14
2011
The New York Petulance
An article by 
We tend to see the world and everything that encompasses it through our own shaded lenses. Our biases and preconceptions while defining us can often prevent us from understanding the whole truth. If the truth you’re seeking is to know if a candidate for President is a serial sexual harasser or whether perhaps a venerable college football coach for years turned a blind eye to his assistant’s deviant behavior or even if a certain baseball executive is merely a cost cutting puppet, hired at the behest of the league Commissioner, our instincts, often our greatest asset, can at times make decisions for us based on emotion alone – neglecting facts.
Some Met fans are beginning to foreshadow that we’re headed into “dark times” as a franchise. Now far be it from me to state without a shadow of a doubt what constitutes “dark times”. I’m all of 37 years old and never lived through the early days of the New York Mets, especially the inaugural record setting 120-loss season of 1962. Imagine an expansion team today, with all the costs incurred with attending a game, losing 75% of them. Imagine the outcry from the fanbase.
Never mind the fact that in their 50 years of existence, the Mets have won just two World Championships, the most recent 25 years ago. It’s been over a decade since this team even participated in the World Series. We were teased in 2006 but had our hopes dashed by the young Yadier Molina. Yet there’s this lingering notion that the “stuff” is about to hit the fan now. What I’d really like to know is when in its 50 years of existence, has this team really had all its “stuff” together?
Some of us feel like there’s no tangible plan coming from Sandy Alderson as to this team’s future. Again it’s what we want to see, or hear versus the facts. He’s said on many occasions that this team needs to develop from within and use free agency to enhance itself where need be. Not the other way around. The situation regarding Jose Reyes has many wondering what Alderson’s game plan is. Does the team pay an exorbidant amount of money over many years to a player who’s played in only 60% of his team’s games the past three seasons – regardless how talented he is? Now I’m a Met fan and I love Jose Reyes. Then again I loved Mackey Sasser so I’m not sure what that tells you. I hope Reyes does return to the Mets but think of it this way, you own a business and one of your best employees for the last three years, worked only 6 out of every ten days for you, and earned one of the highest salaries. Ouch.
Unfortunately there’s no simple answer to signing Reyes and either choice comes with it’s own set of risks. All the advanced statistics in the world can’t predict a person’s health. With that said – to assume that anyone outside of the organization is entitled to have detailed knowledge of what is going on is both presumptuous and arrogant. I don’t know what Apple’s detailed plans are going forward now that Steve Jobs has passed. Do you? And that’s a publicly held company.
All we can do is take what Alderson has said often and publicly and go from there, and hold him to account. Assuming that Alderson would like to one day leave a legacy of success in New York, destroying the Mets incrementally during his watch most likely isn’t his goal. Also, assuming he has nefarious motives instructed to him by the hive mind of the Selig – to slash and burn payroll at all costs just to save the Wilpons money – is also stretch. The Wilpons aren’t going belly up because of the Mets. If anything the Wilpons, through Sterling Enterprises, is a real estate company. And we all know what’s happened to real estate and the housing market the past few years and it has nothing to do with how much money Johan Santana makes.
Putting the Mets on the road towards a firm cohesive business plan, modeled after most successful teams today, is what it is – an attempt to right the many years of neglect and wrongs which has resulted in just two World Championships. That’s the Alderson plan. Keep that in mind when we argue ad nauseum back and forth about what an acceptable payroll is for a team in this market. From 2004 to 2011 the Mets under the Wilpon ownership have averaged a $119.7 million dollar annual payroll which ranks third in MLB during that time. I wonder how many of us knew that while decriding Alderson for predicting a payroll next year between $100 to $120 million?
As bad as things have been for this team the last few years, from the consecutive end of the season collapses to numerous player injuries to the financial tumult of ownership, I could remember – albeit with some help from the family – how tough it was to be a Met fan in the 1970’s. One of our claims to fame, our “superstar”, was a young handsome Italian boy named Lee Mazzilli. Mazzilli’s “superstar” credentials were bolstered by a few fellow “superstars” such as John Milner who led the Mets in the decade of the 70’s with 94 homers and 338 RBI. No that’s not a typo those were actual team leading, decade leading statistics. Think of that next time we wish to parse whether David Wright is “un-clutch” or not.
