New York Mets out of money for 2010

[TooLiveBrew]

Link

 

According to Buster Olney & Ken Rosenthal...

"The Mets have indicated they don't have any money available to make something happen,"

"The Mets' date=' outbid by the Padres for catcher Yorvit Torrealba, are out of money, major-league sources say -- a curious position for a team that spent $66 million on outfielder Jason Bay knowing it had other needs."[/quote']

The article closes with this quote --

[NY Post's Joel] Sherman reports Jeff Wilpon declined to comment on the state of the team, but quotes one veteran agent asking, “How can you have that payroll and still not have a starting catcher or first baseman, a second baseman you hate (Luis Castillo) and no legitimate starters after Johan (Santana)?”

I guess just proof that a big market doesn't ensure anything; you still need competent management. Thank goodness I'm not a Mets fan.

[Invader3K]

Didn't the Wilpons get hit hard by the whole Madoff thing? I'm pretty sure I remember reading something about that a while ago. That could be a factor.

[pretendastronaut]

It would be a miserable time to be a Mets fan lately and this offseason was the icing on the cake.

[pretendastronaut]

More from ESPN's MLB Rumor Blog;

 

The New York Mets have insisted that the money lost by the Wilpon ownership family in the Bernie Madoff scheme has not impacted their ability to operate financially. But reports have been surfacing that the Mets have been unable pay certain free agents for financial reasons. The latest was catcher Rod Barajas, who reportedly had to pass on the Mets because the team was out of money.

 

Another red flag went up Wednesday when Citi Field's bonds were lowered to junk status by Standard & Poors.

[TooLiveBrew]

I know it would be really unpopular in New York, but I wonder if the Mets wouldn't do better to just blow it up this season. They have a lot of really valuable pieces still, and would return a king's ransom in a Marlins-style firesale. They aren't realistically one or two players away from contending imo, and the NL East looks pretty tough this season. The ownership & management are already incredibly unpopular, and as long as they could demonstrate to the fans over the next season or two that there's a method to the madness, I don't think the fallout would be critical.

 

However, I sincerely doubt the Wilpon ownership is capable of making this kind of move (& I sure wouldn't trust Minaya to orchestrate trades well), so until the Mets are sold I guess they're stuck in this mess.

[endaround]

Thing is, they have teh money Minaya justs wastes its. I still can't believe the Perez signing. And paying Bay made no sense.

[Invader3K]

It seems virtually certain that Minaya will get fired before the All-Star break at this point. Maybe then whoever the interim GM is will be instructed to start trading guys off an shedding payroll. Probably build around Wright and Bay, and I assume keep Santana. Everyone else should be pretty expendable.

[monty57]

Agreed, End. They're not out of money, they're out of budget room because the contracts making up the current roster are too big to allow them to fill all their positions of need. That should be a pretty big call for some management changes in the front office. Good lessons to be learned by GM's of what not to do.

[JoeHova]

I think the hate being heaped on Minaya around the web is a little gratuitous. Sure, he's not the best GM in the league but the Mets had a winning record in each of his first 4 years as GM. The team still has a lot of frontline talent. They could easily be back over .500 and fighting for a playoff spot again this season. I don't see how they're worse than the Brewers, for example. Minaya should definitely be scouring the waiver wire for help at 1st base but that team is not a bad team. 1st base (and RF, but they have Pagan for cover there) is really the only terrible position on the team. Catcher isn't great but with Coste, Santos, Thole and Blanco, it shouldn't be too far below league average. Their pitching is much like the Brewers in that pretty much everybody had a down year at the same time, except the Mets' malaise extended to the bullpen. I wouldn't bet on all those pitchers being quite that bad again. I think they could easily be in contention this year, especially if Johan is back to his old self.

[owbc]

I do not think it is fair to compare the Mets ($135 million payroll) to the Brewers ($80 million). Where would the Brewers be if they had an extra $55 million to spend? The Mets have been hurt by injuries, but it is the continued poor management that put the #2 payroll team in baseball into last place, with no sign of things turning around. Their strong core of players is only going to hurt their financial flexibility. They've played with the big boys in free agency, but have done nothing well in player development or trades. The result is a team of a few superstars with junk filling in elsewhere.

Furthermore, it is only going to get worse. For 2011, they have 7 players that are owed $107 million (Wright, Reyes, Beltran, Bay, Santana, Perez, Rodriguez). If the financial issues are true, that will leave them with about $20 million to spend on 18 players. Coupled with declining attendance due to the poor play, it is best for them to cut their losses now and try to open up some payroll.

[TooLiveBrew]

I wouldn't say they've done nothing well. Wright & Reyes are solid pieces from their farm, and Fernando Martinez (20yo OF prospect) looks to have some promise.

[diener34]

It's like in Madden when you go out and sign all your studs to 7 year contracts and then 3 years down the road you run out of money and can't even sign guys for the min to fill the roster. Except this is for real. Crazy.