Mets Fire Sale Largest in MLB History

[Youk]

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/7495383/new-york-mets-largest-payroll-dropoff-ever

The largest one-year payroll slashing in Major League Baseball history might not belong to the then-Florida Marlins, whose offseason fire sale six years ago landed Carlos Delgado and Paul Lo Duca with the New York Mets and gutted the team's payroll from $60 million to $15 million.

The distinction, it turns out, soon may belong to the 2012 Mets.

After general manager Sandy Alderson revealed the organization lost $70 million last year, the Mets appear poised to have the biggest one-year payroll drop in MLB history -- roughly $52 million. That would surpass the former record: $48.4 million by the Texas Rangers from 2003 to 2004, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

The Marlins from 2005 to 2006 had the biggest reduction by percentage, trimming nearly 75 percent of their payroll, but the total was $45.4 million.

The Mets' payroll, which stood at roughly $143 million last season, is expected to swoon to less than $91 million this Opening Day.

It really will not end for the Mets. Every week is another article or news story coming out talking about how their finances are even WORSE than we all thought. The Mets have been saying they are ready to add 5-7 new investors in the team, but I seriously doubt they have that many, and if they did, that would have to go to paying off their massive debt first. Just imagine if the Wilpons lose their upcoming Madoff lawsuit. This team is more embarrassing to baseball than the Dodgers are/were. Ticket sales are going to continue to plummet and revenues will not reach even their expected goals this season.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Let it burn, get rid of all the shit contracts, get the current owners the fuck out, restart.

Jason Bay and Johan Santana need to be next on the U.S.S. GTFO.

[EmpireWF]

The Picard lawsuit is seeking over $300 million but who knows what the jury will find.

The team claims the baseball and BOA loans will be paid back within weeks when the new investors are finalized.

Here's more indepth stuff about the financial situation.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/7495353/new-york-mets-wilpons-clear-many-hurdles-retain-control

Point is, the team will need to be relatively competitive by 2014 with (hopefully) an improved economy. If not, you can't see much in terms of new revenue coming in and with the debt they have and may continue to add up....it's dicey.

[NAHSTE]

Well when you hand out a ton of awful contracts, there comes a point when you must shed those awful contracts.

The Mets were reckless, foolish and short sighted with their attempts to keep up with the Yankees payroll over the last 10 years.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Well when you hand out a ton of awful contracts, there comes a point when you must shed those awful contracts.

The Mets were reckless, foolish and short sighted with their attempts to keep up with the Yankees payroll over the last 10 years.

They spent all of that money and they don't even have a single high end player to show for it.

Hundreds of million in salary...not a single good player to show. Awful.

[Villain]

I miss watching Johan be unhittable. That change up is out of this world.

[StealthShot]

The only bad contract on the Mets is Jason Bay I still believe Johan has a lot left in the tank he will be healthy finally this season.

[Sigona]

We're playing for 2014(2015?). If Harvey/Wheeler/Familia doesn't pan out, this team is fucked for a decade.

[EmpireWF]

It's interesting to see their "plan" from a baseball perspective. The only real substitutions from last season's opening day are two of their biggest offensive weapons in Reyes and Beltran. They got one of the top pitching prospects in baseball for Beltran while Reyes, they let walk for nothing but a couple draft picks in June.

Taking away Reyes' production is the big hammer to the head. There's no way this team can compete in 2012 with no sincere replacement (offensively) for him and Johan Santan being nothing but a question mark. The only real upgrade to the team has been the bullpen (and even that is year to year).

I think every Mets fan realizes the deal. This year is about seeing which of the young guys can be part of a core group of players down the road (2 years or so), joining Ike Davis. Lucas Duda, Jon Niese, Bobby Parnell, Dan Murphy, Dillon Gee, Ruben Tejada and Jose Thole specifically, can any of them emerge? That's not even counting any potential prospects they bring up during the year.

They won't get out from any heavy contracts until AFTER NEXT SEASON to boot. They still owe Santana nearly $50 million the next two seasons and Bay $32 million over the same period (not counting buyouts for either guy).

DAVID WRIGHT. Interestingly enough, he can void his 2013 club option ($16 million) if traded this season and become a FA a year earlier. So you would assume he's staying put in 2012. It would be nice if they can work out an extension to keep him in town through 2017 or 2018. I doubt it, I assume entering next season we'll be right where we were with Reyes last year.

Knowing we're not getting any MAJOR players through trade or FA…it's all about seeing why we have in 2012 and 2013. Harvey, Familia, the guys are AAA, eventually Wheeler (late '13), Nieuwenheis, Flores, Havens, Lagares, Mejia, on down the line.

In that sense, it's gonna suck knowing this team cannot compete for a couple years. It's a bit weird that our hopes are laid on the shoulders of PROSPECTS knowing the majority of them logically won't amount to much in a Mets uniform.

All we have now and for the next couple years is HOPE that some of these guys pan out and at the least that these pitchers can be big league arms.

[Youk]

Turns out that four of the bids for $20 million shares of the Mets come from SNY....the television station partially owned by Wilpon...