Then you had the raw talent of Felix Millan, who if he choked up any further on the bat, would have looked like the baton twirler in a marching band. Third base was a revolving door of talent manned by Joe Foy, Bob Aspromonte, Jim Fregosi and Ed Charles. Finallly in 1973 the Mets solidfied the position naming the lengendary talent of Wayne Garrett the starting third baseman. Of course that only lasted until 1976 when Garrett lost the third base job to another legend, Roy Staiger.
Look don’t get me wrong the Mets weren’t devoid of talent. The team had a genuine Hall of Fame superstar in Tom Seaver. They also had Jerry Koosman, Jon Matlack, Tug McGraw, a young and raw-talented Nolan Ryan – do we see a pattern? To say the Mets are known as a pitching heavy franchise is pretty obvious. Where the team lacked woefully in offense they were teeming with good and sometimes great pitching. But even with great pitching the team only won 763 games in the 1970’s. The point being – we weren’t exactly the big blue and orange machine – and we weren’t far removed from our World Championship year of 1969.
With the prospects of losing Jose Reyes to free agency, the decline of David Wright, the injury history of Johan Santana to the various uncertainties engulfing this team it’s understandable for fans to feel as if a black cloud is meandering its way over Flushing. If you study this team’s history you’ll see that although we love to wax poetic about our history and celebrate our small pockets of success, overall this team has been pretty rudderless since day one. Just existing in this market isn’t enough to be considered relevant. Sorry to all of the “we’re a New York team and should have unlimited resources” types. Pretending that the answer to absorbing inflated player contracts is to simply increase the team credit limit is as silly as it is dangerous. In the real, non-baseball world, that lesson is being learned the hard way globally.
Would the success the team had in the mid to late 80’s have been sustained if Strawberry and Gooden didn’t spiral into self-destruction? Possibly. Would we be having this discussion if Yadier Molina didn’t decide to channel his inner Carlton Fisk in 2006? Perhaps. If Carlos Beltran didn’t succumb to the jelly-leg syndrome and take Adam Wainwright’s third strike would we feel this disillusioned? Maybe not. But to say that we’re headed for “dark times” now, I ask you, did we ever truely get out from under that cloud in the first place? Don’t you think fans finally deserve to have a team with a long term formula for success, not just in small 3 to 5 year intervals? Time for us to stop being so petulant. This ain’t gonna be easy for any of us.
About the Author: Joe Spector
I'm just your regular Joe. Staff writer @ Metsmerizedonline.com. Happily married and a father to a baby girl. I attended my first Met game at the ripe old age of 3 where my father scored a foul ball and had it signed by Lee Mazzilli, Joe Torre and Joe Pignataro. It was my Holy Grail - 'till I buried it in the backyard. I have my own website where you can read my drivel at your leisure @ www.thespectorsector.net
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 25 | 18 | .581 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 21 | .523 | 2.5 |
| Phillies | 21 | 23 | .477 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 17 | 24 | .415 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 12 | 32 | .273 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/19/2013
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Joe, I’m one of those dark times are ahead guys…
trust me…
Here’s the thing: The absolute worse thing Alderson and the Wilpons can do the fanbase is maintain the status quo of this franchise.
Joe’s right, we cling to a handfull of bright spots and ignore a fairly unimpressive history.
Look at Ed Kranepool, the guy who held so many offensive records. The fact is, he really wasn’t that good. The reason we like him is because he’s a local kid who stayed with the team his whole career, the only Met to do so.
Spector: “Some Met fans are beginning to foreshadow that we’re headed into “dark times” as a franchise. Now far be it from me to state without a shadow of a doubt what constitutes “dark times”
What gets me about this is since 1988 lets say, when you tell somebody you’re a Mets fan… does anybody actually get a “man that must be awesome” response?
Outside of maybe
69-73
84-90
98-2000
and maybe 2006
When would u get that reaction?
The fact that people think it can or will get worse is just pretending that things have been so good for so long.
There’s a reason MLB Wants a guy like Alderson in here to turn the franchise around.
It’s not because it’s felt like Christmas morning in Flushing
This is outstanding.
“Some Met fans are beginning to foreshadow that we’re headed into “dark times” as a franchise.”
I’d say we’re falling into 4-7 yrs of dark times.. That mans a no we’re looking at 2016 before we can even think about realistically competing.
2009- 70 wins 92 loses
2010- 79 wins 83 loses
2011- 77 wins 85 loses
Well Joe I won’t quibble with the notion you made that this team has never had a long term plan for success.
But I have yet to see any change on that front since Sandy has arrived!
