Team Chemistry 101: Verbally Destroy Your Star Players

In this week's installment of "How could the New York Mets possibly sink to a new low" we look not on the field (where the Mets are so damn close to last place in their division) but off the field, to owner Fred Wilpon.

Note to future business leaders of America: if you want to build a winning organization, take a page out of ol' Freddy's playbook and talk trash about your most important employees through the media. Nothing says "go give it your all, kid" like being thrown under the bus by the man who writes your checks.

Here's what this jackass (actually, sorry, he called himself a schmuck in the article so let's stick with that)...here's what this schmuck had to say about his star players:

-On Carlos Beltran (highest paid player on the roster): "We had some schmuck in New York who paid him based on that one series (referring to Beltran's 2004 playoffs with the Astros). He's 65 to 70 percent of what he was."

-On David Wright (3rd highest paid player on the roster & easily their cornerstone): "Really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar."

-On Jose Reyes (5th highest paid player on the roster): "He thinks he's going to get Carl Crawford money. He's had everything wrong with him. He won't get it."

For those of us keeping score at home, the Mets owner basically just said that his 3 best players are not nearly as good as they think they are. I guess $120 million just doesn't buy what it used to. What I don't understand is that Wilpon wasn't being forced to answer questions about his star players. It's not like he was sitting before a Grand Jury or a mad man with a gun to his head and had to answer truthfully on how good he thinks his players really are. He could have just said...nothing.

And if life wasn't already depressing enough for Mets fans, they get to root for a team where even the owner hates the players. That sounds like a blast (speaking of Mets fans, I better call Freedchips right now to make sure he's still alive). Hey, at least they've got the up-and-coming Ike Davis to look forward to, though I'd bet my life on him succumbing to a horrible tragedy like falling off the George Washington Bridge while rollerskating to the ballpark.

Maybe the Mets will finally get better once Wilpon dies, though the Yankees tried that and it hasn't really worked so far.