With the Mets mathematically eliminated from the National League East and the dream of winning the second Wild Card out of reach, the ball club will have to wait until at least 2015 to compete in the Post Season for the first time since 2006. That being said, the Mets should not just give up on the 2014 season, because there are still 10 games left, which shall provide a plethora of opportunities for young players getting their first cup of coffee in the big leagues. However, it seems as if the only time the Mets are in the news right now is for bad reasons. Whether it be Jenrry Mejia’s post game celebration, Leigh Castergine’s lawsuit against Mets COO Jeff Wilpon, or even the Mets allegedly trying to get away with changing their logo, the Mets always seem to get negative attention from the media.
Last Friday, Mets closer Mejia struck out Ian Desmond to secure a 4-3 victory over the first place Washington Nationals. After the strikeout, Mejia celebrated in a way that annoyed the Nationals, Major League Baseball, and fans around the country. For some reason, people do not like baseball players enjoying themselves and celebrating their accomplishments. After all, it’s not like these men are being paid to play a children’s game for a living (and yes, that was sarcasm). But why does this have to be such a big deal? It is human nature to celebrate one’s accomplishments, both big and small. So why can’t someone as energetic as Mejia do it? More importantly, why do the Mets have to take the blame for it? After all, Mejia is just one player on a team of what is now a 38 man Major League roster.
As if the Mejia controversy was not enough, former VP of Ticket Sales, Leigh Castergine, recently announced that she is suing Mets COO Jeff Wilpon for firing her because of her pregnancy. While working for the Mets organization, Castergine was pregnant, but was not married, nor in a relationship. She claims that Wilpon openly expressed his disapproval towards her both in private and during meetings. Therefore, when she was fired, she immediately thought the reason was because of her pregnancy, not because of the Mets low attendance numbers. Ever since this news came out, the media has exploded with terrible things to say about both the Mets and Wilpon. Obviously, this is not what the Mets need right now, and may end up affecting how they run their offseason.
Perhaps the most useless and outrageous reason that people are upset with the Mets organization would be how they have allegedly been “secretly” pushing a new logo to be their new primary logo. The new logo, as shown in the graphic above, displays the Citi building instead of the United Nations Building on the right. In 2009, Citi reached a deal with the Mets for naming rights to the new ballpark. The deal was worth $400MM over the course of 20 years (which year by year is less than Albert Pujols’s contract with the Angels). Though not part of the deal, the Mets have begun to push this new logo instead of their original one, which is rubbing some fans the wrong way. People are even threatening to switch fan bases due to this “scandal”, which would potentially lead to the Mets losing fans, and therefore losing money.
Why do people have to waste their time focusing on the problems they have with the organization rather than how the Mets are doing during the season? Baseball is a game that is played on the field, not off of it… so it is time everyone stops talking about what goes on after the third out is made in the ninth, and focuses on how the players are performing.
Because when ownership thinks the fans are as stupid as they are they can do whatever they want to after all it is their team and your money.Why not have a fan driven contest instead of a seedy hope they don’t notice attempt to change the logo? The Wilpons and SA act sometimes like the three stooges. At least Moe, Larry and Curly were funny.
I would love to focus on the players and possible trades and free agent signings except the off the field Madoff scandal has adversely effected the team budget and the the teams ability to make the trades, sign the free agents and keep the stars they had. These problems did not exist before the Madoff scandal. It is not the fans that have brought this front and center, it is the ownership.
I agree with Metsense here. The owners created the situation for all of these distractions, besides Meija’s dancing of course. Their behind-the-scenes amateur behavior is costing the Mets organization quality individuals both on and off the field. We may have a competitive team on the field next year, but we’ll never be a championship organization as long as the Wilpons are running things.
You can believe that baseball is played between the lines, but in reality its big business entertainment with most of the business done outside the lines.
In case you missed it, the players are not performing, the coaches are not performing, the FO is not performing, and the owners are not performing. This gives ample time to enjoy the seedy side much more.