What Came First: The Player(s) or the Fans?
An Open Letter to Paul Beeston and Alex Anthopoulos
December 7, 2011
Dear Mssrs. Beeston and Anthopoulos,
First, we must point out the obvious; there is little chance that either of you will read this letter and there is an even lesser chance that you would make any baseball operation decisions based on it. However, as Torontonians, knowledgeable baseball fans and loyal Blue Jays fans, we were appalled at the statements made yesterday based on what appeared to be your collective decision to “call-out-the-fans”.
Hopefully, your arguments that the team (i.e. Rogers) would not shell-out the money needed to sign a prized free agent until the fans returned to the ballpark was a combination of your exhaustion with being linked to every free agent on the market and a clever ploy to try and keep asking prices low. We assume it was neither, so with all-due respect gentlemen, you have got some nerve!
Yes, it is too easy to concede that throwing money at every Troy, Lyle, and Vernon is not the best way to build a consistently competitive franchise. We will also concede that many Blue Jays fans, have admired the way you two gentlemen have gone about your business, essentially turning the franchise around and building a core nucleus of players that will hopefully lead the Jays to the promised land of the playoffs again. We will even grant you some latitude in recognizing that there has to be a positive correlation between team payroll and team revenues. However, where you and we the fans part ways is how you put this all on us, the loyal fans of this great city.
We have supported this team for almost twenty years of mediocrity and ineptitude. Many of us have been to the “big” games where the atmosphere was as electric as a rock concert, but now coming out to support the team just became a little bit harder. How can we support our Jays yet again when we know that this year will be like all of the other years?
This off-season presented you with the opportunity to tell the fans, “This is it; we’re ready to take that next step. Come along for the ride.” In fact, every word that came from your mouths prior to these winter meetings appeared to be sending this exact message. We were excited. Many started planning on going in on season tickets for what was sure to be the true renaissance of our proud franchise. Instead, the message you sent fans these past few days is now, “You want us to spend? Invest in the team.” Not only is that disrespectful to the fans who have been investing in a team that has not made the playoffs since 1993, but it is also illogical. Imagine if a company like Apple told the public that it would only make better products once consumers bought enough of its mediocre product? To say that this would be totally absurd, illogical and flat out crazy would be an understatement, but yet you said it.
To us, the loyal and knowledgeable fan base, the availability of some seemingly attractive free agents coupled with the fact that the traditional big-spenders aren’t in a position to drive-up the market and the fact that the Jays actually have a strong core of Major League players and prospects, should have made for an easy decision by Blue Jays management and Rogers to get a deal done and bring in a big-name free agent. You want fans to come to the ballpark? Put together what could be one of the most dangerous line-ups in Blue Jays history on the field and you can be almost certain that fans will start returning to the Rogers Centre in droves.
We conclude with this: we are disappointed, more than anything. Disappointed that our beloved Jays won’t take that next step this year…again; disappointed that we’ve been duped into believing that the payroll will go up, independently of gate revenue; and mostly disappointed that the team still doesn’t get it. If fans had a team to cheer for that would be playing a meaningful game past May, then don’t you think we would? Baseball in Toronto is as alive today as it was in the glory days. Reward the fans for their loyalty and patience, and you will be rewarded with our support, and yes, plenty of our money.
Yours truly,
Mario Middonti & George Diplas,
On behalf of Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Fans
Cc: Toronto Media
Agreed
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