The Toughest Job in Sports

[batmagadanleadoff]

Why Steve Phillips says being Mets GM is toughest job in sports

Steve Phillips can feel Mets general manager Sandy Alderson�s pain, dealing with mounting criticism as the Yankees spend another offseason loading up with the best players on the open market. �I personally thought the Mets GM job was the toughest executive position in sports,� Phillips, the former Mets executive, said on Radio Row after finishing his morning show on SiriusXM Radio at the Sheraton in Midtown. �The expectations are the same and comparisons are obvious that you�re in the same town [with the Yankees], but it�s a different structure, a different business plan and different history and tradition for the organizations. So I do think it does make it somewhat difficult.� The Mets have spent some money this offseason, bringing in outfielders Chris Young and Curtis Granderson and starting pitcher Bartolo Colon for a combined $87.25 million, though there are plenty of holes that remain, from shortstop to the bullpen. �They�re in the rebuilding process and still trying to kind of work their way back into being competitive,� said Phillips, who also works for TSN in Canada as a baseball insider. �I know Sandy is doing all he can right now and they�re looking to start expanding the budget and add players as they go. This is another step in that process.� Phillips defended Mets owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon, who have been under fire for their inability or unwillingness to spend money to improve the ballclub, which is coming off its fifth straight losing season. �I think they get so unfairly maligned,� he said. �I mean, Fred and Jeff want to win. They run it as a business and obviously from a business perspective they took a hit with everything that took place with the Madoff situation. But there�s a passion to win there, there�s a drive to win there. I experienced it firsthand for 13 years in the front office for the organization and I do expect they will own the team for a long time and bring a championship to New York.� Phillips� tenure with the Mets featured ups and downs. The team reached the World Series on his watch in 2000, but also struggled in ensuing seasons, flopping in 2002 and 2003 after he spent big money to bring in free-agent busts Roberto Alomar, Jeromy Burnitz and Mo Vaughn. He was fired in June 2003. �[There are] volumes of things I would�ve done differently, but when you�re in it, you base it off all the information you have,� he said. �I learned a lot from it. I think that, among other things, we made so many moves to dramatically change the team that people appreciated. But we didn�t have an exit strategy if it didn�t work out. �It took some time to turn it around.�

http://nypost.com/2014/01/29/ex-gm-phillips-running-mets-toughest-job-in-sports/

[Zvon]

I read this in the paper today.
My thought coming away from it was that I don't think a championship will change peoples minds, or make people feel any differently, about the Wilpons. That's how bad a rep they have now with their fans.

Some would say a World Series appearance and all would be forgiven. I don't think so.

[Guest themetfairy]

I agree with you Zvon. Other organizations treat their fans better than the Mets do. After years of the opposite of customer service it will be hard if not impossible for the Wilpons to rebuild a positive relationship with the fans, no matter how successful the team might be.

[Ceetar]

Zvon wrote: Some would say a World Series appearance and all would be forgiven. I don't think so.

forgotten not forgiven. Nobody praises the owners but no one will talk about them much.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

You've got to hand it to Steve Phillips: The man never burned a bridge.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Any goodwill that would come from a World Championship could easily be gone by the following May.

I'd love to poll a large number of Mets fans (much larger than what we have here) and ask the following question:

How would you describe your feelings toward the Wilpons?
* Entirely negative
* Mostly negative
* Somewhat negative
* Neutral
* Somewhat positive
* Mostly positive
* Entirely positive

I know that the negatives would heavily outweigh the positives, but I'd be curious to see the actual numbers. It would be interesting to see proof that any Mets fans, anywhere, have some positive feelings about the Wilpons. Me, I don't despise them like some do, but my feelings are certainly negative and I'd love to see them gone.

[Guest d'Kong76]

* Entirely negative -- it took me longer than others, but they
really do suck bhmc. My guess at this point is that they are the
most-disliked owners in professional sports. There would be parades
in the streets if they would just Sell the Team Now!!

[seawolf17]

If this team won the World Series this year, I'd go to the parade and cheer every single car I saw, from Dabidrye down to the clubbies -- except I'd boo the Wilpons with every fiber of my being.

[Edgy MD]

'most-disliked owners in professional sports"
"Every fiber of my being"

Pow!!

[Zvon]

You have to think that they feel if they can bring a championship home it'll change everything with the fans. And I think a poll like Grimms would prove that it wouldn't. I wonder if the Wilpons knew that if they would just give up and sell. Even if the team wins they're in a no win scenario.

[Edgy MD]

I don't believe that at all.

[Ceetar]

you think they care about the fans? They'll enjoy winning.

You say it now, but if they were actually to win the World Series more fan would prefer they stay the owner than rolling the dice with someone else. It's not like we root for the owners.

And by fans, I don't mean bloggers and people that breakdown lineups in January.

They're not going to be doing Twitter chats with fans now or then, but the attitude will go back to mostly indifference.

