Media Pick Up on Mets Payroll Restrictions

It took a few days, but it looks like the mainstream media are finally picking up on the stunning alleged revelation that the Mets were unable to raise their payroll because of their debt deal, and that they have been lying to us all about it for years.

To recap, last Thursday the New York Post reported that the Mets were on the verge on re-financing their $250 million loan, and that part of the deal did not include any restrictions on raising payroll. The Post wrote, almost in passing:

The existing loan restricts the team from greatly expanding payroll.

I immediately wrote a post pointing out that if this were true, then the Mets were consistently lying when they insisted there were no payroll restrictions, that Sandy Alderson was being given all the money he wanted.

Unfortunately, no one in the mainstream media chose to include this angle in their rehashing of the story, and it looked like the Mets would get away with their biggest lie yet. Perhaps they were distracted by the Super Bowl or Justin Bieber’s exploits. I don’t know.

Finally on Monday, Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, one of the most important of all the Mets beat writers, addressed the issue, writing

In the wake of a published report that alleged banks had imposed a payroll cap on the club as part of the terms of the team’s loans, a Mets official told ESPNNewYork.com on Monday that the club would have no comment.

Rubin did not go as far as I did and just say the Mets are liars, nor would I expect him to. He has bosses (who are in business with MLB, and thus with the Wilpons) to whom to answer. I do not.

But just the fact that Rubin asked the Mets about the reported payroll cap and they refused to comment could get a conversation going. Whatever happens, the Mets will never admit to lying; after all, they never have.

In the long run, maybe it does not matter. I think Mets fans are smart enough to know by now not to believe a thing that comes out of the front office. It really is a sad state of affairs that things have gotten so bad.

I used to have sympathy for the Wilpons. They were victims of the Madoff scam like so many other people. But since they have turned around and started victimizing the fans with their lies, that sympathy is no longer warranted.