“Not so fast, Sandy. I’m calling the shots around here.” – JP Morgan
Sandy Alderson told Joel Sherman of the New York Post, that he will likely have a $90 to $100 million payroll budget next season.
When you factor in Wright, Niese, raises and arbitration eligible players, the Mets have roughly $55 million in payroll commitments for the 2014 season. That should give Alderson about $45 million to spend, but still only giving him a payroll that ranks 16th to 18th in the majors, or where some mid-market and low market teams reside.
“I think it is unlikely to go from $55 million to $150 million. Do I think we can get there? We would have to outperform our payroll, so we can increase attendance and increase payroll consistently over time. Overall, I agree with you, but I think we will get on a progression toward something. We will basically spend [on 2014 payroll] almost as much as we currently have committed next year, so that is a doubling. … It is not because [of ownership financial problems]. It is because they have been burned by the big, long contacts, so we are not prepared to go from zero to 60 [mph] in 3.5 seconds, which I can’t argue with. But if we have enough young pitching, then $100 million will be enough to be competitive because we can use the money on position players, which is our problem right now.”
Meanwhile, Howard Megdal of Capital New York is making some noise again. This time he’s asserting that spending the $45 million that will be freed up after the season will not be Alderson’s decision or even the Mets owners’ decision to make. Apparently, he’s convinced that J.P. Morgan Chase is running the operation and any spending must be approved by them. Ummm… Okay…
Over at SNY MetsBlog, Matt Cerrone rejects the idea that a big market team in New York should have a payroll that reflects that market. Hmm… So a Wilpon owned entity is saying that it’s okay for a Wilpon owned team in the largest sports market in the world to operate with a Minnesota Twins budget? Shocker. I wonder if he rejects the Mets’ big market ticket prices too?