SO far no moves to help the long term has been made save the trade of Beltran for Wheeler.
In fact EVERY MOVE save that one seems to be short term not long term.
The only part of this LTP that has been executed so far seems to be the Lets get rid of payroll part!
And it would appear to not matter if the payroll we are cutting is good, might still be good in 5 years! In Fact if you have ever been to an All Star game you seem to jump to the top of the Purge list!
Having a plan is fine but the plan isn’t the key here it is the execution of that plan that will determine if it is successful or not!
Trading away an All Star for an A (or A+) Ball player is hardly what you call a GREAT value of return! Do that deal 10 times and you fail 9 of them! No matter WHAT Baseball America says about them! (It should be noted that F-Mart was also once a BA can’t miss guy!)
Letting a 28 yo All star SS go for a sandwich pick and 2nd rounder is not what I call a long term boon! But that could be what we get back on Reyes if he does sign on the Marlin’s dotted line!
We are talking about the possible trade of David Wright and the contention is they would have to overwhelm us before we pulled the trigger. Well if the past two deals for Beltran and K-Rod are any indication it’s pretty easy to overwhelm a FO that looks at the Payroll ledger before it looks at the production of the return! If a batting champion is only worth two virtual 2nd rounders then what would this same FO deem is an overwhelming offer for Wright? A guy who hit .254 last year and missed more time than Reyes did? Three PTBNL?
I agree that WIN NOW wins NEVER!
But I also believe WIN LATER and LATER never comes! Especially in a place like NY!
What they should be doing is trying to improve the team every year, keep what is good, purge what is bad and each year try and incrementally improve until all those kids you have been collecting can come in and put you over the top!
What good is Wheeler and Nimmo if they are all we have by the time they are ready?
What good is saving money if your not re-investing it into long term contracts for guys who will lead them when they do come up? Or make thier Improvement count for something because the team could win with just their contribution with the good players that remained?
I say there is no long term PLAN just a long term VIEW! Plans don’t merely set rules they set ACTIONS! In this case I see very little action just a rul that says anyone making over 15 Mil is a purge project with no thought or care about what we lose and what we gain by the purging.
It’s easy to say this is a long term plan because by saying so it suggests we won’t be winning anything for quite awhile!
Is that because of how bad the team actually is now or how bad we intend to make it before any plan is apparent?
Sandy is a Military man and should know something about the art of planning.
What I would ask him is:
Tanks and aircraft cost a Billion dollars each. Would he as a war planner support getting rid of all that hardware and instead spend the money to have more disposable infantry?
Cause thats what this LONG TERM PLAN looks like to me so far!
Get rid of the big LONG TERM contracts (Big Guns) and replace them with one year deal cannon fodder that he can discard on a whim!
We will see how this plays out won’t we?
And we will see that if Reyes and Wright do manage to leave just how much money we will lose in a season and then the question will be:
What did this LTP accomplish other than creating more losses in attendance AND maintaining the losses of money because all the best players we have play in Buffalo,StLucie and Brooklyn!
“SO far no moves to help the long term has been made save the trade of Beltran for Wheeler.”
See, I guess the big difference between us is that a short sighted GM Could have thought “lets sell some specs to get some players now because we’re in a playoff race,” in July.
Yet, Alderson knew what he had in front of him. A team that no doubt plays hard, but just doesn’t stack up against the competition.
There are countless people here demanding he BUY instead of SELL. BUYING would have HURT the long term would it not?
He’s not living in a fantasy world where you PLAN for 4-5 teams to collapse in order to have a chance. If he had listened to some people here, the Top 20 Prospect list that Petey is doing would look a lot worse, would it not?
Well if you insist that the Minors are so bad that we need to purge payroll and wait 5 years what exactly are you giving up for the long term?
If there IS something down there how does getting rid of what you have that works a good move for the future?
It is the LTP side that INSISTS we have crap in the Minors or that what we have will never amount to anything! Well why not trade that crap for something that could help the kids we are collecting down the line?
You need to make up your mind here. Do we have MiL talent aside from Wheeler or do we have nothing? If Nothing then why not trade off that nothing for something? EVEN if it’s MiL kids you DO like!
See any of that happening?
And if you are now going to flip and say we have SOME talent then why is it so important yto get rid of All Stars we DID find to get 2nd rounders and A Ball maybes?
