Tuesday, March 22, 2011

A tip for the Mets… 10 better ways to spend $18 million

















The Mets will have the 5th highest payroll in baseball and will probably lose 90 games in 2011, ergo they aren’t spending their money wisely.

A case in point, the Mets are paying Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo a combined $18 million to NOT play for them this year. Good money in a recession.

The staff at Sully Baseball can’t claim to be an economic think tank, but here are some helpful suggestions to what could be a better use of $18 million than spending it on Castillo and Perez.


BUY ALL 8 MILLION PEOPLE IN NEW YORK 2 PACKS OF GUM

For a few days, everyone in New York will have no excuse for bad breath.


SPONSOR 36,000 LITTLE LEAGUE TEAMS

At least the Mets will be paying them to PLAY!


GO TO A ROULETTE TABLE AND SAY “$18 MILLION ON RED!”

The odds of that money going completely to waste went down by 50%!


ERASE THE DEFICIT FOR NEW YORK CITY SCHOOL LUNCHES

Right now the $8 million deficit in the school lunch program is threatening some schools for cutting lunch all together. Pick up the tab on that and maybe spend the extra $10 million on something more nutritious than tater tots.


BUY 1,285,714 COPIES OF I’LL BELIEVE YOU ON AMAZON

Seeing the Indie film I directed become profitable is a much better story than paying for two players to go away. At least it is a better story for me.


DONATE $50,750 TO EACH PBS STATION

Maybe they spin it into “Tote Bag Night” or “Prime Suspect DVD Night” at CitiField.


HELP THE BUNNY WORLD FOUNDATION
SPAY OR NEUTER 1,800,000 RABBITS

Or are YOU going to take care of all of those bunnies?



BUY 818,181 CHOCOLATE COOKIE GIFT BOXES FROM THE LEVAIN BAKERY

Seriously, have you had one of the cookies from the Levain Bakery? They are so much more satisfying than anything Oliver Perez has done in a Mets uniform.



TURN 125 NEW YORK TEENS INTO MBA GRADUATES

Let’s say the Mets found 125 smart teenagers in New York public schools who couldn’t afford college. They pay for four years of Brooklyn College for all 125 (including student housing.) Then after they all get their Bachelors degrees, they pay their way through the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College. By 2018, they will have 125 young minds with MBAs and inevitably ONE of them would be able give the Mets some sound business advice. (How could they be worse than the financial wizards who put them into this mess!)



THROW 18 MILLION ONE DOLLAR BILLS INTO THE HUDSON RIVER

Who knows? Some might float back to them.



Follow sullybaseball on Twitter

40 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:03 AM

    Lose 90 games? Lets settle down there Sully. Will they will the division, no. Will they make the playoffs, probably not. Serious 90 loss team? Lay off the pipe man. Do you really think they are WORSE than last year? I dont.

    ReplyDelete
  2. They have improved themselves HOW?

    Santana is out until God knows when
    The lineup reminds me of the 1927 Yankees in their current condition.
    And do you trust that bullpen?

    Plus they have to play the Phillies, Braves and Marlins how many times?

    90 losses

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:33 AM

    They're having a pretty good spring. Pitching is still "iffy," but if Reyes, Bay and God forbid, Beltran have good years, there's no way they're losing 90 games. For God's sake, cut the team some slack and have some faith. The way some so-called fans act towards this team is disgusting. Give them a chance to prove themselves. They may surprise us!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Seriously, I agree with Anonymous...your just dumb and fat Sully. Go to the gym.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:54 AM

    suck a fat cock u negative fool, you finally got to the big time (metsblog plug), you prob PLUGGED matt cerrones arse to get there! lol, wheres my coffee?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bay doesn't fit in CitiField and Beltran could be done.

    Why should I cut the Mets any slack?
    What have they done in the past 3 or 4 years to deserve slack?

    Based on their smart moves?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dave... it is "you're" not "your."

    And I may need to lose weight and I should go to the gym, but that doesn't change the fact that for the same amount of money that the Marlins are paying Hanley Ramirez, Josh Johnson, Anibal Sanchez, Ricky Nolasco and Leo Nunez combined, the Mets are paying two players to go away.

    As for Matt's ass, if that is part of the deal for the link, then I failed to read the fine print

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous11:26 AM

    Best solution for you...go root for another team if you're unhappy with The Mets and refuse to support them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anibal Sanchez has been in the league for 5 years and pitched his first "full" healthy season last year and did decent at best. Nolasco has a lifetime ERA well above 4 and is the second coming of Oliver Perez, Josh Johnson is legit but a huge injury risk (ala Johan Santana), HanRam is a legit player but so is David Wright...Leo Nunez? Please, Clay Hensley will be closing games for them by Late June.

