If you look down to the sunny state of Florida, you will see a former New Yorker hard at work at a demolition site. No, its not one of the hard hat wearing type that eats their lunch on pillars of incomplete skyscrapers. And the site is not a bridge or old retirement home. Derek Jeter, longtime star for the New York Yankees, is currently pushing the destruction button on the Miami Marlins. As CEO and part owner of the team, Jeter has taken a team that had potential and hit restart.

When you looked at what the Marlins had, you couldn’t help but see potential. For them, it all started with the outfield. The outfield featured Marcel Ozuna, Christian Yelich, and of course the infamous slugger Giancarlo Stanton. If that outfield doesn’t satisfy your needs, add in Dee Gordon in the infield, and J.T Realmuto behind the plate. The team lacked starting pitching, as they finished 26th in team ERA.

I can’t wrap my mind around why Jeter would not want to build around Stanton. He is a generational player, and the most feared slugger in the league. With a plethora of starting pitching on the market, the Marlins could have been an interesting team this year. Now that the Marlins have traded away Stanton and Ozuna, other players are expected to be moved as well. Yelich is reportedly next on the list to be traded, and Realmuto has voiced his displeasure with the team. When Jeter held a town hall, Marlins fans were visibly upset. They are not the only upset fan base in the NL East.

Mets fans have always griped about the Wilpons and their obvious complacency with not spending to improve their team. Recently, Fred Wilpon has voiced his discontent that the Marlins traded Stanton to the Yankees. According to Mike Puma, Wilpon is “irate”. He isn’t the only one. Sadly for Wilpon and Mets fans, just feeling upset about a situation won’t do anything about it. The team is in difficult shape, and with reports of salary cuts coming, it could get even worse. So, why not blow the Mets up with where they stand?

To start, the rotation is an injury filled mess. The projected rotation is filled with injuries, and will either pitch at an elite level or be struck with injuries. It is a dice roll. In terms of the lineup, the team is a mix of veterans and youth. However, the team can’t expect to win by starting Asrubal Cabrera, David Wright, or even Steven Matz. The current state of this team is a mess.

You have pieces to build around in Noah Syndergaard, Michael Conforto, Jacob deGrom, and Amed Rosario. Players like Yoenis Cespedes and A.J Ramos could be traded to bring in prospects to a bare farm system. If the Wilpons are not willing to put money into this team, which needs upgrades to be able to compete, there is no sense in letting this team stay the way it is. The Mets were a better candidate than the Marlins to be blown up, but don’t expect anything drastic to happen under the Wilpons.

31 comments on “The Mets should be blown up, not the Marlins

  • Pete

    The real question is how can MLB allow this to happen again to the Marlins? It’s obvious this new ownership lacks the funds to sign a couple of FA SP to finally compliment their offense. Why else would Jeter give an analysis that the payroll needed to be cut down to Oakland A’s, Tampa Bay atmosphere? 90 million? Are you kidding me? You pay 1.2 billion for a team and the first thing you do is cut payroll? BTW I just read an article released by the A.P. about the Islanders building a new arena complex in Elmont. Guess who one of their partners is in this endeavor? Our own miserly owner Mr. Fred Wilpon himself! And yet the Mets are cutting payroll?

  • LongTimeFan1

    All the Wilpons’ are doing is replacing the project they were supposed to have in Queens with the one they now have with Islanders.

    While I don’t particularly care for the Wilpons’ as Mets owners, I am tired of everyone going ballistic over them egged on by reports of payroll decline and other less than flattering news which may or may not be true. It’s certain diehards and media that make the Mets look far worse than they are. If Mets fans truly want free agents to come here, then stop bashing the team – provide players with a welcoming environment – not fan-induced toxicity.We can’t control the Wilpons but we can control the atmosphere of negativity fans create.

    • Mike Walczak

      I am not bashing the team. I have been a Mets fan for 50 years. The owners don’t seem to want to put the money up to build a championship team. The GM seems to be passive aggressive. Add that to a farm system that is on the soft side and you get the Mets.

