Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon broke his long silence on the team's payroll situation Tuesday, saying that he understood the frustration of fans and that though he expected the team's payroll to go up from its current $130 million, the Mets will not spend wantonly in a free-agent market that has seen many teams play the waiting game.
"I understand the fan base's frustration and we have the same frustration," he said at Citi Field. "There's nobody going out there trying to not win, and not putting the best person in the absolute best position to win. ... The [payroll] that we start with is a target at the beginning of the offseason and it usually goes up from there. I suspect we'll be in that same situation this year as well. It might come before the season, it might come during the season."
General manager Sandy Alderson, also in attendance, said that despite fans' perception that the Wilpons, who suffered significant financial losses as a result of the Bernie Madoff scandal, have no interest in opening up their checkbook, the Mets have been as or more active than most teams. Alderson cited the acquisitions of reliever AJ Ramos, which occurred during the 2017 season, as well as Anthony Swarzak, Adrian Gonzalez and, most recently, Jay Bruce.
"We've probably added as many players as anybody and probably committed as many dollars as most teams _ not all teams, but most teams," he said. "We've also taken a sort of wait-and-see [philosophy] as well. ... We're happy with where we are. We're not sure where we'll end up, but we're not done looking, we're not done investigating, we're not done listening."
Alderson said there is a chance the team may not add any more players before spring training but acknowledged there was a need at second and third base. Mike Moustakas, who will likely command a large contract despite the glacial market, is an available third baseman, along with Todd Frazier. Though Alderson said he would be willing to look at all positions, the sense is that the Mets are mostly happy with the starting rotation that was ravaged by injury last year. The team has instituted a new offseason pitching program, and hired a new director of performance and sports science, Jim Cavallini, who previously worked with the U.S. Army's special operations command at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Alderson also denied offseason reports that payroll had become a point of contention between he and Wilpon. "I don't think there's ever been really a disagreement about payroll," he said.
Wilpon talked about 2010, when the Mets had the fifth-highest payroll in the league.
"I'd rather look at what we can do in terms of wins and losses," he said. "We were in the top five in payroll, and I don't think that won us a World Series. We set out to make the playoffs. ... We're trying to win the World Series, not trying to be in the top five.
"There are certain teams that spend $200 million to get the [player] value of ... 135 [million] or so ... Versus other teams that spend 95 [million] to get that value. You can get there in different ways."