    I know the Mets have wasted their money over the years but who hasnt? That was under old ownership and I think fans can be pretty optimistic with ownership for once. Sorry if there are any "typos" please forgive me. Dick.

    ReplyDelete
  10. wow, guys, what a way to come down on one man's opinion...
    it's not like he doesn't want to root for the mets or doesn't want them to do well - i didn't get any sense of that anywhere in this post. I'm a HUGE mets fan, but in reality you have to have REAL expectations. And 90 losses is very realistic. Think about it - Pelfrey is our #1 starter. And before you get all high and mighty about what he CAN do, look at what he HAS done in his career - and that's barely a #4 pitcher in a decent rotation. Everyone else in the rotation is a major question mark. So basically, there's no real #1 OR #2 pitcher on this team. Again, let me put this in a different perspective - which starter can you pencil in for a guaranteed 15 wins? The real answer is: no one! Which bullpen arm (other than Frankie) do you trust to take the ball with a 1-run lead? No one. This group of guys MAY do well, but they may also make you wish Aaron Heilman was still on the roster...
    The lineup should be ok - but again, there's no guarantee that Reyes will play a full season. Bay's value in Citi is a disaster. Think about it - the guy doesnt hit for a high average, doesnt steal bases. His value was always in doubles and home runs. Now take away the home runs and you're left with a #6 or #7 place hitter in a good lineup, but instead he'll be hitting cleanup. Ouch. As for Beltran, the only IF that's left with him is not "if he'll have a good year" it's more like "if he's able to play full 100 games". And the more we see him, the more that IF dwindles. Sure, Wright will be fine, and Davis will (hopefully) only improve, but is that enough indication that this team can be at .500?
    All this without mentioning the fact that neither Reyes nor Beltran are likely to remain in met uniform past july if they are indeed having good seasons. I think if you really look at the situation objectively, and take away the IF's and replace them with "probably" or "likely" then you get a lot closer to 90 losses than you think...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dave,

    You can't play the "Who hasn't wasted money" card when it comes to the Mets.

    Every team makes bad deals, but NO other team makes so many bad deals that Bud Selig needs to bail them out! What other team plays in a market as big as New York in a new ballpark, new TV revenue and has an elite payroll and has mismanaged it to the point where they need EVERYTHING to go right in order for them to sniff .500?

    Maybe the Dodgers (who are another mess.)

    As for the Marlins players, OK Nunez is overrated. Would you take him in exchange for K-Rod?

    What player on the Mets would the Marlins accept in a Hanley Ramirez trade?

    What Met pitcher would the Marlins accept for Josh Johnson? Nolasco? Sanchez?

    Maybe Pelfrey. But the Marlins have 3 good starters, the Mets 1.

    Sorry. It isn't an opinion. It is a fact, the Mets management has been terrible, as reflected in the fact that they are shelling out $18 million to say good bye to two players.

    As for correcting your typo (by the way, that is the correct use of "your") keep in mind the context of what you wrote.

    You said "your just dumb and fat" and I'M the dick?

    Your logic is as faulty as your grammar.

    If you wrote "your a nice guy" I would have let it slide. But when people fling insults, I like to fling it back, especially when it is as ironic as "your just dumb."

    If you don't have the backbone to be insulted, then maybe you shouldn't go on people's blogs to post grammatically incorrect insults (and evidently take the belief that the Mets are a well run franchise.)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I said the Mets are a well run franchise when? See I cant tell if you are a nice guy or not so I cannot give you that opinion. I'm pretty sure the Cubs are a horribly run organization with inflated payrolls too. I even made sure to mention that the Mets have wasted money over the years so you put words in my mouth.

    I'm stating the fact that there should be more optimism for the Mets and negativity makes fans not give a crap about them.

    As far as calling you a dick...well...I guess its just shitty being stuck an hour from Philly hearing shit from bone headed Phillies all day so I guess today was not a good day to start ranting and raving.

    Good one cdubbs..

    ReplyDelete
  13. "I cant tell if you are a nice guy or not"

    I'm a Hell of a nice guy.
    I haven't called YOU dumb or fat, have I?

    You tried to brush away the whole mismanagement of the Mets as a "Hey! Who hasn't made mistakes?" aside.

