If Mets fans want to know what it’s like to see the Jeff Wilpon-run Mets, they got a glimpse of it this weekend.
It started after Friday’s Mets’ 7-5 victory over the Yankees when Yoenis Cespedes announced he had calcification in both heels that will likely have him not finish out the season and that he will have surgery eventually. Then, there was a report the Mets traded Jeurys Familia to the Oakland Athletics just so they can get rid of his salary and get international money out of it in return. Oh and none of the Mets executives have yet to speak to the media about this trade.
This is a terrible thing. It says so many things. Wilpon wants power, and he showed that by showing everyone who is in charge through his actions than words. He has created dysfunction all over the place with these acts this weekend. His organization has now become a laughingstock of Major League Baseball.
How else can anyone explain why Cespedes is playing when the season is lost or why no Mets executive has yet to talk about the Familia trade or why it was about money than making an actual baseball trade?
For a baseball fan, one can laugh at the Mets. For a Mets fan, one can only cry from laughing.
The players, the front office and Mets fans deserve better than what Wilpon is doing out there. This is basically a franchise that is held hostage from a man who never worked a day in his life and from a guy who basically was born in third base by being the lucky sperm of his father Fred Wilpon and his mother.
It’s ridiculous Cespedes played Friday night in a season that is a lost cause for the Mets. It’s asinine the Mets made him rehab and play minor league games. He is better off having surgery now and be ready to go when spring training starts in March. I am not a doctor, but it’s common sense.There’s no need to risk him being more hurt as he already is now.
Wilpon wants Cespedes to play because he does not want to pay his slugger to do nothing this season. He wants the Mets to win games, and he knows his star does that for him.
Understandably, Cespedes was not happy that he played Friday. He also expressed frustration about fans questioning him about wanting to play baseball on social media.
Beleaguered Mets manager Mickey Callaway decided to play dumb by saying he was not aware of what Cespedes said to the media. That’s hard to believe since he has been around baseball all his life to know what’s going on. It’s a good bet he was told by a Mets official via Wilpon not to say anything about what Cespedes said.
Omar Minaya was at the game Saturday, and he was not available to talk about what Cespedes said and the deal the Mets made. Remember he is part of the three-man committee serving as Mets general manager while Sandy Alderson is taking a leave of absence after announcing he has cancer. It’s a good bet Wilpon told Minaya and John Ricco to say nothing.
By having them say nothing to the media Saturday, it’s an insult to the fans for not explaining what’s going on. The same fans that pay their hard-earned money to watch this garbage team run by a garbage man in Wilpon. This is what to be expected from an minor-league operation masquerading as a team playing in Major League Baseball. It’s the way Wilpon wants this to be run, and it’s not good.
Trading Familia was a salary dump, not a baseball move. The Mets could have had better deals or they could have waited it out until they got a better deal, but they made the deal because the Athletics were going to take on his salary and most importantly, they got that much-needed $1 million in international signing bonus pool allotment. The message of this deal was about money, and for the Wilpons, that’s more of a priority than getting players with talent in return.
It’s hard to believe J.P. Ricciardi, Minaya or Ricco would agree to this deal or make this deal out of haste. They are quality baseball men that knows the art of the deal, so it’s easy to say this was more of a Wilpon power move.
It’s okay to doubt what the Mets received in trading Familia because the scouts are not enthralled with Triple-A 26-year-old right-hander Bobby Wahl and Class A third baseman Will Toffey. It’s easy to question this move when this was about money. One can make a case prospects are hard to judge because no one knows if they will develop or not, but the Mets don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt with so many gaffes they have made forever.
Eventually, Wilpon will realize one of his executives will have to talk. With the criticism coming the Mets’ way to play Cespedes, it was wise that the Mets did not play him Saturday.
The damage is already done. It’s not going to get better anytime soon since the son of Fred Wilpon is not inclined to hire a competent baseball man to run the franchise since it would strip his power. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred will not make it a point to get into Wilpon’s business and force him to sell since it’s not his problem.
Nothing is changing. We can go scream to high heavens about wanting Wilpon to go away, but he is staying as an owner and he will be hellbent on showing he can be the solution to the Mets’ problems.
As the late Mets owner Nelson Doubleday said once about Mr. Jeff Wilpon, run for the hills, boys.
