Cheapskate Wilpon Spends Less in 2006

[Guest Rotblatt]

I fucking hate sportswriters.

How hard is it to get the facts straight? The story all offseason has been how much money we spent, when in fact, our payroll dropped by $220,858.

Not a lot, I'll grant you, but to listen to the sportswriters, we added several million to our payroll.

This is a pretty interesting article. Marlins payroll is only at $14,998,500. Crazy. Yankees come in under $200M, dropping over $13M from payroll.

Our median salary is quite low--$912K (17th in the majors), compared to $2.9M for the Yankees and $3M for the Sox. The Marlins' median salary is $327K.

Frankly, I think this shows that despite having the 5th highest payroll (down from third last year), we're in pretty good shape financially. Our highly paid veterans are supplemented by some inexpensive youngsters. We've got a cable channel, meaning we should have the moolah to add players if/when needed.

Floyd, Glavine, Trachsel, Matsui, Bradford, Iriki & Valentin all come off the books next year, totalling almost $30M.

Let's assume we throw Milledge into LF, put Heilman or Pelfry into the rotation, and leave Hernandez at 2B and Bannister as our #5. We've only got one rotation spot, one relief spot, and a couple bench spots to fill with that $30M.

Now, I suspect we'll go after or or even two top-of-the rotation starters this offseason--Weaver, Mulder, Zito, Contreras, Schmidt & Wood are all options--and it's not outside the realm of possibility that we'd offer Glavine another year.

Nonetheless, we ought to be able to keep our payroll where its at and upgrade our team at the same time.

So long as we don't do anything stupid like trade Milledge or Pelfry, we look like we're in good shape for the near future (knock on wood).

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Are you rooting for the Mets to finish in the black in 2006, or in the playoffs?

[Guest Edgy DC]

I suppose it's possible that Floyd gets another year, with Milledge taking root in right. A lot of baseball is yet to be played.

[soupcan]

Bret Sabermetric wrote: Are you rooting for the Mets to finish in the black in 2006, or in the playoffs?

That's funny.

="Rotblatt"]Weaver, Mulder, Zito, Contreras, Schmidt & Wood

Didn't Contreras just a big extension with a no-trade?

[Benjamin Grimm]

At the moment, they do seem to have that nice mix of youth and experience that's served Atlanta so well for so many years. Hopefully they can keep this balance, and not give in to the temptation to trade youth for experience.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Glavine came back next year. And if he has a good 2006, and gets only a one-year deal for 2007, I don't think I'll object too much.

[soupcan]

Dollars to doughnuts, Glavine's back in Hotlanta next year.

[Benjamin Grimm]

That wouldn't surprise me either. Nor would Glavine to Baltimore.

[soupcan]

Or Boston even.

[Gwreck]

My guess with Glavine is that length of contract will be more important than location. Unless he gets 15+ wins this year, I think he'll need 2 years after 2006 to reach 300 wins. I could be wrong, but "last ever 300-game-winner" could be a big deal for him.

[Guest Rotblatt]

="Bret Sabermetric"]Are you rooting for the Mets to finish in the black in 2006, or in the playoffs?

In the black, of course.

I'm one of those rare fans who understands that Mets ownership only cares about hoodwinking the fans to line their own pockets. What might surprise the rest of you is that I actively support--nay, encourage--this practice.

While the rest of you poor schmuks are yelling your little hearts out for Wright, Reyes & Petey, I'm raising my plastic bottle of Bud to the Wilpons for assembling the illusion of a good team and the PR machine to drive it home to the citizens of New York. Sure, they could've saved more money by trotting Jake out there instead of Delgado, and Heilman instead of BIlly, but where's the hype in that? They understand that you have to spend money to make money.

My greatest hope? To be the Chicago Cubs of the East Coast. We trot out awful team after awful team, while selling out every single game.

This year, the Mets smartly capitilized on the sportswriter's inability to read a balance sheet and raised ticket prices by over 6%, despite actually LOWERING payroll.

Home run for the Wilpons!



Whoooo!!! LGF!!!!

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

You only think you're goofing on me.