    The Mets are in a tremendous mess on the field and off and the fact that you wouldn't even concede that the Marlins are spending their money more wisely makes me think this isn't going to be a productive conversation.

    There should be love and passion from Met fans, but let's face it, THIS is a year (like 1992 and 1993) where you prove your value as a Met fan.

    Go to a game at CitiField and have a picture taken and memorize the line up. That way when the Mets ARE good again, you can say "Hey! I was a fan back in 2011 when all hell was breaking loose!
    "

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm not dumb or fat, just being a hater I suppose.

    But yes, I sit at a desk in Pennsylvania with a Mets car flag hanging up and my Keith Hernandez, Darryl Strawberry and Gary Carter starting lineup figures ever since I started working here which happened to be the August before the Sillies became a "Team of Destiny."

    As far as the Marlins are concerned they have no fan base and they are almost forced to spend wisely whereas the Mets play that wannabe Yankees role and that just doesn't work. I mean the NY Rangers tried that for so long and never made the playoffs and now they have developed an excellent core of players that came through their system (not sure if you are a hockey fan or not).

    So with all that aside, I will let by gones be by gones and make my amends to my fellow Met fan and continue my hate towards the Phillies.

    ReplyDelete
  15. O'Donnell and I just bought our tickets. Looking forward to sunny days, Shake Shack dogs, and a good beer variety. Maybe some baseball too.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The Marlins have no fan base but they have as many World Series titles as the Mets

    (and the Cubs, Indians and Phillies for that matter)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous2:51 PM

    you cant really compare the mets and the marlins. one team spends their money on good drafts and makes trades FOR prospects. the other team spends money on free agents (therefore losing draft picks) and trades AWAY prospects for (supposed) top stars. Which strategy works best in the long run remains to be seen, but there's a definitive argument that can be made that either one can result in championships if all chips fall into place. Obviously when you continually give guys 6 year deals and they are healthy for only 2 of the 6 (Beltran, Pedro, Johan) it becomes a burden on the team and the whole scheme comes crashing down...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous3:12 PM

    paying ollie and castillo to play for the yankees/phillies is probably one of the best moves ownership has made in the past five years or so!
    think about it: you pay players to win games for your team, so why not pay guys to lose games for your opponents?
    sully kinda sounds like mike francessa...

    ReplyDelete
  19. eddiecomic7:30 PM

    Oliver Perez was a bad move by Omar and the Wilpons...but he did some great things in a Mets uniform. He nearly carried them to the World Series...and he played tough against the better teams. He just lost his stuff...it happens to some pitchers. They were horrific deals...but Omar minaya was great at bad deals. How about his classic superstar giveaway of Phillips Sizemore and Lee for a month of Bartolo Colon? No reason for the new GM to panic and try to compete with the Phillies and Braves in 2011. Time to rebuild and stock the franchise!

    ReplyDelete
  20. The Glider10:18 PM

    Lose 90 games? Look, I'm as distressed as the next bloodied Mets fan. But I actually think we're going to be better than decent this year and that we'll win more than 81 games. If the team can stay healthy (and I exclude Beltran from that list), we can compete for a wild card spot.

    I think the line-up is one of the better in the NL. Better than the Phillies with Utley out.

    And I like the way our bench and bullpen are shaping up.

    I really like the rotation with Young, Capuano, Dickey, Niese and Pelfrey. Pelf still needs to convince me, but comments from the other pitchers on the team say he's been looking great notwithstanding his last performance.

    We'll see. It all comes down to health as the Phillies are finding out already ... and the season hasn't even started.

    ReplyDelete
  21. 72-90

    You can put it in the books

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous6:59 AM

    I just don't see The Mets losing 90 games this year and winning only 72. That's completely unrealistic and a harsh criticism. I expect good things out of Reyes and Bay this year and I think the rotation will be decent, not great, but decent. Young and Capuano have looked really good this spring, and that's a plus. The bullpen is an issue, but this team is having a really good spring, with a lot of wins. I think The Mets can pull off 85 wins this year and come in third. I don't see The Marlins and The Nationals being that much better.

    ReplyDelete
  23. The Marlins have a good starting rotation, a decent bullpen and an MVP candidate in their line up.

    You may not agree with my prediction but to call it unrealistic is odd.
    The Mets are loaded with question marks and need to have a lot of things break their way.

    Re read what you wrote. In your scenario you have big turn arounds with two players, a good but not great rotation and a suspect bullpen in order to land in third place.

    So it is not outlandish to say if everything DOESN'T break that the Mets will have a losing season, right?

