Mets cutting GCL team in Port St. Lucie
Mets GM Sandy Alderson speaks with reporters on Oct. 29, 2010. Credit: Christopher Pasatieri
The cash-strapped Mets are cutting a minor-league club for 2012, the team announced Tuesday.
The Mets will not operate a Gulf Coast League team in Port St. Lucie, Fla., dropping their total number of minor-league affiliates from nine to eight.
"For 2012, we will be conducting our three Rookie League teams in Kingsport, Tenn., and out of our facilities in the Dominican Republic and will not operate a team in the Gulf Coast League," the team said in a statement.
The Mets will still have six minor-league teams in the United States and two in the Dominican Republic. Among the U.S.-based teams will be St. Lucie of the Florida State League, which like the defunct Gulf Coast League team operated out of the Mets' minor-league facility in Port St. Lucie.
General manager Sandy Alderson recently pegged the Mets' 2011 losses at $70 million. The team is in the process of cutting its payroll from $140 million to about $100 million and did not make an offer for free-agent shortstop Jose Reyes, who signed with the Miami Marlins.
The Mets revealed earlier this month that they had taken out a $40-million "bridge loan" from a bank to meet expenses. That's on top of a $25-million loan from Major League Baseball they have yet to pay back. And the franchise's owners still face a lawsuit from Bernard Madoff victims trustee Irving Picard, who is trying to recover as much as $386 million. There is a hearing set for March 19.
The Mets hope to have minority investors lined up by next month to pump cash into the franchise.
