The camps are open. Spring Training is almost in full swing for just about everybody. The Mets seem to be more eager than most clubs: a week before pitchers and catchers were to report and two full weeks before the full squad’s appearance was mandatory, the Mets had 60 – that’s “six-oh” – spring training invitees milling around their minor league facility. Like the young colts most of them are, they are impatient to get on with it, man. And most of them haven’t been penned up by constant snow like those of us on the Eastern Seaboard. Meanwhile, while David Wright stretches and Jonathon Niese hustles over to cover first, while Bobby Parnell takes his first tentative turns on a bullpen mound, while Ruben Tejada plays catch with Wilmer Flores and while Matt Harvey lets the reality of his Tommy John surgery sink in, the thoughts and the talk of the early spring has turned to the subject that will not die, the Mets’ finances.
First, that venerable bastion of sports reportage, the Wall Street Journal weighed in, telling us that the payroll hasn’t really increased; it’s just been reallocated. Over here, this sounds like mere semantics. If the Mets are finished paying people who won’t be playing for them in 2014 – all Bobby Bonilla and Bret Saberhagen jokes aside – who cares what you call it? Po-TAY-to, po-TAH-to. That the “reallocation” has resulted in having Curtis Granderson, Chris Young and Bartolo Colon on the roster, rather than Jason Bay, Johan Santana and Frank Francisco is enough to bring a smile to the orange and blue denizen at this early juncture.
Of course, though, the opening of training camp could not ever pass without us fans suffering the constant inanities spewn from the gob of Wilpon the Younger. Any appearance of Jeff Wilpon before a live microphone is cringe-worthy in and of itself. All your intrepid columnist needs do is see his picture at the head of an article or internet posting to know that what follows ain’t gonna be good. This time, he denied ever having had any payroll restrictions placed on the team by any bank, instantly ditching his best “out” when pressed about the downturn the past several years: “Hey, I wanted to spend money, but the banks won’t let us…” That option has now been discarded. Next, he turned to the job Sandy Alderson is doing as GM – News flash: He approves! – and generally pooh-poohed any correlation between a high payroll and on-field success. He’s technically not wrong, especially given the decline in the Mets’ fortunes while their payroll soared. As with most things, the answer sounds simple but is really more complicated.
Simple: Large payroll, small payroll is really of little consequence. What matters is whom you are paying. You can have a sheet north of $135 million and produce no winners – the Mets of the late ‘00s — just as easily as you can compensate your ranks south of $87 million and be perennial playoff contenders – the Tampa and Oakland squads of recent vintage come to mind.
Complicated: The trick is to recognize talent and keep it happy for a large number of years. The Yankees were able to do that and keep their contending run alive for 19 years. The “Core Four” – Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera — were quickly indentified and locked into long-term deals. Of course, being the Yankees, they have had the wherewithal to supplement these key pieces with savvy free-agent signings. Given that the Mets play in the same market as the Yankees, one would think that as resources are replenished, they will try to play a similar game. One would hope that the Harveys, Noah Syndergaards, Dominic Smiths and Travis d’Arnauds of the world will be kept close, while the occasional big-ticket signing will keep the major league team afloat as the next wave ripens.
Now, if we could just get Jeff Wilpon to shut up…
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Consistently Claiming that there is no obstacle to adding Payroll…. as they have claimed for the entire time S.A. has been G.M…Yes, since day 1 they’ve claimed that they had “no money problems”, and they continue to make that claim.
As time has past, the reference their “past money problems” (never admitting at any “present moment” that they have “present” money problems).
This is deceptive and cynical, and it gets a worthy return of same from fans. The “parcing” about this year’s payroll being larger than last years (now we’re just counting the payroll they want to count) is not as bad as the outright lying…aggressive tales of deception.
Further, they treat people horribly—every ex Met is a Scoundrel? Every struggling young guy is dragged though the Mud—It’s a really bad operation. They have Money Problems. Root for the Shirts!!!…Stop mouth-piecing for The Wilpons…The Plan…blah blah..They suck!
idit..Time has passed
Their payroll is about $85 million, which would be fine if they had a decent shortstop/leadoff hitter (Jose Reyes, if he had been re-signed; the last time Reyes’s OBP was as low as Eric Young Jr’s, the former player was 22). The Wilponzis keep lying, and attendance keeps going down……
You know Charlie, I actually like the WSJ’s sports coverage. Diamond is really good, and since nobody really gets WSJ for sports, the sports staff can get away with a little more than they might be able to at other publications.
That being said, I went through this a few weeks ago: the Mets didn’t really add any money to the payroll this year, just reallocated what was coming off the books in the form of Santana and Bay, who were dead money last year. They should be more competitive in 2014, because the $85 million is spent smarter (e.g.- on players who will actually play) this year. Like you were getting at, spending smart is more important than spending big when it comes to winning.
Hey $85 million devoted to players who will contribute positive WARs is great. I’m all for it.
Well, if you like 85 million dollars of “the right guys” wouldn’t 97 million of “the right guys” be even better!?….after all, they have some gaping and identifiable holes. The present expenditure is below last season’s total. They have an additional 25 million dollars of revenue from MLB’s T.V. deal. They could fill some of the existing holes by:
1. Spending more on “the right guys”
2. Spending more than they did last year…on “the right guys”
3. Allocating just half of their revenue windfall—certainly “unearned uncome” if ever there was such a thing!!!
They look at the market and find everyone overpriced…hah!!!…except themselves!!!
It wasn’t the WSJ that said the payroll would be increased now that the Mets were no longer hamstrung with bad contracts. So if all things being equal(which I know they’re not) then the payroll could and should be increased to about 115 million dollars. The Wilpons would not be taking money from their empty coffers. Rather the additional 25 million comes from the new television contract which went into effect this year. The fact is that spending has gone down this year. Can you explain that to me Charlie? If you add 13 minimum salaries to their current 75.4 million dollar payroll you come up with 82 million dollars. Where’s the TV revenue from the new contract? Didn’t SA say the team had some flexible finances available? What bs. Why does Met management talk to their fan base like a parent talks to their 5 year year old?
There is a hole at shortstop. There is a free agent that you could get at the going rate that would improve the line up. This shortstop is not going to turn the Mets into contenders but will be a step in the right direction. Right now the Mets have no one in their system that projects to be an above average major league shortstop for at least three years. I don’t think this minimal expenditure would cripple a solvent team. It is an expediture that a team that wants to be competitive would make.
I don’t think the Mets are solvent and therefore they are not competitive. I believe the NY Post article about the restrictive bank loans more than I believe the Wilpon’s denials.
Metsense I agree with you. I think the Wilpons had to make the 2 loans in order to make Citifield a reality. The Wilpons and their accomplices knew the dire financial crisis they were going to experience in order to maintain control of the team. They needed to show the banks that the team is solvent and has a financial plan so that the loans could be re-financed when they were due this year. Sad but if the Wilpons were not friends with Bud they would have had to give up control a long time ago.