The Slanch Report

They moved into a tax-payer financed $1 billion stadium with incredibly high ticket prices but the cost of featuring the second highest payroll in the majors and being bilked out of hundreds of millions of dollars by Bernie Madoff has left the Mets DESPERATE for cash.

Amidst rumors in the last few weeks that the Wilpons may be forced to sell the team, another example of the team’s anemic finances came when former GM Jim Duquette reported that the team has canceled their normal off-season instructional league.

Makes sense, after all the Mets prospects have been thriving recently… And if their current AAA lineup — excuse me, that’s their MAJOR LEAGUE LINEUP! — is any sign, things are robust down on the farm…

“There’s a lot of talk and I believe this is information that has not gotten out,” said Duquette, [on his XM radio show] “… The Mets have made a decision, and some organizations do this, but they’ve decided not to have what’s called their instructional league, which is, for their minor leagues, it’s an opportunity to develop [and] continue to develop your young players. And there’s some debate within circles over the past couple years the true value of instructional league but most organizations have a version of it. They’re not going to do it. Now the rumors within the scouting circles are that they can’t afford – which it roughly costs about 300 grand to staff and to invite and fly down all the players, to having meals throughout for about, it’s like a 4 to 5 week program. It gives you a chance to extend the development of your young players, of your prospects. And they’re not gonna have it.   They have cancelled it for this fall. And to me, being a development guy, that’s big news. If you’re development oriented, it’s not a good decision in my opinion.” 

Look, I get that the Wilpons lost a shitload of money, but to not be able to afford a couple hundred thousand dollars? Maybe if they didn’t have AWFUL management who outlays millions upon millions of dollars on wastes of roster space like Oliver Perez and Livan Hernandez or Omar Minaya they’d be able to develop young, cheap talent.

Quick, name the last successful Mets prospect to last a full effective season, I’d say no one since David Wright. And that was YEARS ago. But sure, cancel the instructional leagues…

The Mets are pretending that they will be doing a similar camp in the Dominican instead saying in a statement:

In a reevaluation of the Mets minor league operations, the club made the decision to move our Fall Instructional League to our new Dominican Academy in Boca Chica from Port St. Lucie, Fla. We believe that by housing our minor league players in the Dominican, we will have more opportunities to have competition against opposing teams that have training facilities nearby.

Say whatever they want, I firmly believe this is because the Mets were too cheap — or too poor — to go about the process of actually developing their own players.

But then, I’m a Mets hater right…

[NY Daily News]