Fred Wilpon addressed the Mets on Monday

In what was described by David Wright as a rare occasion, Mets owner Fred Wilpon addressed the team during a 20-minute meeting on Monday morning.

Wilpon, who has been around more often than usual this Spring, made some wave three weeks ago when he met with Terry Collins to discuss the state of the team after a loss. After that meeting, however, it was noted by some of the team’s beat reporters that Wilpon commonly discusses the team with Collins.

As far as Monday’s meeting with the team, Adam Rubin of ESPN New York noted that there was applause afterwards and quoted Michael Cuddyer as saying the message from Wilpon was “motivational” and “inspirational.”

Thoughts:

When you strip away the lingering financial mess from the Bernard Madoff situation, what you see in Fred Wilpon is a Brooklyn-born, self-made business man who also cares deeply about the team he owns.

However, it’s impossible to strip the Madoff situation away since it’s still impacting the team’s finances.

While it’s unfortunate that everything Wilpon does will be followed by mention of the financial situation the team is currently in, it would seem incomplete to leave it out of the discussion.

Now that it has been mentioned, I’ll say that I’m glad Wilpon addressed the team and got such a positive reaction from the players.

From his actions this Spring, it appears that Wilpon is getting extremely anxious for a winner, and the team (relatively low payroll notwithstanding) is finally in position to seriously contend.

I view Wilpon’s increased presence, voice, and anxiousness as a sign that the Mets will act swiftly this year to correct things if things don’t go well and will hopefully sign off on a move that could put the Mets over the top if things are going well.