      Fans should get loud, boisterous and raucous. That is why we call them fans.

      NY fans are passionate and care about their team

    • TexasGusCC

      LongtimeFan1: LOL!

      We are bashing the Mets because they are on pace to have the 19th highest payroll in the #1 market. And if we were so bad, why are players like Granderson, Bruce, and others calling us the best fans in the world? It may be lip service, but I have never, ever, heard a player say we were the worst fans in the world.

      And yes we are bashing the team and will continue to do so. You know why??? Because they hike their prices, cut their product, and give us seven years of Bozo the Manager and their owner Fred Coupon was going to run a power play to keep him here. So they feed a writer all the details, and so Coupon finds himself a shill, albeit a beloved shill, to stick next to the General Manager to monitor him.

      And you tell us we’re wrong for bashing them?

      • Name

        Yes you’re wrong.

        https://www.statista.com/statistics/193645/revenue-of-major-league-baseball-teams-in-2010/

        7th in revenue …during a winning year and coming off a WS appearance the prior year. They’re likely in the 10-15 range during a bad/normal year.

        “Mets are a big market team” is the biggest fake news of 2017.

        • Pete

          Name how much is the debt (interest payments) the Wilpons are carrying affecting their spending? if you say not much then where is the money going? If you say it’s hurting them then we still go back to the original premise that the Wilpons are confined to a set budget and cannot overspend unless it helps their bottom line.

          • Name

            “Wilpons are confined to a set budget and cannot overspend”

            What is irrational about that?

            • Pete

              None what soever Name. Like most Met fans I wish it was higher. I am curious as to how much support $ they are going to provide in their new venture as partners with the Islanders.

        • TexasGusCC

          Name, you’re telling me the Mets aren’t a big market team?

          You’re further going to tell me that 6 teams made more money than them, so they should spend less than 18 teams?

          To add to the above, the Mets cost the 6th most to go to a game of all MLB teams, with an average of close to $100 for two people.

          Too, in 2016 they weren’t very good until Granny carried them through September. Have you forgotten the Bozo’s great speech in mid-August about 25 guys in Vegas that want those jobs if they won’t put better effort, then they were swept by bottom dwellers Braves and D’Backs at home? Whatever preseason sales they had weren’t combined with a surge of walk-up or in-season sales because they sucked until September. But, in September the place was packed.

          • TexasGusCC

            The $100 for two people was for 2016.

            The average cost per ticket was about $69 in 2017, with 2,460,622 customers. That’s almost $170MM before concessions, parking, advertising, MLB licensing, Disney money, TV revenue, and insurance kickbacks for injured players (Wright, Cespedes – the two highest salaries).

            • Pete

              I’ve had similar discussions with Name Gus. It’s not they are playing in the number one market. It’s the fan base from which the Mets can draw from. More annoying than anything else to me is their new partnership with the Islanders ownership to build a new arena in Elmont. I guess it was an opportunity to good to pass up.

          • Name

            Yes I am 100% telling you the Mets aren’t a big market team and I have the facts and figures to back it up. All you have are opinions with no facts, aka Fake news

            They top 5 on that list are the clear big market teams. The gap between the 5th and 6th is almost $75 million. The Mets would have to increase revenue by 25% to get to their level, but 2016 was already a record for them.

            https://www.statista.com/statistics/196671/revenue-of-the-new-york-mets/

            In their losing years, they were about 20% lower than what they did in 2015-2016. Based on the first chart i gave you, that would probably place them around 12-15th range.

            That’s a mid-market team. During the good years they are in the 7-10 range and during the bad years they slide down into the 10-15 range.

            “To add to the above, the Mets cost the 6th most to go to a game of all MLB teams, with an average of close to $100 for two people”

            Cost has nothing to do with market size, but more about incomes and cost of living. Hawaii has the highest cost of living in the US, but clearly they are not a big market. It may cost $100 to go to a NYC game, but if the average income is $100k it’s the same ratio as if you went to a game in Houston that only costs $80 but where the average income is $80k

            • TJ

              Name,
              With all due respect, claiming that the Mets are a big market team is not fake news,it is simple reality.

