HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW: Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, introducing free-agent signing Jose Reyes last December, is making the Mets’ Fred Wilpon (inset) look good, the Post’s Ken Davidoff writes, by trading Reyes and the rest of Miami’s high-priced roster. (
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ROSEMONT, Ill. — What a glorious week this has been for the Mets.
First, R.A. Dickey won the National League Cy Young Award. And soon enough, Bud Selig will approve the ginormous Marlins-Blue Jays trade that will send 1) Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle and others to Toronto in return for prospects; 2) the Marlins’ projected wins total to about 55; and 3) the approval ratings of Miami owner Jeffrey Loria to Ozzie Guillen levels.
What remains to be seen, however, is the bloody aftermath. Was this Marlins salary slash as driven by ownership’s financial problems as many in the industry suspect it to be? And if Loria winds up in the sort of dire straits in which the Wilpons and Saul Katz found themselves not long ago, will commissioner Bud Selig act similarly and throw Loria a bone, in the form of a loan?
The bet here is that Selig would be far happier to say “See ya!” to Loria than he was to Fred Wilpon, for reasons beyond friendship.
“My job from the day I walked into his office … is to do what’s in the best interests of baseball,” Selig said yesterday, as the baseball owners’ meetings concluded at an O’Hare Airport hotel. “People have different views of that, as to what you should do and how you should do it. But I think, you know, I’ve been able to come through all these situations, and the sport has been stronger and better as a result.”
The Marlins are the latest team in crisis, following a trail set in recent years by the Dodgers, the Rangers and, yes, the Mets. Selig led the charge to evict Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, whose divorce from ex-wife Jamie gave baseball the paperwork it needed to document malfeasance. Selig loaned the Rangers $40 million and got involved in the team’s bankruptcy court auction, pushing for Nolan Ryan’s group to prevail over the bid of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
And when the Mets were hurting badly from the Bernard Madoff mess and Irving Picard’s subsequent lawsuit, Selig authorized a $25 million loan to the team’s ownership and allowed more than a year to repay it.
I know many Mets fans are still livid with their owners, for myriad justifiable reasons. But sometimes you must take a step back and appreciate that, as Selig likes to say, nothing is “good” or “bad” except in comparison to other things.
Cutting payroll from $140 million to $100 million, as the Mets did, is bad. Cutting payroll from $118 million to … maybe even less than half of that … just one year after opening your new stadium … that required considerable public monies to build … in a particularly ugly battle with city and county officials … that would be worse. A lot worse.
Selig, who is often more comfortable speaking in codes than directly addressing matters, said, “The questions are fair about Marlins fans.”
Translation: “They have every right to be extremely angry. I don’t blame them one bit. Loria, you’re killing me.”
The Marlins just hired their seventh manager in eight calendar years, Mike Redmond. The Mets have been on their best behavior since hiring Sandy Alderson to run the baseball operations. To rebuild their talent base and redefine their corporate culture.
So even though the Mets have lagged in the standings, Selig emitted confidence about the choices he has made for his Flushing bureau.
“As far as the Mets are concerned, I know they’re very comfortable where they are, and they’re very optimistic,” Selig said. “I’ll take them at their word.”
Yup, Selig and Fred Wilpon are old and dear friends, and the fiery New York art dealer Loria always has been viewed as an eccentric within the baseball world. Those realities matter. Not as much, though, as the highly offensive manner — the highest — in which Loria and his underlings have run the Marlins.
You can’t criticize this huge trade from a baseball standpoint; most folks here agreed the Marlins did all right with their return. And if Loria can hang in there and produce an exciting team in a few years, maybe he can survive and thrive.
Good luck finding someone — inside or outside of baseball — rooting for such a resolution to this saga.