In baseball circles, the word “Mets” is on a lot of peoples’ lips. In years past, this was a good thing in January. It meant signing Carlos Beltran, or Billy Wagner, or Pedro Martinez. Heck, fans were happy when it was Mike Cameron.
This year? Not so much…
ITEM: Mets charge players for offseason workouts.
We know that non-Mets people will rarely let an opportunity to “LOLMets!” slip by. That’s why – when word leaked out that Mike Barwis, the team’s new workout guru, is charging major league players $4,000 and minor-leaguers $1,000 to work out voluntarily and the team isn’t picking up that tab – the cry went out about the stinginess of the organization, neverminding the fact that Barwis is a third-party here, and the workouts were, indeed, voluntary. Far be it for your intrepid columnist to defend the Wilpons, but this one doesn’t pass the sniff test. Remember: never let the facts get in the way of the narrative.
ITEM: Mets turn down three-team deal that would have brought in Ian Desmond.
While some of us were frolicking at QBC ’15, word came down that the Tampa Rays had traded Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar to Oakland. While we were disappointed – but unsurprised — that Zobrist was off the board, the news was mainly met with shrugs. Later, it turned out that that this was actually Plan C for the Rays, that they had originally offered the deal to the Mets, who’d balked at giving up prized RHP Noah Syndergaard. Then they tried to restructure, bringing in the Nationals and Desmond, while continuing to ask for the young hurler. Another Metsian refusal. Meanwhile, Washington went out and got Escobar anyway, supposedly to play second base. After initial moaning about Sandy Alderson’s reticence, most fans could see the logic of the Mets’ passing these deals up: Syndergaard, plus-plus was too steep a price to pay in either deal.
ITEM: Fred Wilpon named MLB Finance Chairman.
This has to be a joke, right? Fred Wilpon? The most famous sucker who got duped by Bernie Madoff? The League is giving him the keys to the vault? Well, as it turns out, what new Commissioner Rob Manfred did was strip Wilpon of any power he may have had as a member of the MLB Executive Committee. While everyone howls with laughter, Wilpon has now become a figurehead on Park Avenue and has very little say about anything, as it turns out.
ITEM: Mets install $8 million scoreboard expansion.
OK, this one really does hurt. While the rest of the world was going crazy over the Nationals’ signing of Max Scherzer, the Mets announced that they have expanded the centerfield video board by 62%. Whoopee! Pennant, here we come! Who cares if we don’t have a major-league shortstop? We have a 62% bigger video board! And at what it would cost to import a major league shortstop! Oy…
ITEM: Mets will pass on SS Yoan Moncada.
Well at least this time they came right out and said it: Cuban refugee and soon-to-be international free agent Moncada does not fit their budget. And did we mention the new video board…?
ITEM: Mets VP of tickets claims 19.5% increase in sales over last year.
This item is more than a little difficult to swallow. With a team that only won 79 games and were scarcely improved in the offseason, an uptick this drastic is a bit of a head-scratcher. The vocal portion of the fan base is dissatisfied with slow progress at the MLB level made by Alderson & Co. So it begs the question: is this report on the up-and-up?
We may have to have the new MLB Finance Chairman look into this…
Follow me on Twitter @CharlieHangley
I really enjoyed this article about the “no news” team of the winter.
First, Sandy and the Tampons (ouch) promised their fan base that 2014 would be the magic year. When Harvey went under the knife, 2015 was to become that magic year. 2015 is on the horizon; the Mets’ faithful have been quite patient. How has the Mets’ brass rewarded the fans for their extreme loyalty? Mike Cuddyer?
Thanks for the article. More illumination on this pathetic organization that we love so much.
Let’s not forget Alderson making jokes about shortstop at the BBWAA dinner the other day…like when he joked about having no outfield!
I made a conscious choice to leave that out. Anderson’s allowed to joke about stuff. I think he’s as frustrated as we are.
Great work! And I agree.
Then why did he sign an extension?
I think he wants to see if he can do this despite hamstrung ownership. You gotta admit: it’s a helluva challenge…
Good work Charlie had me literally lol a few times.
Great post, Charlie.
The 8 million scoreboard gets to me when you consider that the team’s player payroll is so limited. Terrible
Hi Scott,
If you take that money and Jeffy stops harassing unwed , pregnant female employees and save those lawyer fees he’s piling up I bet we could get a pretty good SS.
Ok. The first one: Last year when Tejada, Lagares and Flores went to Michigan, it was “strongly encouraged” by the Mets. Tejada was trying to keep a job, Flores wanted to make the team, and Lagares wanted to appease the decision making clown(s). This year, why didn’t Barwis rent a third party facility? Seems a bit fishy, because is Kevin Long being paid to work with player in the off season? Probably not. So why is the strength coach that is “hired” by the Mets being paid by the players? Hmmmm.
Regarding the last item, the increase in sales: Kind of reminds me of when they announce attendance of 32,457 but it seems the entire stadium is empty. Miss the good ole days when they announced actual attendance in addition to tickets sold. Why did they do away with that?
A big scoreboard provides a better Advertising vehicle. Essentially, “higher density real estate” will yield a better ROI…a concept they understand well.
I think if the fans were allowed to vote on the spending of $8 million dollars, either for a S/S or a new scoreboard, the S/S would be on top. We don’t need a new scoreboard.