Letter from Peter Wilt

Discussion in 'Chicago Fire' started by alf, Jan 22, 2003.

  1. Jeremy Goodwin

    Jeremy Goodwin Member+

    SSC Napoli
    Feb 16, 1999
    Club:
    Montreal Impact
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    No, not quite.

    I suggest you do as I do, get your butt down to Miami and then out to Seattle for the national team games to fill in that dead space in your stomach.
     
  2. BillQ

    BillQ New Member

    Oct 11, 1999
    Chicago, IL
    Peter North and not Ron Jeremy? :)
     
  3. fatboy15

    fatboy15 New Member

    Mar 31, 2000
    LaPorte, IN, USA
    This kinda goes out to those non-Fire fans reading this more than the Fire fans.

    I know you may be thinking that us Fire fans are being rediculous, bragging about our GM like we are, but really, as long as Peter's in control, most of us feel better.

    When all our nightmares were coming true (Dema was gone, Peter was on his way to New England, and the Wolff rumors were looking more and more likely), my brother and i had a conversation about the 2003 Fire, and we both kept saying the same thing: as long as Wilt is there, we'll be a winning team.

    This guy is as big a fan of the Fire as you can get, and i'm sure he wants nothing more than the Fire being succesful on the field, and being profitable off it.

    Have faith in Wilt.
     
  4. Bethany

    Bethany New Member

    Sep 3, 2002
    Perhaps the season tickets should have "In Wilt We Trust" imprinted on them. :D

    (Check it out! 200th post! YAY!)
     
  5. Thomas Flannigan

    Feb 26, 2001
    Chicago
    Peter has kept us informed and addressed fan concerns many times here. This post, while unusual for other GMs, is not unusual for him. It is not easy for a GM to have credibility with the soccer moms and the rowdy fans in Section 8. Peter has this.
    If we can just get through this last year in Naperville in decent shape we will be alright. I think we will have a good team this year, perhaps and excellent one, if we just avoid a slew of injuries.
    Let's get as many people in the stands as we can and make Section 8 louder than ever! On such a winter's day!
     
  6. jjayg

    jjayg New Member

    May 9, 2002
    Rolling Ghettos, IL
    Let's change the Forumn comment to "In Wilt We Trust", Pardon our plastic thing is old.
     
  7. Fonsos

    Fonsos Member

    Sep 21, 2000
    Chicago
    You guys are too much. PW sends out a letter explaining why we had to release St. Pete and a few other players and he's given a free pass. Look, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think PW is arguably the best GM in the league but the explanation for the Fire losing St. Pete is whack. Analogy---- you see a storm coming from afar, you make sure to put on your goloshes, grab an umbrella or @ the very least stay the F..inside 'til it's dry. We've gotten soaked, plain and simple and it wasn't like one day we were awakened to this problem. Why weren't a few deals cut last summer to help fend off the dpearture of St. Pete? A few of you will say the letter from him was better than nothing but if you're putting it out there then you should also expect the uncomfortable questions along with the praise. By the way, I don't question the sincerity of the letter nor his displeasure at losing St. Pete -- that's REAL but I feel that this is something we may have been able to avoid.

    Alright, expecting all types of responses, so bring it on.
     
  8. Jeremy Goodwin

    Jeremy Goodwin Member+

    SSC Napoli
    Feb 16, 1999
    Club:
    Montreal Impact
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I agree that this is something that we got ourselves into by deferring salary and signing players to contracts with bonuses that would count against this year's salary budget.

    We probably should have tried to unload some players last year.

    However, ain't nobody in the league that's going to talk to us about a midseason trade for any one of these players except maybe Dema last year.

    Why? Because they were all injured.

    I don't think that the team could have foreseen the things happening in midseason last year that prevented them from avoiding the repurcussions of last year's preseason deals.

    And I don't agree that Peter Wilt is god or that he's the devil who set us up for a fall.

    He's a nice guy, who runs a good operation, and we're lucky to have him, salary cap problems or no salary cap problems, Bulgars and Poles or no Bulgars and Poles.

    Not to mention that AFAIK, Peter Wilt had almost nothing to do with moving or not moving these players, assuming that Bob Bradley had as much control over personnel decisions as he apparently did.

    Heck, the thief is running away down the street while you're interrogating the bank manager here!
     
