Mets to Pocket the Money If They Trade Jay Bruce (Really?)
I suppose this fits right in with the Mets’ standard way of doing business like a small market team, but it’s still a surprise to learn that if they trade Jay Bruce, the money they save in salary will not be rolled back into improving the team on the field. Instead, the money will be pocketed to save on payroll. And the kicker is that they’re not even embarrassed by saying it.
Are the Mets frugal or are they tightwads? Are the Mets Santa Claus or Scrooge? It’s hard to tell sometimes, but this is getting sort of ridiculous. See if you can understand this. With Jay Bruce on the team, the Mets have a payroll of about $150 million. With Bruce off the payroll, the Mets come down to about $140 million. Could $10 million be that critical for a franchise that operates in the business and cultural center of the world? Sandy Alderson would have you believe it is.
Mets and Alderson: Keep the Money Under the Mattress
Because, in Alderson’s words, the team doesn’t want to get caught “buying a new house without selling your old one.” Sandy, excuse me, but people do that every day. Sure, it’s risky. But risk takers rule the world. Just ask Donald Trump or the Boston Red Sox, who just sold the farm to get Chris Sale. Think the Red Sox aren’t a little worried right about now that the roof could fall in if Sale gets injured, and they don’t have the number three pitching prospect to replace him anymore because he’s now in Chicago?
But then again, maybe the Wilpons who own the team didn’t think it was that much of a risk to give Bernie Madoff a ton of money to “invest” for them, either. And maybe they learned their lesson well and they’re taking it out on the city of New York and Mets fans.
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Okay, $10 million is still a lot of money. At $20 a ticket, that’s 500,000 fans you have to draw to make up the difference if you spend it. But project that out to the parking, hot dogs, and team jerseys those same fans will buy and the picture gets brighter rather quickly. But the Mets don’t think that way. All they see is $10 million that’s safer in their pockets.
Over the years, Mets fans have put up with a lot. Three championships over a half century does not make much of a baseball statement. Nor does the million dollars a year they are
still paying Bobby Bonilla until 2035. Or the bad luck they’ve had in not knowing that David Wright‘s body would fall apart before their eyes. There are lots of excuses and a few reasons why the Mets continue to operate on the cheap.
But all of them overlook the fact that the Mets play in New York City and not Cincinnati. The Reds have every reason to worry about $10 million, and that’s the reason why they traded Jay Bruce to the Mets in the first place.
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Except for this one story that came from the Winter Meetings yesterday, this was the only time the Mets grabbed some print on MLB.com. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have known that the team was even in the building in D.C. And I don’t know how else to say this, but it’s gotta be a kick in the teeth to Mets fans and even the city of New York that this penny-pinching franchise continues to even suggest that they represent the best interests of baseball in the Big Apple.