According to a report by Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, New MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said he has no doubt that Mets ownership has the capacity to boost its payroll if it deems it worthwhile.
“For a whole host of reasons, it’s really not my position to predict when I think they need to spend,” Manfred said during a visit last week to ESPN’s campus. “I have had ongoing, numerous conversations with both ownership and Sandy [Alderson] about the Mets’ situation. … I think at the point in time that it is their judgment that it is effective to increase their payroll, they’ll do that, and they will have the capacity to do it.”
Rubin points out that Manfred’s lack of concern about the Mets’ spending echoes the statements of his predecessor as commissioner, Bud Selig.
When pressed to respond to the Mets apparent inability to pursue trades for big-ticket items such as Troy Tulowitzki and Ian Desmond to man shortstop, Manfred added:
“I don’t know what their internal considerations are with respect to individual trades, and it’s not appropriate for me to talk about that. But I have never had a question about the Mets’ capacity to spend if they decided it was in their baseball interest to spend money. I really don’t believe that’s an issue.”
The Mets have seen their payroll slashed significantly over the years and currently their opening day payroll projects to be about $5-10 million more than last season depending on what happens with Dillon Gee. Either way the Mets will have a bottom ten payroll.
Mets ownership has been coming under fire for running the team like a small market operation, most recently by Ken Rosenthal and Jeff Passan.
When they deem it worthwhile… What a joke…