  9. jjayg

    jjayg New Member

    May 9, 2002
    Rolling Ghettos, IL
    Anything player can be kept or dealt but there is always a price. It's easy to look back now and say we could have done this and we could have done that, but the fact is PW was dealing with World Cup callups and a crazy amount of injuries. His responsiblity was to put the best team he possibly could on the field and I beleive that is what he did. We are probably paying the price now, and have little to show for it in looking at last years final results. But hindsight is always 20/20 (I know it's lame but it's true). I think that PW took a look at what he had to work with and said this is what we've got to work with and we will give it one last try and then let the chips fall when the time comes. Well, the chips have fallen, and it sucks bigtime to lose a player like Nowak, our leader, our captain. But I think one would have to be pretty blind not to see that we are well set up for the future, and the near future I might add. And a big reason for this is one Mr. Peter Wilt. And to make such difficult moves and still stand up and explain it in full, take responsibility and express his regrets just goes on to prove all of what people are saying in this thread. Peter Wilt is without a doubt the best GM in the MLS and we are lucky to have him. Nobody is going to be perfect, criticism is always necessary, but give credit where credit is due.
     
  10. JohnR

    JohnR Member+

    Jun 23, 2000
    Chicago, IL
    Wilt's Letter

    Totally obvious stuff ... of course the Fire made these trades because it was over the salary cap, and of course it wanted to hold onto the guys in their prime and let the older guys go. So I'm surprised at all this love for Wilt, considering how last week so many people were complaining about him because of the Nowak trade. When you complained last week, didn't you think Wilt's reasons were as he stated in the letter? So what's different today.

    But kudos to Wilt ... maybe he's faking it and fooling me, but I do sense that he cares about the fans and that he genuinely understands (and appreciates) their disappointment re Nowak. For which I give thanks. Lord knows, Chicago sports have had plenty of bad examples of GMs; we could use a good one for a change.
     
  11. Fonsos

    Fonsos Member

    Sep 21, 2000
    Chicago
    It's just as easy to state it the way you just have. We knew which players we were losing well in advance of the World Cup, so no surprises here. A few of the injuries you refer to took place before the season started or at the very beginning, so again no surprises here. We had a damn good team on the field last season and I'm not sure how many people on this part of the boards can truly grasp the fact that we were extremely close to making it to our third MLS Cup Final. (Save that one for another discussion). Part of his duties as a GM is to prepare for the future. As far as the acquisition of players from this year's draft -- I truly think we damn nearly made out like bandits. Part of that future prep also includes current players and I think a lousy job was done in regards to keeping St. Pete here. We knew @ the beginning of last season that this could be a problem in 2003 and you're telling me that's not enough time to come up with a feasible solution? How much more time does one need? We should have been lobbying the hell out of the league ~~ whom I fault more than anyone else~~ in regards to making sure that St. Pete finished out his career in Chgo.

    [/QUOTE]
    We are probably paying the price now, and have little to show for it in looking at last years final results. But hindsight is always 20/20 (I know it's lame but it's true). I think that PW took a look at what he had to work with and said this is what we've got to work with and we will give it one last try and then let the chips fall when the time comes. Well, the chips have fallen, and it sucks bigtime to lose a player like Nowak, our leader, our captain. But I think one would have to be pretty blind not to see that we are well set up for the future, and the near future I might add. And a big reason for this is one Mr. Peter Wilt. And to make such difficult moves and still stand up and explain it in full, take responsibility and express his regrets just goes on to prove all of what people are saying in this thread. Peter Wilt is without a doubt the best GM in the MLS and we are lucky to have him. Nobody is going to be perfect, criticism is always necessary, but give credit where credit is due.
    [/QUOTE]

    We might be well set up for the future? I think one is truly blind to assume that we're set before the first ball is kicked, before we see how a player reacts to physical play, react to living in a major city. I think one is truly blind to make such a remark before seeing what happens over any period of time on and off the field when it comes to any player. Remember,the Future isn't promised to us (cliche). We could be paying the price for a while if the future doesn't pan out. The future is a true crap shoot which we've been good at from day one but it' still a crap shot. Note, we, i.e. the Fire, seem to be prone to a number of injuries in June and July. If the future's injured, then last season could easily seem like a great one.
     
  12. Jeremy Goodwin

    Jeremy Goodwin Member+

    SSC Napoli
    Feb 16, 1999
    Club:
    Montreal Impact
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, I think it's damned unfair for you to be allowed to assume that we're ************ed before the first ball is kicked; before we see how these players react to physical play; how they react to living in a major city, when we are not allowed to :)
     
  13. joseph pakovits

    joseph pakovits New Member

    Apr 29, 1999
    fly-over country
    I too think the PW is the best GM in the league. After all, the only two teams in MLS who don't wish they had our trophy case are DCU and LA and both of them had a two year head start on us.