    Then losing 8 more games isn't unrealistic

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous8:25 AM

    85 - 77.

    ReplyDelete
  25. E mail me at info@sullybaseball.com and we'll make a friendly wager

    ReplyDelete
  26. Sorry, but you're a complete idiot if you think the Mets--as they are constructed now, even with Santana missing so much time--will only win 72 games. They won 79 last year! And that's with Franceour, Cora, Matthews, Castillo, Barajas, Tejada, and Feliciano eating up a ton of plate appearances.

    I mean, seriously, compare this year's roster to last and tell me they're seven wins worse:
    http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYM/2010.shtml

    Also:
    http://www.patrickfloodblog.com/2011/03/22/adjusting-the-margins/

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous10:15 AM

    Sucks when you have to blog something but don't have anything to say.

    ReplyDelete
  28. OK Baylis... you and I need to make a bet!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hey Stephen... I very well might be a complete idiot, but the website you sent me to that supposedly supports your point of view was kind of strange.

    It says that the line up doesn't have big stars but decent role players and that the pitching staff is a problem.

    Um... that's an argument FOR improvement?

    Maybe they will score more runs... but they play the Phillies, Braves and Marlins a combined 54 times.

    The Mets starting rotation should be mentioned in the same breath as those three teams.

    And if the Mets fall out of contention (and a 3rd place finish would be the absolute ceiling of what anyone can hope for) then the Mets very well might try to trade a veteran or two at the waiver deadline on July 31.

    Seriously, if Reyes and Beltran can be moved at the deadline, why not try to get something?

    In August they play the Marlins, Phillies, Braves and Brewers, all of whom have better starting staffs. I would argue the Padres have more young pitching talent(they play San Diego 7 times in August.) And playing out the string in September, they play the Marlins, Phillies, Braves and Reds who will probably all be playing for something.

    There is a real chance that August and September could be a brutal pair of months for a team that needs everything to break to reach .500.

    And even your optimistic appraisal has the Mets with inferior pitching.

    So no, saying that this team could fall on its face and lose 90 games does not make me a complete idiot.

    If you took the time to know me, you will see there are so many OTHERS reasons why I am an idot

    ReplyDelete
  30. Seems like some are saying Sully is a Met fan, Hey the whole world knows he is a die hard Yankee fan.

    Haaaaaa!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Um. Sully, I think you're not understanding something. Ninety losses is a LOT of losses. Since the links I provided were taken the wrong way or something, I'll explain.

    The first link is the Mets roster from last year. That roster won 79 GAMES! The Mets made improvements at catcher and second base, should have Reyes and Bay and possibly Beltran play 130+ games, dropped a bunch of dead weight. . .and you're telling me that they're going to LOSE SEVEN MORE GAMES? I don't follow that logic.

    The second link is complaining about how an 80 win projection for the Mets is not high enough. I fail to see how you took the arguments from that article and are using it as a defense for the complete opposite point it's making. You're breaking down the schedule without actually looking at the players who will play those games. Sure, the core is the same, but the upgrades they made are light years ahead of last year. Cora, Francoeur and Castillo were among the worst players in baseball and they played a lot and the Mets STILL only lost 83. If you're going through that article and you come out the other end with the conclusion that not only are they worse this year, but SEVEN LOSSES worse, then sorry, I don't need to know you any better: you are an idiot.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Stephen... 130 games for Beltran?

    130 BASEBALL games?

    Over how many seasons?

    ReplyDelete
  33. I am writing a response to the very well thought out, logical and classy responses from everyone here.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Ready to admit you're an idiot yet? The Mets are 67-69 this year, even with a TON of injuries. Pretty much everything you said was very, very wrong and everything your commenters said was right.

    You said:
    "There is a real chance that August and September could be a brutal pair of months for a team that needs everything to break to reach .500."

    Laughable considering that most everything has broken WRONG (Wright, Reyes, Davis, Murphy, Santana, Pagan, and Young all missing large chunks of time) for the Mets and yet there they are, just two games below .500.

    You said:
    "130 games for Beltran?

    130 BASEBALL games?

    Over how many seasons?"

    Again, this is laughable considering that he'd played 98 of their first 105 games and, in fact, had led the team in playing time before being dealt and had played so well before then that he netted the Mets a top prospect from the Giants.


