Michael Salfino, who on his twitter account describes himself as a sports analyst for the likes of the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo!, and Rotowire tweeted the following this evening:
Source who would DEF know tells me Wilpon/Mets are broke, can’t extend R.A. or Wright and have maybe two years left before they lose team.
— Michael Salfino (@MichaelSalfino) November 11, 2012
And Mets lack of cash, I’m told, is the reason they deferred Bay. More than a baseball decision, they just pass that along to next owner.
— Michael Salfino (@MichaelSalfino) November 11, 2012
And you all know I don’t pull that source thing like, ever. So trust me on this.
— Michael Salfino (@MichaelSalfino) November 11, 2012
UPDATE:
The writer who tweeted about Mets’ finances is not a Wall Street Journal employee. That did not go through us, nor is it in our paper.
— Brian Costa (@BrianCostaWSJ) November 12, 2012
40 comments
Prismo
11/11/2012-6:31pm at 6:31 pm (UTC -4)
Honestly, I don’t know how to feel about this. Need to see if we hear more, and kind of want to see if there’s a public reaction.
NYM
11/11/2012-6:46pm at 6:46 pm (UTC -4)
I don’t know if I would call that imminent. He was saying 2 more years (and that will likely be a long two more years). And then he seemed to correct it to say…2 more years until they lose SNY…which would then lead to them losing the team. So it might be even longer than 2 more years. So that after losing our two best players might be an eternity.
While I’d love for the Wilpons to sell, I hope this isn’t true
Prismo
11/11/2012-6:49pm at 6:49 pm (UTC -4)
I guess I can see what you’re saying, I wasn’t trying to exaggerate. When I think about how crappy the Mets have been for so long, with few good seasons in-between, 2 years seems pretty quick for new ownership. Hah.
TX
11/11/2012-6:51pm at 6:51 pm (UTC -4)
Well, RA and Wright getting traded wouldn’t be the end of the world. And if that causes the Mets to be sold and and in comes a Dodger-esque new owner, all the better!
Trs86
11/11/2012-6:53pm at 6:53 pm (UTC -4)
Actually re-sign Wright and Dickey could force the issue if they still stink.
Stick
11/11/2012-7:33pm at 7:33 pm (UTC -4)
It would certainly make it a heck of a lot harder to get payroll way down if they were locked into 30mill+ for those 2 guys.
and honestly, without them it would make the team more salable.
TX
11/11/2012-7:00pm at 7:00 pm (UTC -4)
Regardless of the financial situation, isn’t the Bay move just a smart move in general?
Trs86
11/11/2012-7:07pm at 7:07 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah.
WrightKnight
11/11/2012-9:13pm at 9:13 pm (UTC -4)
It may be a smart move, and they have made moves that have been deemed to be “smart” in the past, but it’s the motive behind it that matters. Did they do this for the good of the team, or is it, like many of their recent moves, just more salary relief?
kingman 26
11/12/2012-8:54am at 8:54 am (UTC -4)
Excellent point, and it is nice to see them some folks understand this.
Way too many people are congratulating them as if releasing Bay is some sort of brilliant move.
It is a move whose timing most definitely screams of financial desperation.
There’s zero other reason why this move would be done in early November.
Zero.
The “sports analyst” whose Tweets are causing so much consternation is utterly irrelevant.
Simply following what the team actually DOES is more than enough to see–for those who WANT to see–that the Mets remain a seriously diminished organization very desperate for cash.
Stickguy
11/12/2012-9:21am at 9:21 am (UTC -4)
the only reason to do it now is to free up the spot (literally and figuratively). It also says they know that there was zero chance that they could trade him, so postponing just meant having to deal with it in ST.
I also would not be surprised if Bay initiated this. Look at it from his perspective. He knows that it was 99% sure he was released at the end of ST anyway. and 99% sure he was going to be destroyed by the fans if the 1% happened.
so, it is vastly better for him to be a FA now, to try and hook up with a decent situation for him, instead of it happening 3/28/13 when teams would not have room, or a chance to take a look, and he had to accept a MiL invite of some kind.
at least now, he will get a full ST with a team that might actually want him.
but regardless of which side initiated talks now, having the deferral with now extra $ was a win for the Mets, even if they weren’t having cash flow issues. And of course, it is a win for bay, and a huge win for met fans!
kingman 26
11/12/2012-9:36am at 9:36 am (UTC -4)
I totally disagree.
You never know which team MIGHT have accepted eating SOME of his dough in a larger deal involving other players, such as the possible trade(s) of Wright and/or Dickey.
