Even though General Manager Sandy Alderson recently said that a formal budget has not been set for 2013, the Mets are likely to keep their payroll at just north of $90MM, a source told Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. The source speculated that Alderson will have no more than $10-15MM to spend this winter despite the money coming off of the books this year.
If the Mets choose to non-tender Andres Torres, they would have roughly $17.8MM freed up, though they will also need to find outfield help and retool the bullpen. They'll also see a lot of that money go to scheduled pay raises while Johan Santana and Jason Bay will earn a combined $10MM more next season including their 2014 buyouts. Pay raises include Jonathon Niese ($2.23MM), David Wright ($1MM), Frank Francisco ($1MM), and R.A. Dickey ($750K) while Daniel Murphy, Ike Davis, Bobby Parnell and Josh Thole all figure to be arb-eligible.
A team official did not rule out the possibility of Alderson backloading new free agent deals to circumvent short-term limitations, but also pointed out that Alderson is cautious when it comes to long-term contracts. The Mets could allow themselves to venture into longer-term deals as they have no payroll commitments for 2014 beyond Niese's deal.
That is a shame. I honestly feel sorry for Mets fans after reading this. With 2014 being the supposed goal, this was Aldersons offseason to prove his worth and make a statement. Having such limited payroll will not make the 2013 product a winner. It’s bad enough the Front Office let 2012 die on the grape vine by not improving the pen and now news breaks that they will have less money to spend then last offseason where they spent 17M … That is a shame. Adam Rubin knows what he’s talking about. He wouldn’t fabricate this news out of nowhere.
They is gonna be serious trouble when Wright and Dickey bolt for other teams. Quite honestly the Mets need to stop with this penny picking already if you want to rebuild you need to rebuild the right way already and that is trade Wright , Dickey , and Santana and see what top prospects you can get for those 3 players already (eat most of Santana’s salary like you did Beltran to try to get a top prospect). This crap of keeping guys like Dickey and Wright around hoping to win every year and fall short is just plain dumb if you don’t bring in other pieces to build around them already.They need to end the drama already and just trade them for top prospects and rebuild the team the right way already.
Well then…looks like the team will have to dish out over 70% of that cash on a contract for David Wright…can you say goodbye or what…
And to think we were gonna shop for some big names this offseason… looks like we’ll only have two representatives to host the ASG this year…
Another thing. David Wright recently made a comment in which he said ownership ought to bring in a few big names so he sees they are committed to winning or he is gone. If the Wilpons do not / can not extend Wright because of their failures in payroll then there is no weasling their way out of that situation. That will be the final straw. David Wright is an iconic player in Mets history and the face of that franchise. Treating him like crap by brining in penny scrap reinforcements is a joke. Wright leaving is the final straw. The Wilpons have no commitment toward winning. If that happens.
What does he want?? They brought in Jason bay and let Jose Reyes leave over the last 2 seasons!
Jason Bay wasn’t the right signing period since that fateful offseason most fans even knew it that Matt Holliday was the guy they should of signed period but failed too that offsesaon because they thought it was too much money when he was the better player easily.
Yeah.. It was a bad joke..
Ya wanna’ know what the other bad joke was that off season?? boston used the money they saved on Bay and gave it to John Lackey :-(
Now.. Not that Lackey may not be a mid-(maybe) back end (probably) SP over the last 4 years of his deal, but hind sight (and $$$) says maybe money wasted on Bay overall may have been a better “deal” LOL
Signing free agents is a crap shoot to some degree anyway
Next year’s payroll doesn’t have much to do with Wright’s signing or not. He’s said that going to a team with a shot at winning is a priority. He plays for the Mets in 2013 regardless. Substantial money comes off the books for 2014. Wright never mentioned anything about brining in “a few big names”.
Reassessment of the potentially available 3b and he realizes he could boost his salary and especially his numbers in a more friendly stadium. doesn’t take rocket science.
The Mets are going to begin to have serious trouble attracting big free agents, kind of like the Nationals used to. Except the Nationals won’t be having much trouble with that anymore…poor Mets fans
to the Wilpons, sell the damn team already! The league needs to step in this off season!
all they are telling the Mets fans that they expect to lose to the kids are more ready to compete.
The league stepping in? HA! Selig won’t do a damn thing to force his buddy Fred Wilpon to sell the team the way he forced McCourt out of LA. He could’ve done this a year ago when the Mets were in real trouble to the point that Wilpon was selling bits of ownership. Our best bet is when Selig steps down in 2014 and the new commissioner forces Wilpon out. Unfortunately, by that period of time, Wright will most likely be gone.
This is really getting to be a joke, I had some hope that the Mets might show the fans and, more importantly, Wright some love and bring in one or two decent free agents (Upton, Melky on a incentive laden, multiyear deal), but I guess the Wilpons have just dashed my hopes again. On top of that, they need to extend Wright now, and I wouldn’t mind seeing them give Tejeda and Ike long term deals in Rays fashion.
Boycott the team thats what i been doing tough love.
They have really done nothing to show the fans they care about winning, it’s kind of sad. They were doing pretty well this year but the bullpen got depleted with injuries and ineffectiveness and they did nothing to address it and just watched the team fall out of contention. I know having a better pen wouldn’t have put them in the playoffs but they were in position to be playing meaningful games in September if they made the right moves but they sat around and did nothing.
This is pathetic. I have been a Mets fan my entire life and have never felt more dismal about the future of this team than now. The Wilpons continue to show that their concern is saving a couple of millions each year and that the on field product is irrelevant. All of the fans hate them and they have no commitment towards winning or the benefit of the team AT ALL. I don’t understand why the league won’t step in and stop this. I don’t know why the Wilpons want to continue being hated by every Mets fans. SELL THE TEAM.
I have stuck with this team through season after season of disappointment. This season things finally seemed to be trending in the right direction (not saying we would have finished with a playoff berth or even a winning record, but there were certainly signs of improvement) but the Wilpons did nothing except ride out the good feelings while they lasted. Once things went south again, they did nothing to help.
If the Mets fail to retain David Wright because the Wilpons would rather have that money in their pockets then I don’t see how I can continue to support this team. I will always love baseball and the MLB, but I cannot support my Mets if this is the way ownership chooses the run this team.
I DID have a plan to help the Mets this off season, but it required spending a bit more than 20M after re-signing Dickey and Wright. If they are stuck on that number, Wright will leave, as he should, and it’s gonna be a LONG rebuild.
I thought the last few years were bad, but I was prepared for them. I knew that’s what had to happen for things to get better. This is a completely different story though, and it will make me 2006 sick again.
Either sell the team or trade teams/owners with Tampa. Low budget in NYC = epic fail.
Am I the only person who takes this as “Look, we aren’t ready to compete yet so we aren’t going to spend money just for the sake of spending money?”
Mets fans: send a message to the Wilpons by staying away from Citi Field until they’ve either sold the team or are willing to spend money for quality players.