Over the past few months, there has been some discussion over the potentially despicable acts of Jeff Wilpon. Which time you ask? Well, this time it is the allegation of Jeff Wilpon verbally harassing the former Executive Vice President for Marketing and Ticket Sales about her out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Originally her firing seemed like a reasonable response to the dip in ticket sales over the past 4-5 seasons. However, soon after Leigh Castergine was let go it was revealed that Jeff Wilpon had verbally harassed her. I do not deny there are very strong feelings regarding this subject, but one of the principles America was founded on is that a person is innocent until proven guilty. For this purpose, I am going to take that stance and simply look at the potential outcomes and how it will affect the team as a whole.
Jeff Wilpon gets off without losing any money and the team stands pat:
If Jeff Wilpon did not commit this despicable act against Ms. Castergine and is not guilty then the Mets will be in no better or worse position than they had started. Of course, this will not be a great story to present to the future members of the Metropolitan front office- especially females. It remains unlikely that this actually will happen as there seems to be very solid evidence that Mr. Wilpon humiliated Ms. Castergine. The only potential downside to this happening is the unfortunate possibility that our friend Mr. Wilpon will return to breathing down Sandy Alderson’s neck and will not allow him to have a payroll over $85 million.
Ms. Castergine successfully sues Jeff Wilpon and the team is held in further debt:
An unfortunate joke shared among not only Mets’ fans but the rest of baseball is the lack of money the Wilpon’s actually have after the Bernie Madoff scandal. The team claims to be out of this massive debt and is ready to move on, but we fans don’t know what to believe. If this likely scenario comes true, then the front office will be faced with yet another financial set-back to add on to Bobby Bonilla and the probable costs of moving the fences in. The Mets will most likely see some serious cuts on the payroll, including the already expected cuts of Eric Young Jr. and Ruben Tejada. This is the most probable outcome and will just add to the never-ending suffering of being a Metropolitan fan.
Jeff Wilpon is successfully sued and commissioner Rob Manfred steps in to ban him:
This is obviously the dream scenario for Mets’ fans and probably much of the front office. In fact, a month or two ago it seemed like an impossible outcome, but the longer I look at this the more it seems possible. Considering how the NFL has handled the Ray Rice situation, the MLB might want to act upon this. Considering the fact that the allegations against Jeff Wilpon are very similar in offense to Ray Rice there might some consideration in the commissioner’s office. Mr. Manfred just might want to make a bold move to start off his career as commissioner which could lead to the banning of Jeff Wilpon in Major League Baseball. In addition, the MLB could want to send a serious message to all 30 teams and other sports as well that this type of behavior is not tolerated.
In the end, Jeff Wilpon is an abhorrent individual that did not surprise many by this press release. The Mets will not be greatly affected by the lawsuit regardless of its outcome and fans/players should not worry to much about it. That being said, this should be taken on the same level as the Ray Rice case and abusive acts (verbal or physical) against any person whether male or female or black or white should not be tolerated in sports or any other field of work.
Who is responsible for the final product you see playing in Citifield? Castergine or Wilpon? How would you like to go to work every day trying to promote the AAA team the Wilpons have given their fans the past 4 years while they try to recoup “their” loses? How stupid and ridiculous! It’s like watching a Seinfeld episode 24/7. Jeff fires the same employees they urged to rollover their own 401 k’s into a sound investment they were “offering” their loyal employees. Those employees lost their life savings and retirement money. How fred and jeff can sleep at night with a clear conscience is beyond comprehension. Those same loyal Met employees have to suffer the final indignity of either getting fired or taking less money because the Wilpons are broke.
Really?? Think these people may be motivated to against Jeffy?
Like flies to s….Is she really to blame for the mess and turmoil the Mets are in? Is she to blame for attendance dropping ever since they opened Citifiled? Is she to blame for the lack of success the Mets have winning at home? If fans boycott to voice their displeasure with ownership it does not matter who is in charge of ticket sales. You can cheer for the team on television and continue to send the wilpons a clear message. I just get the impression that jeffy is such an arrogant ass to work for and that if his father wasn’t a millionaire he’d be working in a soup kitchen taking out the garbage.
She is not at all completely to blame for the drop in ticket sales. As she described after her departure, “selling to tickets is like selling tickets to a funeral.” However, a move like this without the verbal abuse made sense in a business sense. The specific was failing and she was in charge of it, but with the context of her departure it seems they weren’t ready to let her go without her situation.
Julian how do you justify firing someone who has Zero input on the day to day operations and make up of this team? How is she going to “sell” the Mets when the owners don’t reinvest a single cent towards that end? How do you get fans to go to Citifield when the only thing ownership cares about is maintaining control of their entity? The Wilpons don’t see or care about the fan base Why else open Citifield with little or no acknowledgement to the Mets past?
A ban from baseball is less likely, in my opinion. I can see him being forced to give up his position, take a year off, seek counseling, blah, blah. But I don’t expect him to be punished in any real way. He’ll still probably be a part of the Mets woes, and he’ll probably get in trouble like this again. He’s rich guys. He can do whatever he wants. Right?
Having read through Castergine’s original complaint when it was filed, I had a few reactions:
1. The kind of stuff she is claiming in the complaint is not the kind of stuff that you say unless you can 100% prove it in a court. A lot of the stuff is also easily fact-checkable with things like email and phone records. I honestly don’t see a way that Wilpon escapes this lawsuit without having to pay through the nose – the kind of stuff he did and said was ridiculous.
2. This is it for Jeff Wilpon.
Here’s some of the highlights:
In a meeting where senior executives were discusssing putting e-cigarette ads in Citi Field, Wilpon said: “I am as morally opposed to having an e-cigarette advertisement in my ballpark as I am to Leigh having this baby without being married.
He told Castergine that she would be paid more money and be more respected if she were married.
He’s entitled to be morally opposed to someone having a baby out of wedlock, but not to openly share those opinions in a professional business setting because it A. is harassment, and B. creates a hostile work environment.
That is my take on it also Joe. There should be plenty of physical evidence, especially with her complaints to human resources. She will probably settle for money with JW not acknowleding any wrong doing. Should the commissioner investigate further from that point? I think he should but he probably won’t or just white wash the case.
It became so hostile and embarrassing that jeffy had to fire her. I guess in his feeble mind he was justified in ridiculing,belittling and terminating her. That’s strike one,two and three and you’re out JW. Hopefully your dad is next.