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The Mets PR Nightmare

Centerfield Apr 23 2014 08:06 AM

Jay Horowitz has been fired. You've been placed in charge. Because of your sterling (no pun intended) record, the Wilpons have given you broad discretion. How do you fix the Mets' image? My first orders of business: 1. City Agency Hats Come back on Sept. 11 I would tell MLB that the only way they are going to get my players not to wear them is to have crews physically come take them off their heads. Threaten us with a forfeit? Fine with us. We'll forfeit this game every year until MLB realizes this is not going to change. 2. Retire Piazza's Number As soon as possible. In fact, if I could go back in time I'd do it as a surprise on Mike Piazza Day. I would not wait until the HoF comes calling. I would send Jeff Wilpon out there with a pre-prepared speech from which he cannot stray AT ALL that goes along the lines of "Fuck the Hall of Fame Mike. You are a Hall of Famer to us. Even if asshead baseball writers can't see it." I would then instruct Jeff Wilpon to tweet a picture of himself urinating on the HoF logo. 3. Twitter As I mentioned in my other thread, put out a clear set of rules on how we expect our players to act on twitter. Tell them that if they violate the rules they will be asked to take down the post. Violations trigger a penalty. Multiple violations will result in twitter being banned for that player. 4. Don't schedule Native American Appreciation night when the Mets play the Braves or Indians. Duh. 5. Media Leaks I imagine it's hard to stop leaks in their entirety. But the reaction could be better. If there is a leak that Justin Turner was lazy, respond to it. "We have heard the rumors circulated about the effort put forth by Justin Turner. We at the organization refute any such rumors. Justin was a valued player with the Mets and the decision to non-tender him was strictly a business decision. We appreciate his time with the organization and wish him the best of luck in his career." And yes. Do this even if you don't mean it. 6. Communicate Better It's pretty clear that the organization is out of touch with a lot of their players. Beltran was upset. Harvey seems upset. You are going to have spoiled, self-important, sensitive athletes. Figure out a way to make them feel appreciated.

Ceetar Apr 23 2014 08:32 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

None of that. (and most of it's not my job anyway) I'd tell the players to do whatever the hell makes them happy as long as it doesn't hurt themselves or their teammates. And would tell anyone that has a problem to fuck off. Like today, I'd pick some players and have them take pictures giving a Wainwright jersey the middle finger with the caption "we'll get you next time."

Vic Sage Apr 23 2014 09:35 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

Centerfield wrote: Jay Horowitz has been fired. You've been placed in charge. Because of your sterling (no pun intended) record, the Wilpons have given you broad discretion. How do you fix the Mets' image? My first orders of business: 1. City Agency Hats Come back on Sept. 11 I would tell MLB that the only way they are going to get my players not to wear them is to have crews physically come take them off their heads. Threaten us with a forfeit? Fine with us. We'll forfeit this game every year until MLB realizes this is not going to change. 2. Retire Piazza's Number As soon as possible. In fact, if I could go back in time I'd do it as a surprise on Mike Piazza Day. I would not wait until the HoF comes calling. I would send Jeff Wilpon out there with a pre-prepared speech from which he cannot stray AT ALL that goes along the lines of "Fuck the Hall of Fame Mike. You are a Hall of Famer to us. Even if asshead baseball writers can't see it." I would then instruct Jeff Wilpon to tweet a picture of himself urinating on the HoF logo. 3. Twitter As I mentioned in my other thread, put out a clear set of rules on how we expect our players to act on twitter. Tell them that if they violate the rules they will be asked to take down the post. Violations trigger a penalty. Multiple violations will result in twitter being banned for that player. 4. Don't schedule Native American Appreciation night when the Mets play the Braves or Indians. Duh. 5. Media Leaks I imagine it's hard to stop leaks in their entirety. But the reaction could be better. If there is a leak that Justin Turner was lazy, respond to it. "We have heard the rumors circulated about the effort put forth by Justin Turner. We at the organization refute any such rumors. Justin was a valued player with the Mets and the decision to non-tender him was strictly a business decision. We appreciate his time with the organization and wish him the best of luck in his career." And yes. Do this even if you don't mean it. 6. Communicate Better It's pretty clear that the organization is out of touch with a lot of their players. Beltran was upset. Harvey seems upset. You are going to have spoiled, self-important, sensitive athletes. Figure out a way to make them feel appreciated. all of that. plus i wouldn't let Ceetar into the stadium.

