How the Mets ended up 8th in payroll and 23rd in Wins since 2009 pt. 1

DYSFUNCTION JUNCTION (Symbolic how all three are looking different directions)

 
From Dave Schoenfield of ESPN ranking payroll and wins 2009-2013:

23. New York Mets: 374 wins (tie), $606.9 million (8th)

Matt Harvey's injury has allowed the Mets to sell 2014 as another rebuilding year, although they did sign free-agent outfielders Curtis Granderson and Chris Young and starter Bartolo Colon. The Mets have one playoff appearance in the past 13 years. I'm guessing it will be one in 14.

The team is 8^th in payroll and 23^rd in wins since 2009. Think about that for a minute. That is a subpar R.O.I. in any business. It spreads across two regimes and half a decade. This includes the contracts of Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana, Jason Bay, and David Wright—the bulk of monies doled out went to those five.  

After the “Mad” money went away and the brakes effectively pulled on spending or signing big dollar Free Agents between the Bay and Granderson deals, the Mets still end up among the 10 highest payrolls in MLB over those five years. 

Looking back you really can't argue with the money spent on those fab five. Santana? He was the top pitcher in the AL when they traded for him and you can’t predict injuries. Bay? At the time the Mets were lauded for both the signing and the price. 

But what about how they spent payroll on the next level of players on the team from 2009-2013? Well, let’s look at each year and see where the capital was going for supporting cast who made $5 million or more a year.

Despite the collapses of  '07 and '08 the Mets were riding high coming into 2009. Their Shea farewell season led the NL in attendance with over 4 million clicking through the turnstiles. Citi Field opened for business in '09 and inaugural seasons at new ballparks always give a spike to attendance. The Shake Shack would be rockin' and the Mets would be winnin'! Well, ermm, not exactly. Attendance tumbled to $3.1 million (5th in the NL) and along with it the Mets fortunes.

2009

Carlos Delgado $12

Oliver Perez $12

Francisco Rodriguez $8.5 million

Billy Wagner $8 million

Brian Schneider $4.9 million

Luis Castillo $6 million

J.J. Putz $5.5 million

Delgado and Wagner could’ve been included with the five above because they were core members of the team but 2009 were their final Met seasons so their overall 5-year impact was minimal. In 2009 the team spent $22 million on three closers, including one who was injured and another slotted into a set up role. What’s really shocking though is that Oliver Perez made as much as Carlos Delgado. I’ll repeat that-Oliver Perez made as much as Carlos Delgado in 2009 and more than Reyes, Wagner, or Wright.

Combine that with the $6 million you’re paying Castillo plus the $4.9 million invested in Schneider and there’s almost $23 million going to three below replacement value players. The trade for Schneider was a head-scratcher in the first place and it goes without saying that we overpaid badly on Perez as well as Castillo-inexplicably bidding against ourselves on the former.

K-Rod’s contract made sense at the time and despite questions about Putz’s health pre-trade you can’t predict injuries so that money spent is mostly defensible. The three-way deal to acquire Putz, however, was not. The Mets could’ve really used Endy Chavez, Joe Smith and Jason Vargas over the next few seasons. Especially Smith, he is a top reliever and pitched well with the Mets. This isn’t a hindsight being 20/20 deal either because Jeremy Reed and Sean Green were worthless even before putting on the orange and blue. But hey, at least it gave the Mets three closers including the injured Wagner.

Speaking of Billy the Kid-Why on earth did the Mets keep him? Even Wagner didn’t think it would make good business sense to roster him and guarantee $8 million in 2009. The Mets got all of 1 inning out of Wagner for that $8 mil. So adding this to the terrible three mentioned above you now have $31 million of your payroll being wasted. The crazy thing is that after paying him to do nothing all season Minaya trades Wagner to the Bosox for Chris “The Animal” Carter and Eddie Lora. Career minor leaguers are always a better return than an extra first round draft pick right? The irony is that the Mets did this because they didn’t want to pay anymore first-round draft picks. Yet they had no trouble paying $8 million to an idle Wagner and $12 million to Oliver “Freaking” Perez.  

Mets record in 2009 70-92

2010

Oliver Perez $12 million

Jason Bay $8.6 million

Luis Castillo $6.25 million

Jeff Francoeur $5 million

Johan’s $20 million and Bay’s salary have been added along with raises for Beltran, K-Rod, Wright and Reyes.  Yet in 2010, even after adding Bay and Santana, the Mets payroll dropped 10.31% from $142 million to $127 million. This also means Perez’s deal became an even bigger albatross while injuries and underperformance tarnished Bay’s debut season at Citi Field (it would get worse though-much worse). Castillo and Francoeur gobbled up $11.25 million of payroll while doing next to nothing on the field. In fact the unholy trinity of Castillo, Francoeur and Perez accounted for $23 million of wasted Met dollars. Add that to 2009’s black hole a.k.a. Perez, Castillo, Schneider and it’s $54 million over two years spent on wasted salaries. Granted the Mets didn’t give up much (Ryan Church) for Francoeur but thanks to a hot performance, after being acquired from Atlanta in 2009, the Front Office thought he was their long-unsolved answer to their RF problem. They were wrong.

One of the Mets biggest problems during their 2005-2008 run was an inability to flank Beltran with decent corner options. They sure tried though: Shawn Green, Moises Alou, Xavier Nady, Ryan Church…hell, in 2009 they even trotted out 40 year old Gary Sheffield for LF duties. Their failed attempts at shoring up the corner OF spot contributed greatly to the failures of 2007-2008 and continue to be a problem today. It’s also a large reason why they signed Jason Bay. A move that made sense at the time-that is if you thought 2009 was an anomaly and the team was still just a couple players away from contention. That was not the case. Instead of challenging for the pennant the Mets brought home their second consecutive 90-loss season. A two win improvement over 2009!

Citi Field attendance however, tumbled again. In year two the Mets fell below 3 million for the first time since 2005. The 2.559 million represented a 47% attendance drop in two seasons! The Mets were experiencing the exact opposite of the "new stadium effect". This compounded with a spiraling payroll as well as everything associated with the Madoff ponzi scheme scandal were making things a mess in Metsland. Needless to say it was time for Ch-ch-changes. They would come. Quickly.

 Mets record in 2010 72-90

(Part 2 will pick up with the arrival of Alderson and Co.)