Wilpon defends lack of offseason spending, leaves 2010 on Minaya's shoulders

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Fred Wilpon feels your pain.

During an impromptu 12-minute chat with reporters Saturday near the bullpen of the team's minor-league complex, the Mets' principal owner and self-proclaimed biggest fan said this offseason was "torture."

Wilpon had just finished watching the starting rotation and a few relievers spin through a side session during the first official workout for pitchers and catchers. He decided to stick around to address a number of concerns heading into the new season, chief among them the dissatisfaction of the fan base.

"I understand from the fan's point of view because I am one myself," Wilpon said, "and I'm very, very sensitive to what their feelings are and I understand some of it."

Some frustration stems from the Mets' relatively quiet offseason, beyond the four-year, $66-million signing of Jason Bay. For a team with a number of questions - including catcher, first base and rotation depth - the Mets passed on a parade of free agents at those positions.

Wilpon denied that it had anything to do with finances. He also dismissed last year's assertion by the author of a book about Bernie Madoff that Wilpon eventually will have to sell the team because of huge losses to the Wall Street con man.

"I've always said, if it's up to me, my family will be involved for the next generations," Wilpon said. "That's all I can tell you. I can't say that about any other asset we own."

Wilpon also attacked the perception that the Mets are broke and ran out of money to sign free agents this offseason. Will the team have enough money to make a push for a key player before the trading deadline?

"The answer is yes," he said. As for the money question, he added, "I think we have the third-highest payroll in baseball? Second or third. So that answers that."

Actually, the Mets are second at approximately $140 million, trailing only the Yankees. But with that payroll comes responsibility, and Wilpon put it squarely on the shoulders of Omar Minaya and the front office.

"I think that we have to be guided by our baseball people," Wilpon said, "and our baseball people evaluated that some of our pitchers were as good or better than what was on the market. Our baseball people evaluated other positions and we went by what they did. Jeff [Wilpon] and I don't pick the baseball players. They think that the guys we have will prove to be better guys than some of the guys we would have gotten.

"It wasn't a matter of money in the sense that's what their recommendations were. I can tell you, they said to us we do not want to go two years on this one or five years on this one, whatever it might have been, and we said, 'That's your call. You got to call that.' We followed it."

As for the organization being at a crossroads, Wilpon preferred to think positive: "I don't want to address that. I mean, those are things in the future. I think we've got very good players and I think they'll be molded into a very good team."

That's been a common theme echoed by the players this past week as they've arrived at Tradition Field for spring training. David Wright said he expects the Mets to win the National League East and the World Series. Johan Santana made similar statements.

There's no doubt the Mets have been on a team-wide PR push to wipe away the bad taste of 2009 - and that includes the stigma of a suspect medical department.

"The medical staff, in my opinion, is the best medical staff that there is in all of sports," Wilpon said. "People come from all over the world to get their expertise. I can't explain [the injuries]. We've spent months in the offseason thinking about it, led by Jeff. Jeff really dug into this area of what could we do to improve, to prevent injuries.

"Injuries are going to occur, you know that. But what could we do to prevent injuries? I challenge you to tell me one team of any sport that could lose 10 or 12 of their key people and succeed. You can't. And I'm not using that as an excuse. I'm just saying you can't."