    And oh my God I just realized that you wrote up there that the Marlins would consider Mike Pelfrey for Josh Johnson. It's insane that your profile says you're "obsessed with baseball" when you know so very, very little about it. You seem to just take the MSM's knee-jerk opinions and run them into the ground without a single critical thought. 90 losses? Well, I suppose the Mets COULD go 5-21 the rest of the way. Idiot.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Wow. How silly I must feel.
    The Mets are going to have a losing season and are totally irrelevant at Labor Day.

    So they are on pace to lose 83 games this year. Um... this is something to BRAG about?

    Yeah I was wrong about the Marlins. Dead wrong. And I say Mea Culpa about that. I was also wrong about the Tigers who I didn't think were going to be a factor. Yup. I looked bad about that.

    I predicted the Mets would be an expensive mess of a losing team.
    Um... isn't that EXACTLY what they are?

    And yeah, how silly of me to think Beltran would be hurt. Seeing that HE GOT HURT THIS YEAR!

    So to review, you are clinging to the fact that they only had a losing irrelevant season as opposed to an EMBARASSING losing season as something to crow about.

    And I said a lot of things needed to break their way to get to .500...
    And they didn't get to .500

    Wow. THAT prediction came back to haunt me.

    I hope you are proud of your team that will play an irrelevant September and certainly by the looks of tonights game against the Nationals are not exactly ready to set the baseball world aflame.

    If they lose 84 games as opposed to 90, am I supposed to be impressed?

    ReplyDelete
  36. What are you talking about? Where am I bragging about this being a successful season? I'm saying you're an idiot for adamantly predicting that the Mets will lose 90 games. You were way, way wrong on that.

    And what do you mean "And they didn't get to .500"? First off, they've been flirting with .500 ALL SEASON. Secondly, you said for them to get to .500 at all, the team "needs everything to break to reach .500". NOTHING has broken well for the Mets and yet, there they are, right near .500! Thirdly, why are you using the past tense? The season isn't over yet. And also: look who thinks the Mets are so good this year that he thinks Terry Collins could be Manager of the Year? It's you!

    About Beltran: can you read? You INSISTED that Beltran wouldn't and couldn't play 130 games. Where is he right now? At 124 games with 18 left! He'll be close to 140 games by season's end. You were way, way wrong on that.

    It's clear that you hate the Mets for some reason and just wrote an idiotic screed to try to justify that hatred. The entire article you wrote has been proven to be idiotic and wrong, which is what everyone that read it said it would be. I already know that you don't know anything about baseball, but I now consider even your reading comprehension to be suspect. Everyone's point was that you were wrong and idiotic and yet you've just now morphed the argument into how being a near .500 isn't something to brag about, which no one ever did.


    To reiterate: In your mind, the Mets were a 90 loss team (roughly the 2nd or 3rd worst team in baseball). In reality, despite massive injuries, they're a shade below .500, third in the division and a middle of the pack team. In short: You're an idiot.

    ReplyDelete
  37. A few things...
    Flirting with .500 isn't .500

    But, as I wrote recently, I am giving a lot of credit to Terry Collins. They have been playing a lot better than I thought they were.

    I was surprised by Beltran's production with the Mets. He has been beyond worthless for the Giants.

    As for a hatred of the Mets... I have said over and over again I have nothing against the Mets. I would like to see them do well. I rooted for them in 1999 against the Reds, D'Backs and Braves. I rooted for them in 2000 against the Cardinals and Yankees (sorry. The Giants are my national league team.) And in 2001 down the stretch.

    I wanted to see them win the 2006 pennant and against St. Louis, you would have thought I grew up in Rego Park.

    I was cheering for them to win the East in 2007 and the Wild Card in 2008.

    1986 was a long time ago. Any ill feelings I have towards the Mets went to the Bronx when they got Gooden and Strawberry.

    I just find the last few years in Queens and here in Los Angeles with the Dodgers to be fascinating.

    But I do admit I am impressed that the Mets, who had every reason to fold up tent and phone in the rest of the year, are playing with a lot of heart.

    "In short: You're an idiot"

    No doubt this is probably true.
    I felt that the Mets were worse in 2011 than they were in 2010. And if you told me that they would have the injuries that they had, no Santana, dealing away a productive Beltran and a relatively productive Rodriguez before August, I would have said 90 losses would have been a snap.

    Chances are they will have 5-10 fewer losses than I predicted.

    If they finish at .500 or better, I will make a Sully Baseball video to apologize to Met fans everywhere.

    FYI, I watched today's Cubs/Mets game and I was rooting for the Mets. I'd like to see them above .500

    As for me?
    What do I know
    I'm an idiot

    ReplyDelete