Am I the only one who thinks the Mets are annoying?

[SandraC]

I should state that I don't dislike the Mets...at all. To me they're not a true rival of the Yankees. They don't play often enough, and chances are they may not meet in the playoffs again for a long long time. That's where rivalries grow in professional sports.

But how annoying is it to listen to Met fans complain endlessly on New York sports radio about all of the advantages the Yankees have? They talk about the Yankees' recent trade with the Pirates like it was so unfair. I suppose they think sending Carlos Gomez to the Twins for Johan Santana was an even deal as well. Just like the Yankee deal, it was all about the money.

The truth is, with all of the Yankees spending, the wealth of George Steinbrenner is but a blip on the radar screen of a lot of the owners in major league baseball. What George has done is build an empire that brings in tons of money every year. But even with all that money, he'll never approach the wealth of many of the teams the Yankees are competing against.

Now I can understand someone in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, etc. wondering how they can compete with a team that spends as much as the Yankees. They just don't have the same revenue opportunities the Yankees do.

But the Mets? They're in the same market for goodness sakes. Wilpon has had every opportunity Steinbrenner has had to build revenue from ticket sales, merchandise, television, and everything else. If the Mets aren't generating as much as the Yankees are, it's their own fault.

And their fans have no right to complain about any spending imbalance whatsoever. If you want to compete with the Yankees so badly, figure out how to do it.


Sandra

 

[hancox]

Pffft. Call me when the Mets have a payroll that's even close to the Yankees, and the Yankees are within, say, 50M of the rest of MLB.

The problem is the Yankees' overspending, not the Mets' underspending


Yankees $209,081,579 $6,744,567
Tigers $138,685,197 $4,622,840
Mets $138,293,378 $4,609,779
Red Sox $133,440,037 $4,765,716
White Sox $121,152,667 $4,487,136
Angels $119,216,333 $4,110,908
Cubs $118,595,833 $4,392,438
Dodgers $118,536,038 $4,233,430
Mariners $117,993,982 $4,538,230
Braves $102,424,018 $3,414,134
Cardinals $100,624,450 $3,049,226
Blue Jays $98,641,957 $3,522,927
Phillies $98,269,881 $3,388,617
Astros $ 88,930,415 $3,293,719
Brewers $ 81,004,167 $2,793,247
Indians $ 78,970,067 $3,037,310
Giants $76,904,500 $2,651,879
Reds $74,277,695 $2,971,108
Padres $ 73,677,617 $2,376,697
Rockies $ 68,655,500 $2,640,596
Rangers $ 68,239,551 $2,353,088
Orioles $67,196,248 $2,099,883
Diamondbacks $66,202,713 $2,364,383
Twins $ 62,182,767 $ 2,487,311
Royals $58,245,500 $2,240,212
Nationals $ 54,961,000 $1,895,207
Pirates $ 49,365,283 $1,898,665
A's $ 47,967,126 $1,713,112
Rays $43,820,598 $1,460,687
Marlins $ 21,836,500 $661,712

 

[SandraC]

Pffft. Call me when the Mets have a payroll that's even close to the Yankees, and the Yankees are within, say, 50M of the rest of MLB.

See, this is exacly what I'm talking about. Complaints from too much spending by a New York team...FROM A NEW YORK TEAM.

Assuming the Yankees aren't losing money, why would anyone worry about how much money they spend? The Royals, Pirates, and other teams from small markets do have a right to wonder how they'll compete, since they just don't have the same revenue streams available to them. Yet somehow teams like Oakland, Minnesota, Florida, etc. are able to compete most every year.

But Met fans, whose ownership is in the exact same market as the Yankees, and has the exact same dollars available to them, are the ones who complain most about Yankees payroll numbers.

Met fans love to say New York is a national league town, which may or may not be true. If it is as true as you say, you should be outdrawing, outrevenuing, and outspending the Yankees.

If you are unable to do so that's your problem, not the Yankees.


Sandra

 

[hancox]

The point is, the Mets are more similar to every other team in MLB. The Yankees are the outlier. Why should the Mets be different from every other team in MLB, aside from the overspending Yankees?

Also, I think the majority of griping from Met fans in NY comes from the slobbering that the media does over them, even though they continue to be mostly mediocre, despite outspending every other team in MLB by a wide margin.

 

[HD MM]

See, this is exacly what I'm talking about. Complaints from too much spending by a New York team...FROM A NEW YORK TEAM.

Assuming the Yankees aren't losing money, why would anyone worry about how much money they spend? The Royals, Pirates, and other teams from small markets do have a right to wonder how they'll compete, since they just don't have the same revenue streams available to them. Yet somehow teams like Oakland, Minnesota, Florida, etc. are able to compete most every year.

But Met fans, whose ownership is in the exact same market as the Yankees, and has the exact same dollars available to them, are the ones who complain most about Yankees payroll numbers.

Met fans love to say New York is a national league town, which may or may not be true. If it is as true as you say, you should be outdrawing, outrevenuing, and outspending the Yankees.

If you are unable to do so that's your problem, not the Yankees.


Sandra

In all fairness, the Met's or any other team in the MLB for that matter don't bring in the type of revenue that the Yankees bring in. You said yourself in the first post that this is how the Yankees are able to have such a huge payroll and not merely by ownership contributions.

The Yankees have the YES network and they generate huge sums of money by selling tons of Yankee paraphernalia all around the world. They are able to do this not just because they reside in the largest metropolis in America, but because of their RICH history. Just because another baseball team is located in that same city, doesn't mean they can generate the same revenue as the most popular sports team in history. See the L.A. Lakers vs. L.A. Clippers as an example....

 

[CopyChief]

Also, I think the majority of griping from Met fans in NY comes from the slobbering that the media does over them, even though they continue to be mostly mediocre, despite outspending every other team in MLB by a wide margin.

Obviously, there's no denying that the Yankees are the most successful franchise in all of baseball, if you're measure success by the number of World Series championships. That's where some of the bitterness starts, I believe. Yeah, I guess it's tinged with jealousy. I felt that way for many years about the Atlanta Braves, who had a long string of consecutive playoff appearances.

While the Yankees may have been responsible for a lot of the game's historical highlights (and the media loves highlights), I'd say they're also largely responsible for driving the cost of the game - salaries, and therefore ticket prices - into the stratosphere. Their financial success has ruined the game for many, and forever tainted it for many more.

As grating and annoying as the Yanks can be, though, nothing is more gratifying to a fan of pure baseball than seeing a team spend $200 million on the "best talent" and miss out on October's big dance.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

As grating and annoying as the Yanks can be, though, nothing is more gratifying to a fan of pure baseball than seeing a team spend $200 million on the "best talent" and miss out on October's big dance.

Make that a grand total of $1,167,768,431 since their last WS victory (not counting 2008).