Matt Cerrone has some perspective on claims that the Mets’ budget makes them “the new Yankees”. Specifically, the Yankees payroll is 62% higher than the #2 AL team; the Mets’ is 2.7% higher than the #2 NL team (the Dodgers, incidentally); and, of course, the Yankees’ is 93% higher than the Mets’. Cerrone also looks at the trend in the Mets’ payroll in recent years.
5 thoughts on “Show Me The Money”
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The Mets’ payroll increased for the simple reason that the Wilpons launched SNY. You need a good product to get ratings. Of course, the Cubs and that WGN is the exception, but aren’t the Cubbies always?+
The Mets’ payroll increased the year before SNY started. This may have been in anticipation of future revenues from SNY, but I accept the conventional wisdom that it also had to do with Minaya convincing Fred to open the pursestrings a bit, and perhaps to spend some of his own money. It is also true, however, that the payroll increased more this year, and I believe that you’re right, Daryl, that that was primarily as a result of SNY.
The claim that the Mets’ increased spending makes them the new Yankees is ludicrous, in light of how much more the Yankees still spend than everyone else; yes, the Mets spent like drunken sailors this past offseason, but so did the Bluejays, and I don’t think anyone’s accusing them of being the new Yankees. I believe it likely that no team but the Yankees could have afforded to add Abreu’s salary in July.
That said, few teams could have afforded the additions they made these past 2 offseasons, so yeah, they are definitely among the very landed gentry in MLB. The Yankees are in their own dimension, but compared to everyone else, yeah, the Mets are the rich uncle on the block. It’s foolish to compare them or anyone else to the Yankees, but equally as foolish to pretend that they don’t have a significant financial advantage on most other teams.
What is SNY? Is that a TV deal the Mets have?
SNY is the Mets TV network, which should be bringing the team significantly more revenue than their old cable deal.
The Mets payroll is arguably comparable to that of the Yankees in the early days of the Joe Torre era, when they had the league’s highest payroll, but not by much. Wilpon will probably increase the Mets payroll a bit more in the next couple of years, but I highly doubt it will get into the same range as what the Yankees are spending now.
That’s pretty much what I expect, Jerry. The last figures I saw, about month ago in either the Post or News, was that the Yanks are a bit over 200 mil., the Red Sox are second at, like, 120, and the Mets were bunched with 2 or 3 other teams between 100 and 110. I expect that with SNY, they’ll be able to up that to the 130-140 range, maybe 150 in a good year.