Selig

[TransMonk]

So, the end of 2012 is creeping up (it seemed so long ago when it was announced). Do we have any thoughts on who might replace him?

In other news, he's decided to retire to my town, which should increase revenue, but will probably cause the city to end in a tie.

[DocTee]

I have long hoped that Mario Cuomo would've been commissioner.

[Frayed Knot]

DocTee wrote: I have long hoped that Mario Cuomo would've been commissioner.

Maybe at one time but he'll turn 80 next summer, two years older than Selig.

[metirish]

Joe Torre will assume the position won't he?, white lifer inside guy and friend of Bud, likely well thought of among the owners. Will do what he's told to do.

[Ceetar]

metirish wrote: Joe Torre will assume the position won't he?, white lifer inside guy and friend of Bud, likely well thought of among the owners. Will do what he's told to do.

I don't know that I hate that idea.

[Edgy MD]

I'm sure they'd love a minority candidate --- and will interview more than a few --- but I doubt they'll find one that's willing to operate in the best interests of the owners as the first, second, and sometimes third priority.

Torre? I don't know that he knows the business end at all. As the Met hat flap indicates, just doing what you're told is all well and good, but makes you look pretty foolish when you have to express your thoughts as if you came up with them independently.

And will he have the juice to do the consensus building that the job requires? Because it's not like the owners are always on the same page. I think they'll try to get a retired politician, but not Cuomo and not Mitchell. Somebody with some vitality still left.

[metirish]

Why would they want a retired politician type, not being a smart asre here but it's baseball not the middle east.

[Benjamin Grimm]

George W. Bush.

[Edgy MD]

metirish wrote: Why would they want a retired politician type, not being a smart asre here but it's baseball not the middle east.

That didn't stop them from running to George Mitchell when they had to clean up the steroids scandal.

A retired and respected politician will (1) offer them the credibility with the public that they are acting responsibly and (2) buy them leverage in Congress to keep Uncle Sam out of their hair and maintain their anti-trust exemption.

Bush would likely not provide these things very effectively.

[seawolf17]

FINE, I'll do it.

[Ceetar]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: George W. Bush.

Be a good way to get people to remember Selig fondly.

[Gwreck]

I'm not sure Bush would make for a bad Commissioner. We might never get rid of God Bless America but on non-political issues my guess is that he'd be fine.

[Edgy MD]

I'm suddenly thinking... Alderson.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

I don't think you'll see a president in that role. Think of all the security issues, Secret Service and all, every time he attends a ball game.

I suspect they'll pull someone from the ownership ranks. It's worked for them with Selig.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: I'm suddenly thinking... Alderson.

Omar Minaya's available on the GM front to replace him..

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Prolly not until the Mets are "fixed" financially, which could be awhile.

Looking for evidence the Wilpons were getting a few handfuls of $20 million investors so as to make up for Einhorn's withdrawn $200 mills but not finding much. Einhorn in the meantime is peeing in your coffee.

Einhorn Slams Green Mountain at Investor Conference; Shares Plunging By Avi Salzman The legions of Green Mountain Coffee short-sellers are getting a very big hand this morning. Greenlight Capital�s David Einhorn is making a negative case against Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) at the Value Investing Congress in New York. His presentation is 110 slides long. �I was up late last night.� The presentation started at 11:40 a.m. and the stock was already down 6% within 90 seconds. Twenty-five minutes into the presentation, shares were off 9%. Einhorn says GMCR�s financial disclosures are inadequate and constantly changing, �I suspect in response to negative trends,� he said. He added that the company has numerous �accounting discrepancies� and its June quarterly results may be �too good to be true.� He also alleges �shenanigans� with distributor M Block and is urging the SEC to take a look. �We haven�t talked to the SEC. The SEC�s already been there for more than a year. There�s hope that they might look into this.� Einhorn says the K-Cups are unreasonably expensive compared to brewed coffee and it seems unlikely that Green Mountain can convince enough consumers that the coffee is so good that the added price is worth it. Einhorn called the company�s return on capital �merely adequate� and claimed that GMCR is burning cash. �The capital spending is growing faster than the business at a time when the business should be growing much faster than the capital spending.� He also said that the company�s deal with Starbucks (SBUX) to sell Starbucks coffee in GMCR�s K-Cups is not nearly as positive as the bulls seem to think. Starbucks appears to be getting the lion�s share of the profit split on the sale of each K-Cup, Einhorn estimates: �Starbucks should make about 2/3 of the profits.� And sales of the Starbucks packets could cannibalize GMCR�s existing higher-margin sales. Bulls see normalized GMCR earnings hitting $9 per share, but Einhorn says the more likely figure is $3.50. �I have a position� in the stock, Einhorn disclaimed, adding that he can change it any time

