John From Albany - The Mets are not cheap

If you are a Mets fan, you have heard it time and time again.  The Mets are cheap.  They don’t spend the money, so they don’t win.  Joel Sherman of the post recently wrote about this, the radio talk show hosts talk about it, the fans of other teams tease you about it, it goes on and on.    

I think this all started in the 70’s when free agency came to be and the Mets refused to enter into the fray.  Meanwhile, the team across town made big splashes by signing the Catfish Hunters, Reggie Jacksons and Don Gullets of the world. 

Then the Wilpons bought the team.  While spending big on free agents like Bobby Bonilla, and Carlos Beltran and trading for high priced stars like Gary Carter, George Foster, and Johan Santana, the Wilpons have earned the nickname “the coupons”. 

However, when you look at the league payrolls over the years, the Mets are usually around 10^th to 12^th in the payroll department. 

But spending money is no guarantee that teams will win, and just because a team does not spend does not mean they will lose.

Two of the top payroll teams this last year, the Red Sox and the Cubs didn’t even make the post season.

The team with the lowest payroll in baseball who not only made the post season but is one game away from the ALCS?  The Tampa Bay Rays. 

At $53 million Tampa Bay is almost $100 million behind the Mets who had a total payroll (including those on the injured list) at $142 million.  Yet, the Rays are still playing games and the Mets are home.  The Mets are even paying the salary of their catcher, Travis d'Arnaud who 16 homers (Wilson Ramos hit 14) with 69 RBIs in 101 games (Wilson Ramos had 73 in 141 games).

It is not how much you spend but what you do with your money.

The Mets seem to go big on big money players, then get burned by a bad contract, get a little gun shy, then come back, do some big contracts, get burned, get gun shy, and on and on.

They hire a GM, who then brings in his own people, when things go wrong, they fire the GM, hire a different GM who brings in his own people and on and on. 

Rather than just spending money, the Mets need a plan.  Meaningful games in September or October is a goal not a plan.  Win now and in the future is a goal, not a plan.  They first have to figure out the kind of baseball they want to play. Hire a GM, managers and coaches that share that vision and can carry it out. 

Otherwise, they will go from GM to GM and from one new beginning to another.  Maybe have success at times but no real sustained success. 

The teams that have sustained success?  Those teams emphasize fundamentals. 

Last year, for the first time in a long time (maybe since Gil Hodges), a Mets team emphasized fundamentals and defense and won, the Brooklyn Cyclones.  The Mets need to learn from this and apply it to every level of the organization. 

It can be the start of a plan that has worked time and time again. 

Or we can look to another new manager, another new GM, and so on and so on.