    Losing Nowak has been driven by four factors:

    1) The Fire signed Hristo to a guaranteed multiyear contract. That decision unquestionably sank us for the past two years and will continue to haunt us this year. You can argue that this is PW's fault if wish. While the wisdom of signing older players to long contracts is debateable, however, Hristo did have a great season in his first year and nobody imagined he'd spend the vast majority of the rest of his time with us on the bench.

    2) The Fire picked American players who were TOO good for our own good. Our young American players like Wolff, Armas, Beasley and Boca were on the wrong side of the "Ralston line" and so they actually got called up for so many games while getting big salary increases each year while the Galaxy, in contrast, picked young Americans on the correct side of the "Ralston line" ie., were very good but just not quite good enough to make the Nats and miss games while getting big raises. But most of our American players have also contributed to us winning three trophies before LA had even won one despite their having a two year head start. Of course, now our strategy has cost us dearly while LA is finally winning the silverware. But Fire fans sure weren't complaining about the Fire's young American players three years ago.

    3) The league has wanted LA and/or the Mutts to win some silverware because those cities are "big markets" that are "vital to the success of the league" so the league has made sure that the Fire don't any salary cap breaks like some other teams seem to have gotten over the years. Mutts and Gals fans can try to deny this all they want but the league has gone to special lengths to try to build winners in those markets in a way that has emphatically NOT been copied in, say, TB, Miami, Denver, Columbus, or Dallas. Well, not much PW can do about this, is there?

    4) The injury plague of the past two years allowed the league to force us to give away draft picks to get emergency players. We also had to go get Razov back from Spain when literally ALL our forwards were injured leaving us with yet another player getting the maximum salary. As it turned out, getting Ante saved our asses from complete embarrassment last year as he, Zach and Jesse Marsch carried our team into the play-offs. While we can bitch about some of the players that were brought in to keep the Fire from forfeiting games (maybe we should have forfeited games to embarrass the league and their amateur-level roster sizes), there isn't much PW could have done about the mind-boggling number of injuries the Fire suffered.

    So, I think we can safely absolve PW from most of the blame for being forced to give up Nowak as most of the events involved were beyond his control and nobody was complaining about the one factor that WAS under his control at the time he made his decision.

    I believe that the decision to not let Nowak retire with the Fire and therefore the majority of the blame lies with the league or with AEG. If they had any respect for Nowak and he has done for the league, they'd have found a way to let him retire with the Fire. The situation is shabby and pisses us all off to be sure but I don't think we can really blame PW for it. It's not like the league hasn't made a mockery of its own "rules" in the past. But do you REALLY expect PW to openly admit this in public? Please.

    PW is just reacting to orders or to a situation that has been dictated to him mostly by chance and by his bosses at AEG. He is trying to give us the best squad he thinks he can give us within the constraints forced upon him. And given those constraints I think he's done a good job. While 2003 and 2004 will probably be rough, the Fire looks good to be extremely competitive after that - assuming our crop of young players haven't all become USMNT starters by then.

    Anyway, it could be much, much worse. Ask any DCU fans about their experiences over the past two years. At least the Fire still made the play-offs while dealing with problems that would have knocked any other team in MLS out of the running by mid-August. And we CAN thank PW for that.

    Besides, there's nothing we can do about the situation other than not go to games and while I will say that it would have been nice for PW to admit that Fire fans who are pissed off do have a legit gripe (with the league, at least), I agree with him that true fans will support the team even don't necessarily agree with 100% of everything the league or team ever does. While being a fan doesn't mean you check all critical reasoning at the door, it also doesn't mean you abandon the team the instant you disagree with something the team or league does either.
     
  14. Fonsos

    Fonsos Member

    Sep 21, 2000
    Chicago
    You are Cracking me up.
    When did I say we're F*****?
    I said it's a Crap Shoot, which meant it can go either way. I also stated that I think we damn nearly made out like Bandits in the draft. As we all know, draftpicks are alot like the Stock Market. Actual performance affects over all value.
     
  15. jjayg

    jjayg New Member

    May 9, 2002
    Rolling Ghettos, IL
    I have to be honest and tell you I haven't the slightest idea what your point is. How does one avoid the future? The future is everything that happens after right now.