.

[metirish]

As a former customer of Green Mountain Coffee I agree with Einhorn that their K-Cups are too expensive, two years ago there were very few places you could buy K-Cups,I bought from them, factor in shipping and it was a rip off,now you can buy K-Cups just about anywhere, even Best Buy for Christs sake. At stores like Costco you can buy a big box of 80 for $35 while Green Mountain used to charge me $40+(shipping) for two boxes of 24. Some fuzzy math right there.

[Gwreck]

I read an article recently that suggests Dave Dombrowski (Tigers President) would be a good choice.

[MFS62]

Edgy DC wrote: I'm sure they'd love a minority candidate --- and will interview more than a few --- but I doubt they'll find one that's willing to operate in the best interests of the owners as the first, second, and sometimes third priority.

If they are going to interview minority candidates, an interview should be offered to Frank Robinson.
He has held just about every job in baseball (I don't consider ownership a job), including working for MLB.
He might turn it down because of his age, but if he isn't on the short list, it would be a shame.

Later

[Edgy MD]

A few more thoughts:
[list:26kzag96][*:26kzag96]Rudolph Giuliani[/*:m:26kzag96]
[*:26kzag96]Lawrence Summers[/*:m:26kzag96]
[*:26kzag96]Nolan Ryan[/*:m:26kzag96]
[*:26kzag96]Kim Ng[/*:m:26kzag96]
[*:26kzag96]Bill Richardson[/*:m:26kzag96][/list:u:26kzag96]

[Edgy MD]

Daily News saying Selig ain't retiring.

[Fman99]

Either Kang or Kodos will be fine.

[Vic Sage]

Edgy DC wrote: Daily News saying Selig ain't retiring.

That's what Khadafy said.

[bmfc1]

Why should he retire with such an illustrious record: labor problems; drug use that he ignored; worthless all-time records; never-ending playoff expansion; World Series home-field advantage decided by an exhibition game; playoff games that end past midnight--he's the best!

[Edgy MD]

All true, and if his contract doesn't get renewed, he has little say in the matter. But the other side of that coin is that the owners (1) saw vast expansions of their revenues, and (2) haven't really actively sought a replacement.

[nymr83]

Fman99 wrote: Either Kang or Kodos will be fine.

Greetings puny humans! we will take over your baseball!

[Edgy MD]

Olney reporting that Selig will get an extension ("at least two years") this week at the owners' meetings.

Huge implications if your name is Wilpon.

[nymr83]

[crossout:2zscga3m]Great Leader Selig has won another election with an amazing 99% of the votes[/crossout:2zscga3m] Commissioner-for-life Selig has ordered his appointment to another 2 year term.

Jokes aside, he maybe kinda deserves it... He negotiated a new labor deal early without the fanfare and lockout/strike other sports have experienced lately, that counts for something.

[Frayed Knot]

I think the larger implication here is that Bud is sticking around because either the owners have no frickin' idea who they might want to replace him, or, more likely still, that they're split into two or more camps as to who they might want to replace him to the point where the competing factions prefer sticking with the comfortable old shoe rather than risk the unknown by accepting a choice they don't want.

[Edgy MD]

I buy both those implications. I just led with the parochial angle.