For years, New York Mets’ fans have been frustrated with the team’s ownership. Majority owner Fred Wilpon and his son Jeff, the team’s COO, have worked from the shadows and rarely speak to the team’s fans about the state of the franchise. This has become a major sticking point for the Mets in the wake of the Bernie Madoff scandal, which left the Wilpons in dire financial straits. The ability of the Mets to spend money has been an open question since then, and the fan base has been angry about the team’s lack of urgency in regards to competing. Newsday’s Marc Carig e-mailed Jeff Wilpon about the state of the team’s payroll and was informed through a spokesman that Wilpon declined to comment, setting off what will be an epic read for Mets’ fans.
The line of questioning came just days after General Manager Sandy Alderson was clearly agitated by payroll questions at the Winter Meetings, telling the assembled media that the fans shouldn’t be concerned about how much money the Mets spend on their players. Carig noted that the Wilpons have refused to address payroll questions since 2014, when news leaked about the team receiving a $25 million loan from Major League Baseball to help cover operational costs. The Mets spent relatively big last winter, re-signing Yoenis Cespedes to a $110 million deal and carrying a $155 million payroll into Opening Day. Once things went sideways the Mets were quick to dump salary at the trade deadline, taking back lower regarded prospects in exchange for financial relief from the remaining salaries for Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson, Neil Walker, Lucas Duda, and Addison Reed. When you factor in the $15 million the Mets recouped from insurance for David Wright, who didn’t play a game last season, their actual payroll was much closer to $130 million.
The payroll questions heightened after Alderson publicly backtracked on several fronts, notably putting the acquisition of a new starting pitcher on the back burner and reversing course on Dominic Smith, who he criticized earlier in the offseason for conditioning concerns. Alderson also talked of avoiding the “inferno” of the relief pitching market, another reversal after stating that the bullpen would be his top priority this winter. The Mets did end up signing Anthony Swarzak at the Winter Meetings, which is a solid complimentary move, but by all indications that may be all the Mets do to address the bullpen.
Sources have told Carig this public indecisiveness out of Alderson may be due to the lack of clarity ownership has provided regarding how much money he has to spend. Carig described the front office as often “flying blind” and “forced to navigate the winter under the weight of an invisible salary cap.” That lack of clarity will hamstring Alderson’s ability to improve the roster, forcing him to go shopping in the fruit and nut section instead of adding some much needed proteins to beef up the team.
A big part of the problem is that the Wilpons refuse to publicly set the record straight of how much they are willing to spend on the team’s payroll. They have no problem asking fans to spend money on tickets and merchandise, and the team’s ticket prices are extremely high for what most regard as an inferior product. The Mets are also the beneficiary of an additional $50 million all teams are receiving from the sale of technology used to stream games on MLB.com. All of that money clearly isn’t being used to improve the on-field product, and Mets’ fans have a right to know why.
If the team is operating under payroll restrictions, they need to find other ways to get talent, but Carig notes that the Mets have devoted very few resources into international scouting. Players from the Pacific Rim and Cuba, in particular, have become a gold mine in terms of value that the Mets rarely tap. The Mets also seem to prefer acquiring money in deals instead of the best prospects when they sell, which is diluting the quality of the farm system.
The fan base is loyal, and it is clearly getting frustrated with the Mets’ apparent willingness to squander a championship window. Carig is right to call out the Wilpons for their lack of transparency, especially since they aren’t cutting ticket prices to put an inferior product on the field. The most cynical Mets’ fans have always feared that the Wilpons are cutting payroll in order to help pay down their debts from the Madoff fiasco, and their public silence has done nothing to dissuade that perception. Even beleaguered Marlins’ owner Derek Jeter, who drew the ire of his fan base after starting another fire sale, has had the guts to speak to the media about his decisions. The Wilpons continue to operate in the shadows and hide behind the front office, which is unfair to all parties involved. Until that changes, expect more frustration and disgruntled Mets’ fans.
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