The Mets have settled with all of their arbitration-eligible players but that isn't the only news out of Citi Field today. The latest…
- ESPNNewYork.com's Adam Rubin has the transcript of GM Sandy Alderson's conference call with media today. The Mets' payroll will be between $140-$150MM next season, a total Alderson said "is significantly higher than we'd like to be on an annual basis."
- Alderson said he isn't troubled about the recent news that the Wilpons want to sell a minority share of the club: "I'm not surprised by this development just because the Madoff situation was a backdrop to the Mets, and well-known backdrop. My enthusiasm and energy for this position and my confidence in the future of the Mets is undiminished."
- Along those same lines, Alderson said "perhaps naively," he doesn't think the ownership situation will impact negotiations with Jose Reyes on a contract extension. Fangraphs' Paul Swydan figures the trade market for Reyes will be very busy this summer if the Mets decide to deal the shortstop rather than re-sign him.
- R.A. Dickey will earn $2.25MM in 2011, $4.25MM in 2012 and received a $1MM signing bonus for his extension, reports Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger (Twitter link). The contract also includes a club option for 2013 worth $5MM.
- Elmer Dessens wants to pitch next season but it apparently won't be for the Mets, reports Adam Rubin. The Mets told Dessens they're "going in another direction." The right-hander told the team he was willing to sign a minor league deal to return, a reversal of his stance from earlier this winter when Dessens implied he would retire unless he got a Major League contract.
- Jason Bay talks to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick about his disappointing 2010 season and how he's looking to rebound next year.
As far as Sandy Alderson goes, it’s pretty much “open mouth, insert standard organizational sound byte here ______,” but hey, he pretty much has to right now.
Dessens should hang up his cleats.
I’d be surprised if Bay doesn’t revert back to his career average. Of course he may ask for more padding on the left field wall.
Can he ask for that little league fence like Bad News Bears 2 too?
bay got overpaid. he was a product of fenway and that boston lineup. Then again the mets are full of talent and are huge underachievers
how does that explain all his good years with the pirates? lousy teams, no support, and a pretty big ball park.
Except that argument kinda goes out the window when you consider Bay had several very strong years in Pittsburgh.
He was fine in Citi Field, it’s when he went to Dodger Stadium. He should ask the entire NL to pad all the left field walls. He should ask Alderson if he could get a padded helmet to play defense in
Isnt Reyes a FA at the end of this season?
Wilpons are hurting and love the team, they are so in denial about selling. At first I thought they didn’t know anything about the Madoff ponzi scandal, but now I don’t know. This is bad. They need to settle that lawsuit ASAP or otherwise the vultures will start circling again
“Along those same lines, Alderson said “perhaps naively,” he doesn’t think the ownership situation will impact negotiations with Jose Reyes on a contract extension.”
Umm, what do you expect the man to say? That we won’t resign him? Yes, we don’t know how the litigations will play out and while it doesn’t look good it doesn’t mean it’s a foregone conclusion.
they can cut payroll significantly next year, like 20mill, and still have plenty of money to sign reyes and a few other medium priced pieces.
there is at least 50mill coming off the books next year. 17 to reyes, 10 to a SP, 3 to something, and pocket the other 20.
The main question is not HOW they’re going to spend the money, it’s IF!
If u r the cubs would you trade castro and zambrano for reyes and dickey??? would the mets do it? Just off season wondering…
I would consider that if I were the Mets. Although Zambrano is a bum, but Dickey can’t last forever and I don’t like Reyes.
If I was the Cubs I wouldn’t. I’d be calling now for that trade.
I really hope we ship out Reyes by the deadline. If it can yield two top 75 prospects, we should absolutely do it. If he has a good season, he will probably be getting at least a 100 million next offseason. Quite frankly, Jose’s not worth that kind of money.
We have the scouting and management in place. It’s time we start building this franchise up in a respectable, skillful way through our farm system. The Mets could be like the Rays, with about 70 million dollars more to spend on their 25 players…
That’ll take years to develop.
could anyone see the Red Sox picking him up at the deadline? I honestly could, Scutaro is a FA after this year (I’m pretty sure anyway) or do they want to use Lowrie as the starter after this year? That would be the 3-headed stolen base leader, Reyes, Crawford, & Ellsbury! Thoughts?
Truthfully I don’t care what the payroll is. Just win. There are successful teams with payrolls significantly less than $140M. They’re successful because they have a smart FO with an organizational wide plan/philosophy and they don’t misallocate their resources. Sandy’s laying the ground work for the Mets to be successful, but it won’t happen overnight.
The 2008 Phillies had a payroll of $98M and won the WS. I’m not worried about the number next to the dollar sign. I’m worried about the number under the “W” column and if Sandy can win with a smaller payroll then so be it.
Of course everyone thinks now with this Madoff stuff leaking out (even more) and the Wilpons looking to sell a minority share of the team that the payroll will go down because of that, but Sandy said (well before any of this leaked) that he didn’t want a high payroll because he wants to have flexibility year in and year out during the offseason and for possible mid-season acquisitions.