Crummy Few Days for Mets
And things were going so well. Before Saturday, the Mets were winners of seven of their last nine and reached had reached .500. Then it all came tumbling down in the worst few days in recent Mets history.
They dropped two to the Yankees, allowing 16 runs in the two games. Then on the off day on Monday, Fred Wilpon decided it would be a good idea to trash his team and its top players.
Could things possibly get worse? Not a problem.
On the field on Tuesday, the Mets dropped a truly terrible game to the Cubs 11-1. Off the field, there was word of a Sports Illustrated article that is set to come out this week in which Wilpon said the Mets are ”bleeding cash,” with losses of up to $70 million this season. The really bad news is that SI‘s Tom Verducci writes:
Though the Mets will have about $64 million in salaries coming off the books after this season (from a $142 million total), they will not put much, if any, of that back into the major league payroll.
Now, I don’t know if Wilpon said this or if this is just Verducci’s speculation. If it is true, then Jose Reyes is absolutely a goner and there will be no notable additions to the team next season, which does not bode well for 2012.
I can’t imagine this is true — how will the Mets be able to justify an $80 million (or less) payroll while playing in the largest market in the country and owning their own profitable cable network? I still say the payroll next season will be around $100 million, which means Reyes can theoretically be resigned.
In any case, this has been a rotten few days for the Mets. The good news is, it can’t get any worse.
Right?
Date: May 24, 2011

