpon wasn't overly critical of was third baseman David Wright.  "Really good kid.  A very good player.  Not a superstar."

Wilpon's comments are pathetic.  The message that this sends to the fans of the Mets, who are stuck watching this bad team shrouded in negativity for the third year in a row, is that they shouldn't care about the players.  If even the owner is this negative about his team, then why should the fans hold out hope for anything?  The Mets are in debt right now and it's only getting worse because of the Madoff scandal and the continued patterns of bad contracts.  And another thing; Wilpon has no right to criticize "some schmuck" that gave Beltran his contract, because Wilpon is the owner and he needs to be overseeing these contract offers.  The fact is, Beltran couldn't have finished that season better in a contract year.  It should have been expected that the winning bidder would have to severely overpay.  The same thing happened this past offseason with Jayson Werth and the Nationals.

I think it's hard to be an intense fan of baseball and not be a fan of Jose Reyes.  Unless you have some weird vendetta against the Mets, Reyes deserves to be a fan favorite throughout the entire league because from around 2005 to 2008 he was one of the most electrifying and exciting players to watch in the game.  He was one filling the highlights reels and being a distraction every time he got on base.  But he has had injury complications both of the last two seasons and played less than a full season combined.  Reyes, who has 17 steals right now, putting him on pace for around 50, appears to be returning to form.  But then Wilpon has to go out and say that he wants Crawford money.  Neither Reyes nor his agent have ever said this before, publicly at least.

The focus for Wilpon is that if he were to say anything it should have been to pump up his team and encourage a playoff push. Now the Mets players are angry at their own owner, which can't help the team at all.  For Wilpon to sharply criticize the players that are on his payroll is ridiculous.  If you don't like them, why did you agree to pay them?  Former GM Omar Minaya, who offered the Beltran and Reyes contracts, didn't just make those decisions on his own.  There's hardly anything positive heard about the Mets these days, and even the team owner has joined the negativity parade.