Mack Ade - Mets Fiscal Responsibility – Let’s Play Less

Mets Fiscal Responsibility – Let’s Play Less

By Mack Ade

Hanukkah wasn’t kind to the Mets. Sundown came and the GCL team went out the door.

The first report, broken by Adam Rubin, said that the Mets were closing down their Kingsport affiliate. Later in the day, Rubin “exclusively” got it right this time, and Kingsport was back in uniform while the GCL Mets went out the window.

What?

You have a facility in Florida that you… own.

You have two clubhouses and eight baseball fields, plus your entire rehab facility.

So, you close that down and decide to still play in Tennessee for a team you don’t own.

What am I missing here?

I’m walking away from why this happened and, instead, concentrating on how this will reshape the organization.

· The Mets will now have eight minor league teams, only one in rookie ball and two in the Dominican Republic, which is far more teams than most of the teams in baseball.

· This is an obvious reaction to the new CBA contract and the International spending limits

· This also could mean that the Mets are closer in finding another major league team to share their complex with. We all know that are far too few teams playing ST in this part of Florida and everyone is sick and tired of playing the same division games a million times each March.

· It also is, as we ex-workout holding company guys use to call it, “getting your house in order” for an upcoming sale.

· Latin players will not come stateside as early as they have in the past. Instead, they will play an additional year at the state-of-the-art facility in the DR.

· Far less Latin players will be signed. The two DSL Mets have chronically been staffed with inferior talent. There will be less players, but more talented teams.

I always have, in the off-season, a workable Excel sheet on where I project these players to play the following season. Nothing we’re talking about here is going to affect the Brooklyn or Savannah team. Players aren’t going to be rushed; they’re either going back across the water, or away for good.

Thus, here’s what I had projected so far for the lower four teams:

Kingsport: - SPs Luis Mateo, Steve Matz, Christian Montgomery, Edioglis Villasmil, Gabriel Ynoa, Alberto Baldonado, Julian Hilario. RPs Carlos Gomez, Robert Lake , Peter Birdwell, Luis Cessa, Shane Bay, Adam O'Neill, Mathew Budgell, 1Bmen Alex Sanchez and Ryan Hudson. 2Bmen Carlos Leyva and Sneider Batista. SSs Jorge Rivero, Justin Schafer, and Randolf Santana. 3B Josh Dunn and Cs Tyler Carpenter and Jeyckol De Leon and OFers Vincente Lupo, Eudy Pena, Joe Tuschak, Ariel Mercedes, and Jonathan Clark

GCL Mets: - SPs Zack Dotson, Craig Missigman, Robert Gsellman, Persio Reyes, Luis Rengel, Andres E. Perez. RPs Martires Arias, Richard Ruff, John Gant, SS Donnie Tabb, C Edward Rohan , and OFs Bradley Marquis (arrived in June), Mikais de la Cruz, Michael Bernal, Thomas De Wolf., Ryan Hudson, Breiner Soto and Eris Peguero

DSL 1 and 2 Teams: - SPs Jesus Lugo and Nadir Crismatt. SSs Alfredo Reyes, Leon Canelon, and Pedro Perez. 3B Elvis Sanchez. C Jose Garcia and Dionis Rodriguez.

Remember now, the lion share of the 35+ draft picks the Mets will sign in 2012 would have been assigned to either Kingsport or the GCL team. Now, Kingsport will be stocked with the raw prospects (Mateo, Matz, Montgomery, (maybe) Lupo, Pena, Dotson, Marquis, and Peguero. That’s eight of the 25-man right there.

Look for most of the Latin players I have listed for the GCL team to play DSL ball again come 2012.

Final thoughts...  I think the Mets are getting their financial ducks in line. I've been on both ends of this business equation so I recognize a tightening of the profit and loss statement, not to make money but just to stop some of the bleeding. The least it is will be less emphasis on employing non-prospect minor leaguers. Time will tell if other clubs follow. My guess, it's a Mets thing and a full sale is just around the corner.