What percentage of the players you get for these All Stars are going to be All Stars themselves? And if not 100% then what did we actually gain? Payroll flexability to sign Buchholz?
Really what did you accomplish?
So I guess I’m saying to take a stand!
Are there kids in the MiL worth building with? If so why not keep the good players so they can succeed when ready!
And if not then why wouldn’t trading them away for something that could help us be just as smart a play?
And NO Jessup there are not a lot of people INSISTING he Buy thats just how your side of the Argument has tried to portray them!
No has insisted we go buy into Pujols or Fielder we all love Ike davis and think he is a future star, it’s your side who thinks he isn’t really going to be as good as the rest of the 1Bs in the league!
All we are suggesting is to keep what we HAVE not go and buy other people’s grass because it appears greener!
The WORST thing you could attribute to your opposition is some of them feel trading Wright is the better move than letting Reyes go, and considering the comparison of thier BA and other stats thats not such an insane thought!
It also proves they are not focused on FACES of the franchise as much as they are in keeping what makes the current Mets win anything at all!
And that KEEP what is good let go what is not fits in ANY PLAN! Long Term, Short Term ANY PLAN!
Becuase it is quite in line with ANY plan that strives to improve where you can and keep what you can’t improve on!
If you weren’t busy yelling you would have read that nwhere did I suggest anybody is saying the Mets should get Albert or Prince.
See, I guess the big difference between us is that a short sighted GM Could have thought “lets sell some specs to get some players now because we’re in a playoff race,” in July.
I said there are people here who felt he should have BOUGHT in July because they “were in a playoff race.”
Read somebody’s comments before you attack them simply because of who wrote them next time.
Buying Albert or Prince makes no sense in my point about not giving up on the youth of this team.
If you were busy reading you would have noticed I didn’t say you wanted those guys and neither do all the folks you have been arguing with but you keep trying to suggest they DO want to buy those guys as if they support BUY BUY BUY which is the only thing you think can be done other than SLASH SLASH SLASH!
no his plans are wait till they get old,much better.
inflated contracts? What inflated contracts?
This is freaking New York City!
The Rookies pay Todd Helton 17 million a year!
Derek Jeter- overpaid?
Alex Rodriquez- 30 million a year
Carlos Lee- 18.5 million a year
Aaron Rowand- 12 million a year
Gerald Laird- 4 million a year (catcher .207 avg w/only 16 extra base hits)
Kyle Lohse- 9 million a year
we can go on and on…….
Somehow only the Mets seem to be crippled by contracts… while other MLB teams somehow seem to manage to compete. Why is that???
The Wilpon’s have chosen/decided NOT to invest in the Mets and have received the blessing from MLB to rehabilitate their finances INSTEAD of fielding a competeive team in New York for the next several years
Because most of those teams aren’t dependent on guys signed to crippling contracts? Because one bad contract on a really good team can be covered up?
What are you arguing? It’s annoying. Your not being intellectually honest.
Crippling contracts? Beltran was a crippling contract?
Carlos Delgado was a crippling contract?
Santana has a crippling contract?
The market sets the cost of contracting players.
So the Wilpon’s just said hey lets cripple our-self with bad contracts then we’ll have a crappy team for the next 7 years…?
KRod? Ollie? Castillo? Bay?
I think he’s talking more about contracts where the Mets appeared to be bidding against themselves, overpay and then look for a way out and can’t find one that is fiscally responsible.
There’s a difference between paying Todd Helton too much $ yet he still performs with OPS’ .880, .928, .779, .904, .728, .850 during those high paid years.
Was he worth that $? No. But they aren’t looking to send him down to AAA while he’s making that $ either.
His contract didn’t cripple the Rockies like some of the Mets deals did.
I can’t honestly say that Oliver Perez was a “bad contract” The man won 15 games the year before, was young and had no indication of a lose in velocity. If I remember right other teams namely the Braves were interested in signing Perez as well. What was Perez paid 14 million a year? Something like that? 14 million a year for a left 15 game winning starter pitcher is market value isn’t it? Of course Perez bitched out and took the money and ran…… but at the time not a bad contract until after the fact
Castillo- Again I can’t honestly say he had a “bad” contract. When Castillo was given the contract he was thought to be a solid fielding, #2 hitting run scorer. I
we can easily find MLB teams with 2 contracts like Perez and Castillo who still maamge to compete
Oh Please…First Off K-Rod earned every penny he made!
Second Castillo got an 8 Mil deal! Thats a CRIPPLING amount?
