12-02-2005, 02:10 AM
<span style='font-size:13pt;line-height:100%'>Jayson Stark : Rumblings and Grumblings</span>
New York Mets
Let's see. They've added a $16-million-a-year first baseman (Carlos Delgado). They've added a $10.75-million-a-year closer (Billy Wagner). They're trying to trade for a $19-million-a-year outfielder (Manny Ramirez) and a couple of starting pitchers (Barry Zito and Javier Vazquez) who will make a combined $20 million. And they're still pounding away on catcher, second base and their bullpen.
Let's just say the rest of the sport has noticed.
"They must have money trees they're picking from in their bullpen," one AL front-office man said, laughing. "Earl Weaver used to have tomato plants in the bullpen. Omar has money trees."
"I wonder if their printing presses in the basement are going to run out of green ink," another AL executive quipped.
"I guess the Mets didn't get the [fiscal-sanity] memo Bud [Selig] sent out," an official of yet another club said with a chuckle.
But it's the Mets' cash, so they ought to be allowed to spend it. That's what America is all about. True, they potentially could add players who might make $60 million and beyond next year. But they also have unloaded players who made $33 million last year. And that TV network of theirs is a money machine waiting to hum.
So although all those flying dollars don't guarantee the Mets anything next summer, they do guarantee them this right now: On paper, they're already the best team in this division -- and possibly the whole league.
"Right now, the Mets are absolutely the team to beat," said one scout. "They're out there in open water flooding all the other teams' boats. They're popping holes in the other teams' armadas."
Yes, they're doing more than adding deck chairs. They're chopping off their opponents' hulls.
"They got Wagner from the Phillies, and they got Delgado from the Marlins," one NL assistant GM said. "Those are more than just additions. Those are double whammys."
New York Mets
Let's see. They've added a $16-million-a-year first baseman (Carlos Delgado). They've added a $10.75-million-a-year closer (Billy Wagner). They're trying to trade for a $19-million-a-year outfielder (Manny Ramirez) and a couple of starting pitchers (Barry Zito and Javier Vazquez) who will make a combined $20 million. And they're still pounding away on catcher, second base and their bullpen.
Let's just say the rest of the sport has noticed.
"They must have money trees they're picking from in their bullpen," one AL front-office man said, laughing. "Earl Weaver used to have tomato plants in the bullpen. Omar has money trees."
"I wonder if their printing presses in the basement are going to run out of green ink," another AL executive quipped.
"I guess the Mets didn't get the [fiscal-sanity] memo Bud [Selig] sent out," an official of yet another club said with a chuckle.
But it's the Mets' cash, so they ought to be allowed to spend it. That's what America is all about. True, they potentially could add players who might make $60 million and beyond next year. But they also have unloaded players who made $33 million last year. And that TV network of theirs is a money machine waiting to hum.
So although all those flying dollars don't guarantee the Mets anything next summer, they do guarantee them this right now: On paper, they're already the best team in this division -- and possibly the whole league.
"Right now, the Mets are absolutely the team to beat," said one scout. "They're out there in open water flooding all the other teams' boats. They're popping holes in the other teams' armadas."
Yes, they're doing more than adding deck chairs. They're chopping off their opponents' hulls.
"They got Wagner from the Phillies, and they got Delgado from the Marlins," one NL assistant GM said. "Those are more than just additions. Those are double whammys."
![[Image: 723475742_8cb2b0be6c.jpg]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1019/723475742_8cb2b0be6c.jpg)