Gwreck Apr 23 2014 09:36 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

#5 is your best point, and exactly what should be done. That's what the director of media relations should be doing. The rest of your ideas I think fall outside the area of media relations. #1 of course has tons of merit though. --- In a similar fashion, I would like the Mets (or any other club, for that matter) to play "America the Beautiful" one Sunday instead of "God Bless America" and see what happens. Getting rid of that awful song starts with baby steps. Start with a perfectly reasonable alternative to which no one can object. (How could MLB possibly "discipline" you for doing that?)

Benjamin Grimm Apr 23 2014 09:40 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

I honestly don't care about numbers 1 and 2, although I understand that a lot of people do. Points 3, 4, and 5 make sense to me.

Edgy MD Apr 23 2014 09:43 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

What if it's true? What if the entire front office thought Justin Turner was a lazy and problematic little gnome. You wish nobody had leaked the existence of the leadership team's consensus disposition, but if pinned down on it, you'd have to lie out loud to deny it. WHAT THEN?!!

Vic Sage Apr 23 2014 09:49 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

deny it anyway. deny, deny, deny. As Richard Pryor said to his wife, when caught in bed with another woman, "who are you going to believe, baby... me or your lyin' eyes?"

Ceetar Apr 23 2014 09:57 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

doesn't matter who you have as a PR guy, those leaks are going to happen. There are roughly 6 billion reporters in the clubhouse all trying to fill space and they all are badgering any employee they can get their hands on to slap a "sources familiar" label on and use the tamest of quotes to make a story out of. Barring telling all employees that they're not allowed to talk to the media, which would create it's own problems, it's an impossible task. The trick is not to treat momentary outrage as some systemic problem that needs to be addressed. the Mets don't have a PR problem. Boo-hoo, some fans wanted the Mets to wear certain caps on 9-11 and the league said no. Boo-hoo, the Mets injured ace, who is hanging out in the dugout and supporting his teammates despite being injured, tweeted his mother's picture of his surgery and him giving the finger. Big deal. Look, those people are going to get upset, and bitch and moan, but to think it means anything to the bottom line is foolish. 99% of these things are people looking to get up in arms about something. It's the ESPN/WFAN syndrome of screaming about sports without substance or fact that's been going on forever. The difference now is that the Internet and "new sports media" gives us avenues of intelligent discussion to get away from all that if we want to. But a lot of people don't want to. But those people aren't walking away and giving up on the team, the screaming and yelling is of the "All press is good press" variety. This is stuff all happens everywhere, people just haven't picked up on the fact that the volume of it in NY is a factor of the increased press/fans/blogs/interest and that more volume doesn't not mean it's worse than anywhere else.

d'Kong76 Apr 23 2014 10:02 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

Centerfield wrote: Jay Horowitz has been fired. You can't start a post like that!!

Edgy MD Apr 23 2014 10:12 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

Yeah, seriously. You've got to spell the guy's name right.

d'Kong76 Apr 23 2014 10:27 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

That's ok, I always spell Swaboda wrong

themetfairy Apr 23 2014 10:35 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

What 5) boils down to is that the Mets should have their players' backs in public, no matter what goes on behind closed doors. Period. Exclamation Mark. Don't leave your players to fend for themselves. At least act like they are valued members of the Mets family. Jay's failure to do this is appalling.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 23 2014 10:41 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

I believe the Mets last year (or maybe last month, I forget) hired someone who looked like could be Jay's successor. I really think the issue isn't the PR per se but the way the entire organization works: We've heard it a million times before but the Mets have a squirrely bullshitty corporate culture with loose boundaries on people's areas of accountability and purview, which allows the COO to act as an assistant general manager or spokesman when it suits him, or vice-versa, with an overarching motivation not to accomplish things but to appear to be accomplishing things.