Really 8 Mil contract can cripple you? My God then we can’t sign ANYONE with any major league experience can we?
Your living in the 20 years ago as to what is worth paying a player!
So why don’t you tell us how much per year is NOT a crippling number?
Cause from your statements it would appear to be right about 415K which is current league minimum and anything above that would be crippling!
Metsie, you know when I stopped reading your response?
“Oh Please…First Off K-Rod earned every penny he made!”
Because I think back to the following opening paragraph
“HOUSTON — Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez has a torn thumb ligament in his pitching hand sustained during a fight with his girlfriend’s father at Citi Field and will need surgery that will sideline him for the rest of the season.”
Get real.
Earned every penny? Since joining the Mets, his Saves went down, K’s went down, Walks went up, Runs allowed went up.
You think its a coincidence the team he came up with (Angels) didn’t even want to sign him? What are we gonna argue now that the Angels are small market and couldn’t afford him?
For a guy who’s job it is to get 3 outs, he was drastically overpaid and he got his contract because the Mets were DESPERATE for a closer. They had to sign him, he knew it, his agent knew it and the Angels knew it
Hmm I loom at the 83 saves and 3.05 ERA, You look at the one injury that happened in a season that was over before it even happened!
In fact it was his frustration with LOSING that caused the rage!
You know why you stop reading my posts?
Because you know they contain the facts you guys refuse to deal with!
You just RUN from anything that disproves your made up situational excuses for being the Oakland A’s!
“In fact it was his frustration with LOSING that caused the rage!” And people call me an apologist?
So now we’re accepting a player getting injured for punching a man in the clubhouse because… the team was doing poorly?
Seriously?
I could prolly spit out several other closers in the sport who were more effective than him that made less money. He was overpaid, and when he suffered an off the field injury because of his own stupidity he proved to NOT Earn his contract.
Worse 2009 season than KRod and made more than $9.1m
Brad Lidge 12m
Kerry Wood 10m
2009
Less than 6 losses+ Lower than 3.71 ERA +More Saves than 35+Less Blown Saves than 7+made less than $9.1m
Broxton, Hoffman, Papelbon, Aardsma, Franklin, Bell
Care to see the list of players in 2010 that didn’t et injured punching a man in the team’s clubhouse and determine whether they earned their paycheck more than KRod did?
How does Rodriguez rank amongst other closers? How much did Rodriguez affect the outcomes of the games he entered?
Pretty damn good actually you should do some homework and check!
Take the average salary of every closer in the league and the average numbers on opportunity and conversions and tell me where he stacks up!
You’ll find he is right up there with the top closers!
His only problem was he played on a team that didn’t give him enough chances to close because they were not leading in the ninth!
And thats not his fault!
Sorry but I can’t accept a I hate to lose so much that “I threw my father-in-law against a wall and tore my thumb because of it” line.
I just can’t extend him (KRod) such a courtesy. He was an idiot for doing so and he owned up to it in court so in that sense i am past it as well but I can’t accept the idea that he tore his thumb cause he hates losing. He tore it because he had self control issues.
Sure you could jessup but then I could name a few who made MORE money and didn’t do as well as him too!
Your problem seems to be you don’t like players that make the Mets win!
You only like guys who get them into BA’s top 100 list!
And those guys who make less right now will soon make more!
Because you have to PAY to keep good players! Something you have not learned in all your time following baseball!
A product of believeing Oakland was a success is my guess!
Where is Oakland now and how many WS have they won using your philosophy?
“I could name a few who made MORE money and didn’t do as well as him too!”
Considering the only guys who made more than Rodriguez to close were Rivera and Lidge, I doubt it. Besides, all you would prove is my point about paying for saves being dumb.
No, Rodriguez was not worth that contract. No closer is.
Yep because to you and Jessup any contract above 415K is CRIPPLING!
can you quote me where I said that? Because otherwise, the honorable thing would be to retract that comment.
So how much is NOT Crippling can’t wait to hear it!
How much for a .337 BA, .384 OBP, .441 SLG is not crippling?
It depends on other factors:
Has he produced like that before? How likely is it he will produce that way for the majority of the deal? What position does he play? Is your team in a position to add other players to take advantage of his production? Are there any issues that may affect his production (health, legal attitude etc etc)? Do his numbers look good because of certain circumstances?
Yes only he got fewer opportunities!