People mocked them and wanted Doubleday back and all that in '04, but you didn't hear much about that sorta thing in '06. there were other things to talk about.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Zvon wrote: Even if the team wins they're in a no win scenario.

They already won. Years ago. They bought the New York National League MLB franchise, probably with money they didn't even have. They own all the land surrounding their ballpark. They have an ownership interest in SNY. They're probably worth hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. No win?

[Guest d'Kong76]

Edgy MD wrote: 'most-disliked owners in professional sports" "Every fiber of my being" Pow!!

[Lefty Specialist]

I think Met fans understand that if they ever win the World Series, it'll be despite the Wilpons, not because of them.

[Guest d'Kong76]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: They're probably worth hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars.

God knows what they own and owe. Real Estate is a
funny business, I'd be shocked if the empire isn't worth
billions, there's all kinds of ways to account for wealth.

[Zvon]

When it comes to "no win" I'm talking in relation to the fans.

Ceetar, so even people that support the Wilpons as owners think that they don't give a shit about the fans? Isn't that special.

And I'm talking about now. In 2006 the Wilpons weren't in my doghouse. I had moved them to the outhouse at one point but they didn't make the doghouse until our payroll started to dwindle.

[Zvon]

Kong76 wrote: Edgy MD wrote: 'most-disliked owners in professional sports" "Every fiber of my being" Pow!!

Kool. You found bangpow!

[Ceetar]

Zvon wrote: When it comes to "no win" I'm talking in relation to the fans. Ceetar, so even people that support the Wilpons as owners think that they don't give a shit about the fans? Isn't that special. And I'm talking about now. In 2006 the Wilpons weren't in my doghouse. I had moved them to the outhouse at one point but they didn't make the doghouse until our payroll started to dwindle.

We're watching millionaires play sports for teams owned by billionaires signing billion dollar deals with TV companies. They (and pretty much all of them) care about us only so far as it's good PR to be on good terms with the fans. The vitriol directed at the Wilpons pretty much makes it no win for them in that regard anyway.

I dunno. Let's say we're at the 2017 World Series parade for the Mets. are you actually less happy if it's the Wilpons that still own the team than if it's "Random rich financial big-wig you haven't heard of before"?

[Frayed Knot]

Think back to a moment to the NY (football) Giants of the 1970s when there was no more disliked owners than the Maras (uncle & nephew). Season tickets were publicly burned, planes were hired to fly over the stadium during games trailing anti-onwer banners, etc.
But then they found (read: had forced on them) the right GM who found the right coach, who drafted the right (though disliked at the time) QB and two Soup Bones later there were tearful fans wondering how life would go on without him by the time the old man (Uncle Wellington) died.
And do we even need to remind folks of the Hate - Love - Hate - Love relationship that YLDBs had with George von Steinbrenner?

Winning is a great deodorant.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I've said it a million times: I think the Wilpons mean well but just cannot be trusted to manage the franchise competently.

Especially Fred. He just isn't smart enough or aware enough, and he's proven that over and over.

[Guest d'Kong76]

I always see Jeff as the dumb one, perhaps unfairly. It
often reminds me of this when it comes up:

[youtube:xbz1elt6]vYabrQrXt4A[/youtube:xbz1elt6]

[nymr83]

Kong76 wrote: * Entirely negative -- it took me longer than others, but they really do suck bhmc. My guess at this point is that they are the most-disliked owners in professional sports. There would be parades in the streets if they would just Sell the Team Now!!

I don't even think they are the least popular owners in New York.

[Edgy MD]

Or the worst. I agree.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I've said it a million times: I think the Wilpons mean well but just cannot be trusted to manage the franchise competently. Especially Fred. He just isn't smart enough or aware enough, and he's proven that over and over.

This. Only Jeff's worse, because he's got that born-on-third thing, too, and a little more apparent venality.

That said...

Kong wrote: My guess at this point is that they are the most-disliked owners in professional sports.

In a world of Jerry Joneses and Dan Snyders and Jeff Lorias and Donald Sterlings for Chrissakes hat's a bold assertion.

I'd put them at third in NY, behind the Dolans and Charles Wang.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Bold opinion, at worst.
Charles Wang lol ... no one knows who he is.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I think Jeff is a weenie, but his dumb-ass dad is the one who bends over for Bud Selig, and says idiotic things to New York Magazine reporters, and designed a stadium nobody but him could love, and became successful behind bogus investments, and was blown away by Art Howe, and who fired Bobby Valentine, and who schmoozed Tom Glavine, and favors an organization where nobody is accountable but scapegoats always get named, etc etc. Jeff's just his weenie son.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Amen.
I don't mind the stadium as much as a lot of fans.
I could do without the over-the-top Jackie thing in
the main entrance. He was a Dodger, not a Met.

[smg58]

Did anybody else notice that the article lists Alomar, Vaughn, and Burnitz as "free-agent busts" when Phillips traded for all three?

[Benjamin Grimm]

I've seen this kind of thing before; some writers seem to think that anyone who arrives along with a high salary is a "free agent".