Mets Guy in Michigan Apr 23 2014 12:14 PM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

Jay Horowitz has been fired. You've been placed in charge. Because of your sterling (no pun intended) record, the Wilpons have given you broad discretion. How do you fix the Mets' image? My first orders of business: 1. City Agency Hats Come back on Sept. 11 I would tell MLB that the only way they are going to get my players not to wear them is to have crews physically come take them off their heads. Threaten us with a forfeit? Fine with us. We'll forfeit this game every year until MLB realizes this is not going to change. This is not the job of the team's spokesman. But, the team signed a contract that gives New Era exclusivity for on-the-field caps. Fighting with New Era is never a good plan. So work with New Era so IT can produce city agency caps so you are not violating the agreement YOU signed. But overall, way too much is made of this cap thing. 2. Retire Piazza's Number As soon as possible. In fact, if I could go back in time I'd do it as a surprise on Mike Piazza Day. I would not wait until the HoF comes calling. I would send Jeff Wilpon out there with a pre-prepared speech from which he cannot stray AT ALL that goes along the lines of "Fuck the Hall of Fame Mike. You are a Hall of Famer to us. Even if asshead baseball writers can't see it." I would then instruct Jeff Wilpon to tweet a picture of himself urinating on the HoF logo. This is not the job of the team's spokesman. But yeah, retire the number. But this is not going to change the minds of too many fans. It's a one-day story. 3. Twitter As I mentioned in my other thread, put out a clear set of rules on how we expect our players to act on twitter. Tell them that if they violate the rules they will be asked to take down the post. Violations trigger a penalty. Multiple violations will result in twitter being banned for that player. This is not the job of the team's spokesman. You cannot control what your players do on social media on their own time. At best, you can show them examples of Tweeting and Facebooking gone bad so they know what can happen and hope they don't act like high school kids. You cannot ban anyone from using a Twitter account. 4. Don't schedule Native American Appreciation night when the Mets play the Braves or Indians. Duh. This is not the job of the team spokesman. 5. Media Leaks I imagine it's hard to stop leaks in their entirety. But the reaction could be better. If there is a leak that Justin Turner was lazy, respond to it. "We have heard the rumors circulated about the effort put forth by Justin Turner. We at the organization refute any such rumors. Justin was a valued player with the Mets and the decision to non-tender him was strictly a business decision. We appreciate his time with the organization and wish him the best of luck in his career." And yes. Do this even if you don't mean it. You cannot stop media leaks, especially when sports reporters revel in unnamed sources. You have no idea if anyone in the organization actually said that about Turner. A quick, concise response is always the way to go. 6. Communicate Better It's pretty clear that the organization is out of touch with a lot of their players. Beltran was upset. Harvey seems upset. You are going to have spoiled, self-important, sensitive athletes. Figure out a way to make them feel appreciated. This, also, is not the job of the team spokesman. He's in charge of dealing with the media, not serving as the go-between with players and the front office. Seriously, you are firing the wrong person.

Ceetar Apr 23 2014 12:18 PM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

metsguyinmichigan wrote: This, also, is not the job of the team spokesman. He's in charge of dealing with the media, not serving as the go-between with players and the front office. I wonder if Jay's most important job is serving as scapegoat for all this crap.

TheOldMole Apr 24 2014 06:13 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

I have a problem with 3. I think it's OK for players to be quirky, uncouth and weird. If that rule were in effect, Dennis Rodman would never be able to play for the Mets.

Frayed Knot Apr 24 2014 06:56 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

As Gary mentioned the other night, this club's policy* is essentially the twitter version of 'don't walk this guy but don't give him anything good to hit either'; aka: We want our players to use social media we just want them to be careful when doing so. Good luck trying to figure out where to draw that line. * and, btw, I don't suspect it's any different with just about any other team

Edgy MD Apr 24 2014 07:09 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

TheOldMole wrote: I have a problem with 3. I think it's OK for players to be quirky, uncouth and weird. If that rule were in effect, Dennis Rodman would never be able to play for the Mets. Good point. We're getting killed on the offensive glass.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Apr 24 2014 05:41 PM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

Edgy MD wrote: TheOldMole wrote: I have a problem with 3. I think it's OK for players to be quirky, uncouth and weird. If that rule were in effect, Dennis Rodman would never be able to play for the Mets. Good point. We're getting killed on the offensive glass. And forget about the in with scary-drunk Las Vegans, and the connection to the North Korean talent pipeline.