I merely pointed out that the contracts you mentioned belong to players on good, well rounded teams and those big deals can be swallowed up.
Beltran was one of the rare cases of a meg deal working out. No, Delgado’s deal is not crippling because it, you know, is expired. Also, he produced most of the time he was here. And Santana’s deal is hurting the Mets now.
And I noticed how Jason Bay’s deal escaped your list.
“The market sets the cost of contracting players.
So the Wilpon’s just said hey lets cripple our-self with bad contracts then we’ll have a crappy team for the next 7 years…?”
I don’t think that is how it went down. I’d say our current situation is more of an unintended or unaddressed consequence.
Oh please the only thinng having those guys crippled was the ability to play conga line roster every year or the ability to sign 10 crap players every year!
It crippled the only thing you seem to like about baseball finding cheap nobodies who when one of the 10 you signed actually does ok You can beat your chest about how right your were about the one and ingore the 9 your were DEAD WRONG about!
Niece piece.
I’m a diehard Met fan going back to ’68. Nothing was worse than those late 70s/early 80s teams. We might be getting close though.
Winning the WS year after year is almost impossible, if you look at history. But being a contending team and getting to post season year after year? You only need to look crosstown or down the turnpike to know that certainly is possible.
I don’t see 2011 in anyway as a year we’re climbing back up. We’re just treading water, waiting to see if the Wilpons will hold onto the team, waiting to see if Johan can pitch, waiting to see if Duda can play RF, waiting to see if Murph can play 2nd w/o killing himself, waiting to see if Davis can stay on the field. Beyond that, we’ll be waiting to see if the top 10 or so prospects make it up and will be a contributing factor.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m getting tired of waiting.
SRT:
I feel your pain.
Look… Joe D and I both know more than we can write about. This team is in very bad financial shape, far past any salary issues.
Like everything else in the world, everything will come out in proper tme, but…
trust me… IMO… you’re looking at a 70-75mil payroll starting in 2013, ending with the sale of the team after the league takes it over around 2016
I think Mack is right, unfortunately.
Let me just say that if all you have is salary cut backs for little while, this will be a huge letdown.
In fact, anything short of moving the team or Wilpon becoming the next commish will be a let down for all the teasing and drama you and Joe are doing for this.
Hey Joe… this was fun. I can argue with creeps on your site instead of mine.
Donal… Joe and I never write about everything we know. That would be journalistic suicide.
Also… congrats… YOU are the guy that got me to go away
Mack
Yes, I am well aware that most people in your position hold back. My point is the stupid teasing.
“Oh, we’ve got this big horrible story but we won’t tell you.” Then why even mention it? Most reasonable people figure there is way more going on behind the curtain than we’ll ever know.
What you’re doing is as bad as what that dope from Sirius did regarding Reyes.
They mention it to give their readers insight that there’s more to something than is being reported. I want this type of info and I don’t consider what he did teasing. Why chase away people in the know? I wish there were more informed posters like Mack here and less uninformed posters like you who only like to insult those who are trying to convey something. Mack is a pro and he has more insight on the Mets than most of the beat writers. You should be glad he chose to comment here.
LOL Mack yes he does have that repulsive affect on posters!
Ugh….I don’t want to watch a continued downward slide until 2016.
And not a doubt in my mind Sterling Mets is in far worse shape then we’ve been lead to believe since the scandal broke. Was there one Met fan who believed the Wilpons ‘this will in no way affect the operations of the Mets’ BS they tried to sell us?
I wish the Madoff disaster was far worse for the Wilpons than it initially was. Then maybe we’d be reading about bids right now for new owners instead of watching them try and hold onto the team in the next few years – only to wind up having to sell anyway.
How can we run a team with a payroll that low? That means no David Wright?
Hey I always read your site Mack.
But Mack? “past salary issues” you mean the cost of fielding a MLB team?
no… I mean “looking past” just the issue of salaries
Why do my fellow Met fans let the Wilpon’s hide behind this notion that “bad contracts/past salary concerns” have resulted in a non-competitive Met team the last 3 years and will result in a non-competitive team for the next several years.
Why even mention contracts? It’s not our concern as fans. Can we not all agree that Met ownership has decided that for whatever reason they will not field a competitive team for the next several years? Our focus should be on the Wilpon’s. When the Wilpon’s recover financially the Mets will improve.
‘Why even mention contracts? Its not our concern as fans.’
Did you seriously mean that? Anyway. Carry on people.