              While the statistica information is nice, the revenues on that report do not determine the size of the market. Whether the Mets generated $1 in revenue or $1 billion, NYC is still the largest market in the country. It is indisputable.

              That $322 million in revenue coming off a world series may be the biggest indictment of this ownership. Why do these other “big market” clubs have so much more revenue? Because they know how to maximize their brands. The only reason why the Mets can’t generate $400 – $500 million a year in revenues is because they have bad ownership that stinks at running a sports franchise. These are rel estate guys and they make ll the calls regardless of what they say. Small time owners in the biggest market is a sure recipe for mediocrity as the ceiling. .

              • Name

                Perhaps “big market team” is a misnomer. Maybe “high roller” is a better term to describe the team’s ability to spend.

                The Mets are not a “high rolling” franchise because they don’t have the fanbase. The revenue numbers support that claim.

                “Why do these other “big market” clubs have so much more revenue? Because they know how to maximize their brands.”

                Correct, but brands are built over time. What is the one thing the Giants, Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, and Giants have in common? They have all been existence for 100+ years. They’ve been around long enough for that 5, 6 or even 7 generations of a family can claim allegiance.
                The Mets are an expansion team. They’ve only been around 50 years. Of course their brand isn’t going to measure up to teams that have been around 100+ years.
                Maybe in another 50-75 years the Mets brand will be able to compete with the Yankees, but at the present moment they’re clearly in that 2nd tier of “rollers”, which include teams that play in much smaller cities like Cards. And Mets fan need to accept this fact, because they are crying foul for no good reason.

  • Name

    It’s odd that the people who are asking for team to be blown up don’t also call for Alderson’s head and instead focus all the blame on the owners. You’re basically admitting that his original “plan” has been a total failure. Why would you want to do it his way once again?

    The injuries of the SP, the bare farm system, inactivity on the trade market… that has nothing to do with the owners.

    • Chris F

      I want Alderson gone. He’s a lousy GM, with a fundamentally broken plan to build a team. Seven years later the team is not one bit better off than the day he signed on.

      • Pete

        The irony here is that Minaya is back

    • Mike Walczak

      Ok – fire Alderson.

    • Pete

      It’s Aldersons team for the foreseeable future now that he’s signed his extension

  • Herb G

    The Marlins are in a completely different situation than the Mets. They are perpetually last in attendance in the NL, looking at a stream of large losses with players whose salaries would only increase astronomically in the next few years. After spending $1.2 billion ($400 million of it debt) the owners rightfully concluded that total restructure was needed. They are buying time by selling off all their high priced players, and I am sure they are scrambling to find ways to increase attendance and ancillary revenues.

    The Mets have the core of a potential contender (as did the Marlins) with the right additions. If you believe, as some here do, that our rotation is crippled and our offense is mediocre, then all is hopeless and you will advocate a tear down and rebuild. I don’t see that as necessary at all. If the rotation sustains only the normal spate of dings with days on the DL, and we add 1 infielder and 1 outfielder, a #4 or #5 starter and maybe 1 more RP, (all mid-level, quality players) the Mets should be in the thick of things come September.

    • Mike Walczak

      Ok- so what IF, OF, starter and RP are they going to add when they are claiming poverty?