    The plain fact of the matter is that there was a decision to hold on to the past last year. And you're exactly right, we actually were close to getting back to the top despite all of the hurdles we had. But we didn't make it. And now we are paying the price. I am guessing your solution would have been to start dumping other players last year so that Peter Nowak could stay a Fire player until he retires no matter the effect it has on the team. Which players would they have been? Who did we have of value who would have relieved our cap. Who would have taken these players? Was someone going to take an aged and injured Stoichkov and give us a valuable underpaid player in return? How about a Josh Wolff with no knee? Or perhaps we give up our young talent like DMB and Boca so that St. Pete can stay one more year. I just don't see your logic.

    Perhaps I should have said may be set up for the future. That is more accurate. True nobody knows the future. Peter Wilt didn't know it then and none of us know it now.

    I guess some of us our glass half full people while others are glass half empty people. It seems to me that is what it comes down to right this moment with regards to our situation.
     
  16. "Red" Foley

    "Red" Foley New Member

    Jul 6, 2001
    I don't know, but I would hope that it would be zero. You lot played one solid game in the whole playoffs and you say you were "extremely close" ? And I thought the MetroFilth were the ones with the entitlement complex.

    You needed at least 10 points over 4-6 games, and you could manage three.

    Cheers,

    "Red"
     
  17. kebzach

    kebzach Member

    Dec 30, 2000
    Greenfield, WI
    all of the people who are playing devil's advocate and saying "this could have been prevented":

    would you have felt the same way if we had started to trade/sell off players in 2001? early 2002, before injuries? of course not. you would have jumped all over everyone for "tanking it".

    you can't have it both ways. you can't go try and win without sacrificing some of the near or long-term future.
     
  18. kebzach

    kebzach Member

    Dec 30, 2000
    Greenfield, WI
    Current player(S), not current playe(R).

    Yeah, so we lost Peter Nowak. We lost the 38 year old who's spent much of the last 2 years in street clothes. When he's healthy he's awesome. But that's not enough in this day and age.

    Instead, we KEPT Carlos Bocanegra. We kept (it appears) DaMarcus Beasley. We kept Chris Armas.

    You've got to really weigh both sides of this...unless you'd rather have Nowak and NOT 2-3 younger, equally talented players.
     
  19. kebzach

    kebzach Member

    Dec 30, 2000
    Greenfield, WI
    Re: Re: From a Revolution Fan

    yeah, I must say that the last 2 pages of the thread are much better than the first 3 pages of people getting all lathered up over the letter.
     
  20. kebzach

    kebzach Member

    Dec 30, 2000
    Greenfield, WI
    I see your point, Fonsos, I just don't know WHEN the Fire should have started making deals like the Nowak one.

    After the 2001 season, when we were in the Western Conf. finals?

    Or during the 2002 season, when we were still over .500 in a very weak conference. Remember, up until the end of the regular season we could have been the #2 seed in the playoffs. That's hardly the time to deal key players, unless you're the White Sox.

    Even if you had seen this coming, which many people, in and out of the front office did, what really can you do other than give it all the ride you can while you have it? You deal with the problems after you've tried your best to get one more Championship with the current group. That's why the Vaud salary cap deal was made (as dumb as it was). It's all in the name of getting it done while you had the chance.

    And now that you don't have that, or you're out of time, you go in a different direction.
     
  21. joseph pakovits

    joseph pakovits New Member

    Apr 29, 1999
    fly-over country
    Maybe Fonsos was talking about the 2001 play-offs...

    Anyway, as much as I hate to be seen agreeing with "Red", the Fire stumbled into the play-offs last year and, except for moments of the home game, never looked like getting out of the first round. Too many injuries, too many rusty players trying to get back to form after long spells on the bench and too much Brian Kamler.

    Of course, just MAKING the play-offs despite all the adversity was enough to make me proud of the team. It would have been so easy for them to collapse like the Mutts did.
     
  22. Chris M.

    Chris M. Member+

    Jan 18, 2002
    Chicago
    Alright, I know I am asking for it, but how on earth does losing Peter have anything to do with Hristo? We aren't keeping either of them. And while your at it, how will his contract (which was up at the end of 2002) haunt us this year?

    I always thought he was a reasonable risk that, with hindsight, didn't pay off. But, as far as I know, Diego is the only person we lost last year due to the salary cap, and now Hristo's salary should be completely off the books which STILL didn't get us anywhere near cap compliance (whatever that is).

    Now for a general rant. Why do I keep hearing that Hristo is going to DC as a Player/Coach with a big chunk of his salary applied to the "coach" job, and more importantly, why were we not allowed to do the same with either Hristo or Peter?
     
