Christina asks…
I have been a Mets fan since 1983 and I’m a devoted reader of your site, checking in about five times a day. I’ve read all your articles about the Mets owners over the last two years. My question is do you think anything’s changed now that we have a winning product and the fans (including me) have returned to Citi Field? I have this fear that we will squander this window of having this great young pitching.
Joe D. replies…
Actions speak louder than words and so far the Wilpons have done nothing to suggest they intend to follow through on their promise to spend more once the fans returned to Citi Field which they obviously did in 2015.
Mets attendance jumped from 2.1 million to over 2.6 million this year. If you take that half-million increase and multiply it by the Fan Cost Index of $42.50 that comes to about $22 million in new revenue.
However, the headlines and even their own network SNY downplay any new or additional spending for the 2016 season.
Last night during the Mets Hot Stove Report, hosts Gary Apple, Jim Duquette and Anthony DiComo alluded to Mets finances a dozen times saying they couldn’t afford to bring back Yoenis Cespedes or Daniel Murphy because of affordability, and that they wouldn’t be players for any of the marquee free agents on the market because of budgetary constraints.
This morning’s headlines are “Ben Zobrist is too costly for the Mets” and the “Mets are all in on Dilson Herrera” and “O’Day likely out of Mets price range.”
The point is wherever you look all you see is evidence that nothing’s changed and finances are still a stumbling block to acquiring the types of players that should be top priorities for a team in the Mets’ position.
According to Adam Rubin, Marc Craig and Mike Puma, the Mets’ plan this offseason is to acquire a versatile backup middle infielder who can play second and third, a platoon center fielder to pair with Juan Lagares, and a setup type reliever that won’t tip the scales at over $6 million dollars.
Does that sound like anything’s changed to you?
Sandy Alderson tried to dodge a question on his payroll budget before the GM Meetings and ultimately said he expects his 2016 Opening Day payroll to be at least $103 million, which is where they ended the 2015 season.
With payroll already at $92 million before making any additions, that leaves about $11 million to spend this Winter. Luckily for them, it should still be enough to carry out their plan and pickup their utility infielder, platoon outfielder and a reliever.
The question is, will that be enough to bring the Mets back to the World Series?
Their starting pitching is so good that they’ll certainly keep the team in the hunt – as we saw from April to July last season. And you’re right, they should be doing more to support this window of opportunity while we have all these young pitchers under contract.
We don’t know what the Mets will do when Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom are ready for their nine-figure mega deals beginning in 2018. So essentially we have a 3-4 year window to win with this rotation before we face the music.
Let me reiterate that I don’t advocate adding payroll just for the sake of adding payroll. Over the last three decades we’ve had far too many of these boom or bust cycles that were borne out of reckless spending and throwing money at every problem.
But if Sandy Alderson is convinced that Ben Zobrist and Darren O’Day are the players he wants and the difference-makers the team needs, it’s pretty disappointing that he has to turn away from them because he has no room in his payroll budget. So now he has to resort to lesser and more riskier options because there was no room in the budget for the players he really wanted… What a shame…
It’s still early and a lot could change. But so far – if you believe dozens and dozens of reports – it looks like the Mets have already moved on from their Plan A options and stepped down to Plan B and C alternatives before they’ve even spent one red cent. A sad commentary on the defending NL Champs…