Vic Sage Apr 25 2014 01:50 PM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

This is not the job of the team's spokesman. You cannot control what your players do on social media on their own time. At best, you can show them examples of Tweeting and Facebooking gone bad so they know what can happen and hope they don't act like high school kids. You cannot ban anyone from using a Twitter account. i don't know that this is true at all. teams have rules about dress codes, facial hair, and all sorts of public comportment. The team has given the player a public profile by giving them a job in MLB; if the player uses that platform in a way that reflects badly on the organization, i'm not sure at all they couldn't require them to forego social media while they are a member of that team (or whatever subsection of that time period they may choose), at least in any way that specifically identifies the player. Perhaps there is a contractual right in the CBA to either do (or stop teams from prohibiting) this (either specifically or in relation to the team's control over marketing, and branding, and dilution of their trademark, etc), but i don't see why its necessarily one way or the other. There are legitimate arguments both ways.

batmagadanleadoff Apr 25 2014 02:59 PM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

Vic Sage wrote: This is not the job of the team's spokesman. You cannot control what your players do on social media on their own time. At best, you can show them examples of Tweeting and Facebooking gone bad so they know what can happen and hope they don't act like high school kids. You cannot ban anyone from using a Twitter account. i don't know that this is true at all. teams have rules about dress codes, facial hair, and all sorts of public comportment. The team has given the player a public profile by giving them a job in MLB; if the player uses that platform in a way that reflects badly on the organization, i'm not sure at all they couldn't require them to forego social media while they are a member of that team (or whatever subsection of that time period they may choose), at least in any way that specifically identifies the player. Perhaps there is a contractual right in the CBA to either do (or stop teams from prohibiting) this (either specifically or in relation to the team's control over marketing, and branding, and dilution of their trademark, etc), but i don't see why its necessarily one way or the other. There are legitimate arguments both ways. I don't know what the CBA says about social media either, but if the CBA's silent on that, eventually some team is gonna ban either a specific player, or the whole team from using it. It's inevitable that in time, some player is going to use social media to create some national shitstorm by doing something outrageous and unjustifiable --- something that crosses every single boundary of what is reasonable -- something that would disturb even the most tolerant people. Then we'll see what happens.

Edgy MD Apr 25 2014 05:36 PM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

I don't think he's saying that the team can't institute such a policy, but rather that Jay Horwitz in his current role can't.

Mets Guy in Michigan Apr 25 2014 08:28 PM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

The team spokesman certainly cannot. I suppose a team could include a "no social media" clause in a contract that a player would have to agree to. And probably have a policy saying "no social media" while on the clock, such as it is for a baseball player. But I don't think a team could create an enforceable rule preventing a player, on his own time, from posting on Twitter or Facebook. Would be like a policy preventing a player from writing a book or something.

batmagadanleadoff Apr 25 2014 10:18 PM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

metsguyinmichigan wrote: The team spokesman certainly cannot. I suppose a team could include a "no social media" clause in a contract that a player would have to agree to. And probably have a policy saying "no social media" while on the clock, such as it is for a baseball player. But I don't think a team could create an enforceable rule preventing a player, on his own time, from posting on Twitter or Facebook. Would be like a policy preventing a player from writing a book or something. I'd bet that a team could impose all of those bans, so long as they don't violate the CBA. Teams may choose not to, for fear of, I dunno, alienating potential free agents. But that's another story. I know that teams already ban managers from writing books about the team, at least while the manager's still managing. This has been SOP for many years. Perhaps teams ban their active players from writing team or season accounts as well, without explicit permission from the team (i.e., a waiver of the ban depending on the circumstances). Preventing someone from writing a book as a condition of employment is not unusual. Public figures do this all the time with their domestic help, underlings and other slaves. I don't know what the CBA says about social media, but players aren't free to do whatever they want when the game's over. There are road curfews and off-limit joints and restricted activity clauses in their contracts that might prevent a player from riding a motorcycle or playing touch football, even in January, just to give a few examples.

TheOldMole Apr 26 2014 03:27 AM Re: The Mets PR Nightmare

I'm not saying a team can't impose all sorts of behavior and deportment rules, dress codes, etc., imp just saying that they shouldn't. Why go out of your way to make a team boring? According to Mookie, the current Mets are trying to sweep the 86 Mets and their bad boy image under the rug. And remember what Casey Stengel said about milkshake drinkers.