  23. Fonsos

    Fonsos Member

    Sep 21, 2000
    Chicago
    I knew all along you didn't by your initial response.
    There were quite a few decisions which were made last season a few of the obvious ones weren't addressed 'til we were truly out of options. Loss of St. Pete is one of the results. Dumping players??Can you be a bit more creative than that? We have a GM who knows how to work the current MLS system and I think a more creative solution could have been reached given the large amount of time we had which was the start of last season. Isn't this Hristo's option year? If so, were we seriously considering picking it up? Based on the small amount of time he's actually played for us and his current salary, I have a hard time seeing why on earth we'd do such a thing. (and I'm a big Hristo fan) Prior to Josh's injury last summer, wasn't there talk of trading him? From what I remember reading last summer this was very close. I can't remember if this was before or after his injury, I think it was before the injury but I just don't remember. Can someone help me out here? We managed to plug and fill along the way with Orlando Pereze and Billy Walsh, to name a few and they weren't exactly kicking the hell out of the salary cap last season.
    So, PW is not at fault for this? If so then it's gotta be Bob but he's gone and that one did surprise all of us. However, if he was still here, would we still have the same Cap problems? Hell yes!!!!!

    The plain fact of the matter is that there was a decision to hold on to the past last year. And you're exactly right, we actually were close to getting back to the top despite all of the hurdles we had. But we didn't make it. And now we are paying the price. I am guessing your solution would have been to start dumping other players last year so that Peter Nowak could stay a Fire player until he retires no matter the effect it has on the team. Which players would they have been? Who did we have of value who would have relieved our cap. Who would have taken these players? Was someone going to take an aged and injured Stoichkov and give us a valuable underpaid player in return? How about a Josh Wolff with no knee? Or perhaps we give up our young talent like DMB and Boca so that St. Pete can stay one more year. I just don't see your logic.
    Doesn't matter if you may. It's still a crap shoot and that's all I was getting at. Too many damn variables come into play and that's before the first damn ball is kicked. Remember Junior Agogo? See what I'm getting at?

    Man, this is so off the mark. FYI -- you're not meeting too many people who are more optimistic than me. I'm playing Devil's Advocate and I'm surprised a few others didn't say what I did in my initial post.

    Joe, Red Foley et al,
    You guys still don't understand what I meant by beings so close to pulling it off. "Red" Foley you're excused because of your delusion from your club finally making a cup final (God Bless Revs fans,wish you won it). Joe and other Fire fans think outside the box for a few minutes to see where I'm coming from with the remark.

    "Red Foley" -- And I thought the MetroFilth were the ones with the entitlement complex.
    Man you have no clue. Get some trophies in the case then come back and chat.

    Kebzach, you're right of all the people playing Devil's Advocate -- ME. Gald someone else sees it that way.
     
  24. joseph pakovits

    joseph pakovits New Member

    Apr 29, 1999
    fly-over country
    He ate up salary cap space that could have been used in defferent ways to help us cope with our various problems over the past two years.

    If we had gotten two younger players for what we paid Hristo to sit on the bench, we might not have had to waste draft picks on emergency players, thereby further tying our hands this year.

    Also, if we hadn't signed him to a guaranteed contract, we could have dumped him after 2001 and thereby getting a cheaper player or players and helping us keep Nowak around for this last year.

    And finally, having to jettison players now year WILL affect us this year. Hopefully for the better but the odds are against it. Not all of this is caused by Hristo (see my other three factors) but paying him max salary to sit on the bench for two years sure didn't help us any. If you think it did, I'd like to know how.

    Exactly, which is why I don't think you can really blame PW 100% for Hristo's contract's part in hog-tying our roster moves for three years. It seemed like a decent risk at the time and I don't recall too many people dissenting at the time. While Fonsos has a point that there are some problems that are foreseeable and can be avoided or at least ameliorated, it is ALSO true that "Hindsight is 20/20".
     
  25. kebzach

    kebzach Member

    Dec 30, 2000
    Greenfield, WI
    Well, my guess is that since (after taking off Hristo and Peter) we were only $1.00 under the salary cap, that D.C. must be able to apply more than $1.00 of Hristo's salary to the player side of things.

    Maybe we'd be able to do this if we had, say, $30,000 of cap room, just to name a number.

    But since we only have $1.00 we don't have that luxury.

    Or maybe Hristo wants to go to DC/not stay with this coaching staff.
     

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