The Mets lowered payroll by approximately $50MM this offseason, while division rivals such as the Marlins and Nationals moved aggressively to acquire top talent. However, Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon said his club could surprise some people in 2012. The details…
- Wilpon said the team's finances are "OK" and that he intends to own the franchise "for a very long time," Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com writes.
- Wilpon made it clear that he and GM Sandy Alderson have some misgivings about offering long-term deals. “Are we a little leery of six-year, seven-year, eight-year contracts? Yes. Is Sandy leery of it? You bet. I'm big-time leery of it,” Wilpon said, after suggesting the Mets offered Jose Reyes a deal in the $100MM range.
- One person familiar with the Mets' financial situation told Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com that a lot of things will have to go right for Wilpon and Saul Katz to remain in place as owners.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post explains that David Wright could become a trade candidate this July or after the season if he rebounds in 2012. Sherman draws a comparison between Wright and Ryan Zimmerman, a childhood teammate of Wright's who just signed a long-term deal with the Nationals.
- In a separate piece, Sherman wonders if the Mets would exercise Wright's $16MM option for 2013 if he falters this coming season.
- Sherman says it's unfair of Mets manager Terry Collins to criticize Ruben Tejada for not showing up to camp early.
They might surprise people by being even worse than expected.
I don’t think that’s possible
2012 Mets < or = to the 2003 Tigers? Probably not, but still awful.
I dont think they will be that bad. Although i can see Dillon Gee losing 20+ games like Mike Maroth did.
ill bet you 5 grand right now dillon gee doesnt lose 20 games
Just making a parallel to the two teams. Obviously he wont be given the opportunity. But the 2nd half of the season showed who Dillon Gee really was. He is going to get smacked around this year.
Mets obviously need to improve their franchise and the best way to do it is to trade David Wright. Unfortunately that could result in the loss of the many Met fans that remain. I do think Wright would re-sign with the Mets though, however re-signing Wright doesn’t change the Mets around. Their roster is filled with below average players and their farm system is not very strong either. Wheeler and Harvey and Familia do look good though.
The Mets missed their window to win with Wright. 2008 was a long time ago. Time to move on…..after this season of course.
The Mets need to trade Wright, they are rebuilding and Wright plays better when surrounded by at least 3 other good players. He is not a leader type. The longer the Mets wait the less they get for him. He can obpt out of his contract if he is traded. Teams will only have him for the rest of this year. The Mets are along way from turning this team around. They need to get a couple of good prospects for him.
I agree that they need to trade him, but I was saying that it’s going to suck for the fans to see him go. You might disagree with me, but with Reyes gone and now Wright possibly going, I think their attendance could easily drop a few thousand people. In 2010 it was 35,000, last year it was 30,000. They are expected to do worse this year so don’t be surprised to see it at 25,000.
I hope Johan Santana has a good year for them though.
“I hope Johan Santana has a good year for them though.”
I hope Santana does not come back healthy and then suffer the indignity of losing 20 games with this team. Very few pitchers have won both 20, then lost 20 later on in their career who have been in the class of Santana.. Luis Tiant, Wilbur Wood.. probably more.
Hater…
That was not wanting him to lose 20.. i hope the Mets can have some semblance of respectability next year and at least keep Santana from having a losing season and/or losing 20.
I’ll bet $50,000 that Santana doesn’t lose 20
And I’ll bet $25,000 that he has a winning season
I’m rooting for him, but I wouldn’t bet 25k that he has much of a season, good or bad.
To me, David Wright is the face of the franchise. Yes, his elite years may be behind him, but he is still an above-average 3rd baseman. Every big contract is a risk, and yes, a lot of those risks have worked out poorly recently for the Mets. But I’d rather take the risk on David Wright than another Bay or another Johan or another Beltran. Regardless of how good or bad you thought those signings were at the time, or how they turned out, I posit that David Wright is hands down a better investment, not necessarily from a performance stand point, but from a franchise/marketing/etc. standpoint.
The thing that would be really marketable is a good team. The Mets can’t have that for a couple of years, at least. Is David Wright going to be good enough to be a key contributor when the Mets are ready to be good? If not, they should trade him for guys who can be. Bay and Santana are irrelevant, because they’re untradeable.
If anything I imagine they’ll wait and see how much the new field dimensions play out with Wright and Bay. After a few weeks if teams have injuries in either LF or 3B and the shorter fence plays out the way the Mets hope (and not at the expense of their pitching I guess), they might be able to work something out.
It’s going to be a long season.
At least the tix will be cheap! Heck, they might let you play an inning or two…
They missed the boat with Reyes and got nothing for him. They made a good move with Beltran getting Wheeler. It’s a no brainer, trade him and get the best deal you can. You only keep Wright if you can’t get good young players for him.
I don’t see how the Mets can trade Wright at the end of the season since he can void the 2013 option if he is traded.
they pick up the option and then trade him.
>he intends to own the franchise “for a very long time,”
Welp, there goes the 2012-???? season.