      • Herb G

        Mike, if the talk of the Mets only having another $10 million or so to spend after signing Swarzak is true, my hands would be somewhat tied. But we could still do it. First thing I would do is to trade A.J Ramos to create another $9.2 million in payroll space. Now with about $20 million to work with:

        My preferred IF would be Cesar Hernandez, although talk is the Phillies may not give him up. If unable to do that, my fall back would be to bring back Jose Reyes for Hernandez money. (arb projection $4.2 M) But before I did that, I would go to Jeff to try to get the OK for an additional $3M so that I could sign Eduardo Nunez (2 YRS/$14m)

        For the OF – Carlos Gomez (hoping his price drops from the 2 yrs/$22 M predicted for him to 2 yrs/$18M)

        Starter: Either sign Jason Vargas for 2 yrs/$15M or bring back R.A. Dickey for about $5M

        Reliever: Jared Hughes – $1.8M which is less than his arb projection of $2.2M

        That’s what I would have to live with, since my first choices of Todd Frazier, Jay Bruce, Andrew Cashner and Addison Reed are all too expensive. That group – Reyes, Gomez, Dickey & Hughes would actually be pretty good. (and nostalgic, too)

        • Pete

          Herb if you trade Harvey and save an additional 7 million or so you can have Frazier and Bruce by back loading the final years. You then have flexibility with also trading Lagares (5th outfielder) and/or Flores.

    • Pete

      Herb i don’t have access to how much money the new owners have available now. Put aside your observation for a moment and tell me how are the Marlins any different than the Mets? The Marlins had a terrific outfield, a decent lead off hitter, catcher, closer and only need to plug in a few holes especially SP. The tragedy of Jose Fernandez untimely death devastated their rotation. I get it. But they could of made trades to upgrade their SP and still field a competitive team

      • Herb G

        Pete, the difference is the market in which they operate and their perpetual poor attendance. They further hurt themselves by building a beautiful new stadium with a terrible dearth of parking facilities. Those factors limit their revenue potential. With the solid team they had, as you pointed out so well, they lost a ton of money. Their new owners didn’t purchase the team as a tax shelter, they want to turn a profit. By minimizing their expenses, they are buying time to figure out how to do that.

        • Pete

          But that’s what Loria said to the fan base and he promised them to inject $ once the city built him a facility the team could sustain for the future. So the question herb is who is they? The city of Miami? Ownership? How much money did Loria give to help build the new stadium?

  • MattyMets

    The team that we mirror right now is the 2015-16 White Sox. We have a talented core but lack the resources (or inclination maybe) to add the missing pieces. Rather than settle for another fourth place finish with Sale, Quintana, Robertson, Eaton, Frazier, etc. the White Sox chose to hit the reset button. We should be doing what Jerry dipoto is doing with the Mariners and adding a few smart pieces to the core. The Wilpons are very short sighted. They’ll save $20 million in payroll and cost themselves 2 or 3 times that in falling attendance/concessions/parking/merch

  • Steve S

    This Mets team 7 years after Alderson took over is a disaster on every level. The starting 8 have more holes than solid ground as we are weak at Catcher, 1st, second, 3rd, CF and RF as things stand. Starting pitching is average but below average when the injuries kick in and bullpen is sub par. The farm system is barren and the Alderson era draft picks have been abysmal. We have nothing of value to trade and no money to spend. Nothing good for 2018 or as far into the future as I can see. They sold off everything of value at the end of last year and got virtually nothing in return. The only things we have worth trading are Syndergaard, Degrom and Rosario and after than you couldn’t give anyone away. This is just a very, very bad team and you have to wonder why root for them at all? After 50 years I may stop. Only hope is to string together a few really bad seasons that will generate some high level draft picks and hope that Alderson makes some better choices than he has in the past. Unlikely though.

  • Mike Walczak

    Think about this.

    Wright 20 million
    Cespedes. 29 million

    20 .million that they cut.

    69 million is a lot of money to replace Cespedes and get what we need.

    • Herb G

      Think about this.

      Cutting payroll by $20 million
      Almost certain to recoup $20 million from insurance on Wright.

      If they just agreed to keep payroll at last year’s level. what could you do with that $40 million???

  • Pete

    I don’t think an insurance company would pay a 100% return on a policy. The rumors that were being mentioned(i don’t recall exactly who) was that the Wilpons got back 75% last year. But that’s still 15 million dollars! Enough for at least one of your FA’s Bruce or Frazier

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