Mets, Yankees have gotten little bang for big bucks
Mets starting pitcher Justin Verlander delivers against the Yankees during the first inning of an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
This edition of the Subway Series, more than any other, serves as a harsh lesson in sunk costs.
The Mets have carried the highest payroll in baseball history since Opening Day, now at $377 million, and showed up in the Bronx as the fifth-worst team in the National League. The Yankees rank second at $294 million, and after Tuesday night's 9-3 loss to their Flushing rival, they were in last in the AL East — three games out of the third wild-card spot — pending Boston's result against Atlanta.
Technically, this remains a showdown for New York supremacy. These two big-money disappointments are all we’ve got, and for one night at least, the Mets played up to their exorbitant price tag.
Pete Alonso smacked two homers (5 RBIs) and Justin Verlander allowed two hits over six scoreless innings, striking out six, as the Mets improved to six games under .500 (47-53). That’s enough to fend off the seller talk for another day, but didn’t stop Verlander -- due roughly $20 million for the rest of this season and $43 million for next year -- from getting the postgame question anyway.
“I’m focused on being a Met,” Verlander said. “That’s why I signed here. I want to win here. Obviously, it hasn’t gone according to plan just yet, but I didn’t sign a one-year deal, so there’s that.”
The Mets are keenly aware of Verlander’s second year, which makes him that much more difficult to move, if they decided to go in that direction. But Verlander’s contract is part of the bigger picture -- like what does spending so much for so little overall tell us about how the Mets and Yankees are currently operating?
The Pentagon seems more cost-efficient by comparison. And, while neither team can be ruled out from playing deep into October — stranger things have happened — it’s safe to say no one anticipated seeing baseball’s two most expensive payrolls scraping to stay in contention.
At this point, the Mets hold the edge as the biggest waste of money, at seven games under .500 (46-53) and seven games out of the third wild-card spot. They can’t see division-leading Atlanta with binoculars (18 1/2-game deficit). Their pair of $43-million aces, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, cost more than the entire payrolls of five teams. Francisco Lindor, the $341 million shortstop, was hitting .094 (3-for-32) with 14 strikeouts since the All-Star break.
Owner Steve Cohen has said repeatedly that he’s needed to pour record amounts of cash into the Mets since buying the franchise in order to stay competitive as the team rebuilds its farm system, the surest way to trim payroll in future years. That worked to near-perfection with last season’s 101-win campaign, although losing in the wild-card round to the Padres at Citi wiped out the positive vibes.
Given how these Mets have stumbled from the start, it’s possible the roster has struggled to cope with the weight of their $377-million expectations. The heat that comes with that payroll, whether it’s publicly acknowledged or not, is a real thing and the career-worst years of Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil suggest they’ve possibly put too much pressure on themselves. That can apply to the manager and front office, too, especially with next Tuesday’s trade deadline looming.
“You’re always thinking about it,” Buck Showalter said before Tuesday’s game. “You don’t have to have a lot of outside noise to make you understand the sense of urgency anymore. They understand what this time of year is about. I think we all know what’s at stake.”
Cohen hasn’t shown any indication that getting burned by this year’s failing investment would hinder his spending down the road, other than a willingness to eat some pricey contracts when/if the Mets decide to become sellers. It could be a different story, however, with Hal Steinbrenner’s Yankees.
Steinbrenner, unlike his dad, is never shy about expressing his reservations when it comes to throwing money around. The primary reason the Yankees have the sport’s second-highest payroll is the winter signing of Aaron Judge to a nine-year, $360 million contract, but it’s not like Steinbrenner had any choice. Judge had boxed the Yankees into a corner with an MVP season that included breaking Roger Maris’ American League home-run record, and with a lack of any other popular stars, Steinbrenner basically handed Judge a blank check — throwing in the captaincy, too.
It had to be done. But with Judge missing his second Subway Series with a toe injury — he’s now down at the Tampa facility rehabbing — the meter is running on that deal as his IL stint moves into its seventh week. Steinbrenner’s other major winter acquisition, the $162-million lefty Carlos Rodon, was last seen blowing kisses to jeering Yankees fans in Anaheim. After missing the first three months with forearm and back injuries, Rodon is 0-3 with a 7.36 ERA. Now, he’ll get a chance on the Subway Series stage with Wednesday’s start in the Bronx.
The Yankees don’t face the same desperation as the Mets, and they’re also more accustomed to being the big-money bad guys through the years. It’s certainly possible they’ll recover to claim a wild-card spot, and with the returns of Judge and Nestor Cortes — plus any deadline upgrades — they can win a round or two in the playoffs. But they’ll need to go deep into October to fully justify the price tag.
“I think it’s all opportunity,” Aaron Boone said. “We’re getting down to the final couple months of the season, so these games are all important.”
If nothing else, the Mets and Yankees have become cautionary tales to buying championships— harpooning Rob Manfred’s warnings about skyrocketing payrolls destroying parity in baseball. This Subway Series features two contrary arguments to the commissioner.
“I pay attention to what’s going on out there,” Manfred said earlier this month. “But I do think it’s important to remember we’re talking about part of the season. We’re not quite sure as to how things are going to play out.”
Aside from the money. That’s already spent.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