[Guest Rotblatt]

soupcan wrote: Didn't Contreras just a big extension with a no-trade?

Oops. Yup, he did.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Bret Sabermetric wrote: You only think you're goofing on me.

Or maybe I'm completely serious and all my rah-rah posts on this forum are solely designed to advance the Wilpon revolution.

Which would make you my arch-nemesis, Bret.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Wow. This is like trying to follow all of the nutty plot twists on 24!

[Willets Point]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I wouldn't be at all surprised if Glavine came back next year. And if he has a good 2006, and gets only a one-year deal for 2007, I don't think I'll object too much.

Nooooooooooooooooooo! The last thing the Mets need is an older, even less effective pitcher. No bones about it the Glavine signing was a mistake. The sooner Glavine is an ex-Met, the happier Met fan I am.

[soupcan]

Dude's pitching well though and has been for a while now...

[Centerfield]

I can't tell if Willets is being facetious or not. Yesterday I actually thought to myself, "You know, this Glavine signing may not have been all that bad."

[Guest Edgy DC]

The last thing the Mets need is probably a flesh-eating bacteria or somesuch.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It hasn't been the BEST signing ever, but it hasn't been the disaster it first appeared to be. He didn't do as well as we would have liked back in 2003, but the later years of his deal are looking better than I thought they'd be.

[Guest Iubitul]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Wow. This is like trying to follow all of the nutty plot twists on 24!

Next thing we know, ScarletKnight will turn out to be a German-speaking mole...

[MFS62]

Hmmm
I wonder if Beltran's mole speaks German?

Later

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Iubitul wrote: ="Yancy Street Gang"]Wow. This is like trying to follow all of the nutty plot twists on 24! Next thing we know, ScarletKnight will turn out to be a German-speaking mole...

I would've assumed Beltran's speaks Spanish, so we'll have to look somewhere else.
EDIT: Beaten to the punch

[Guest cooby]

I think instead of Banner Day, we should take up a collection and a petition to have that baby removed

[Guest OlerudOwned]

At least he's not Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints QB)

[Guest Iubitul]

I've started to warm up to the former "Manchurian Brave". About a week ago, I was reminded that

[Willets Point]

soupcan wrote: Dude's pitching well though and has been for a while now...

I'm not convinced. I'd rather be rid of him and go with someone younger and less likely to implode. Allowing a few good starts let us err into extending the Glavine fiasco another season would be a mistake imho.

[The Big O]

="Gwreck"]My guess with Glavine is that length of contract will be more important than location. Unless he gets 15+ wins this year, I think he'll need 2 years after 2006 to reach 300 wins. I could be wrong, but "last ever 300-game-winner" could be a big deal for him.

Went searching for a counterexample, but came up short.

Outside possibilities:

Randy Johnson (264 wins), age 41; sans injuries, could only take 3 years or so in Yankeeland
Pedro (194), age 33; youngest pitcher among the top actives, plus all those forthcoming 110-win seasons can't hurt
Pettitte (173), age 34; probably not, but last year's ERA makes you wonder
Mark Mulder (97), age 28; the youngest & best of the Big 3: ~100 in 5.5 = ~300 in ~18; that team should be good for awhile; plus, he'll never get booed due to sycophantic idol worship
Johan Santana (59), age 27; 56 wins in 3.5 years; will have to consistently pitch a little better than last year, and Terry Ryan can't let him down
Felix Hernandez (4), age 20; barring the returns of Bret Boone, A-Rod, John Olerud & Edgar Martinez, he'd probably have to get out of Seattle, and soon

More sobering is that Clemens could probably get past 373 and into Walter Johnson-land, if he wanted to.

[Centerfield]

I love that commercial.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Iubitul wrote: ="Yancy Street Gang"]Wow. This is like trying to follow all of the nutty plot twists on 24! Next thing we know, ScarletKnight will turn out to be a German-speaking mole...

Why not go all out and accuse me of being a MFY Fan?

[Guest KC]

Uh, let's not lump Germany and/or German speaking people with the MFY's.
My grandfather was from Germany and had a mole.