Some free-spending team might have eaten some of his dough as a condition of receiving Dickey or Wright in a bigger deal.
Sorry, but there’s no way this was done in any fashion other than the Wilpons thinking of a creative way to free up a few million.
Hazmet
11/11/2012-7:20pm at 7:20 pm (UTC -4)
Promises, Promises I’ll believe it when I see it and hopefully I live to see it.
Saltygary
11/11/2012-7:30pm at 7:30 pm (UTC -4)
Shocker…
Prismo
11/11/2012-7:40pm at 7:40 pm (UTC -4)
His loyalty is too strong, but if Sandy Alderson wrote a tell-all book once his tenure with the Mets is over I would read the **** out of that!
WrightKnight
11/11/2012-9:14pm at 9:14 pm (UTC -4)
Forget a tell-all book (as there would likely be no Mets team to save by then), he has the ability to blow the cover on whatever the Wilpons are doing right now. Unless he’s “in too deep”….
kingman 26
11/12/2012-8:57am at 8:57 am (UTC -4)
I have thought about that a lot too Prismo, but my guess is that his little jokes about “what outfield” and about not being able to afford gas on his way to spring training are his way of tweaking the Wilpons for putting him in the impossible situation he is in.
But my guess is that he will take the real juicy stuff to the grave with him
Stick
11/11/2012-7:41pm at 7:41 pm (UTC -4)
interesting. Mostly because I don’t recall seeing anything recently at all about the financials. So this seems kind of out of the blue.
hopefully sandy does a good job building up the cheap base, because no matter what, they are going to need it.
honestly, Sandy all along could have been geared toward prepping for a sale. At least as a considered option (in case the miracle did not occur and have the team suddenly financially sound!)
if it does lead to trading dickey and wright and going fully cheap and young, I am willing to ride that out.
greggofboken
11/11/2012-8:03pm at 8:03 pm (UTC -4)
This doesn’t jive with a pair of recent events — particularly the re-establishment of the Gulf Coast League team after it was scrapped last year amidst the Madoff-induced austerity. If the Wilpons were circiling the wagons, why would they do this? And why would they have extended Ricciardi for 3 years. Both events happened on 11/8. Neither move is consistent w/a group looking to pinch.
And if ownership truly couldn’t afford extensions for Wright/Dickey, Alderson would not have so openly vocalized that he wants to extend them — he’d lay the groundwork for a non-financial reason that the club would be better off trading them.
This doesn’t ring true to m.e
TX
11/11/2012-11:51pm at 11:51 pm (UTC -4)
Good post.
Ruben DeJesus
11/11/2012-8:41pm at 8:41 pm (UTC -4)
If this is the case, the commissioner should take action (Dodgers) and make the Wilpons sell. We are the one’s who suffer.
kingman 26
11/11/2012-10:06pm at 10:06 pm (UTC -4)
Reality often sucks,but this is the reaction it points.to.
Mr North Jersey
11/11/2012-11:11pm at 11:11 pm (UTC -4)
Prismo, I went ahead and updated the post to reflect what Costa tweeted about Salfino not being an employee of WSJ OK?
Prismo
11/11/2012-11:13pm at 11:13 pm (UTC -4)
Thank you, I didn’t see that. Interesting twist I suppose. For what it’s worth it seems like Toby Hyde (Mets minor league guy) knows this fellow and trusts him.
Mr North Jersey
11/11/2012-11:20pm at 11:20 pm (UTC -4)
He worked for SNY as well that is how they may know each other.
http://web.sny.tv/news/columnist.jsp?id=michael_salfino
As far as his source, this is not the 1st time that talk of the Wilpons demise as owners of the Mets has been said. It may one day happen but I’d rather wait for more concrete news to come out on the matter.
Prismo
11/12/2012-1:47am at 1:47 am (UTC -4)
Hence the “Rumor” part of the title.
I take enough pride in being an RDM author not to title things “BREAKING NEWS” when it’s just a rumor!
Mr North Jersey
11/11/2012-11:23pm at 11:23 pm (UTC -4)
Off Topic: Dude The Walking Dead has been great so far this season. I can’t wait to watch tonight’s episode.
Prismo
11/12/2012-1:48am at 1:48 am (UTC -4)
Tonight’s episode was great again. This season has been about 100x better than last season!
Mr North Jersey
11/12/2012-10:54am at 10:54 am (UTC -4)
This.
Last season the whole farm thing every week was so boring. They were too safe every week.
darknova306
11/11/2012-11:21pm at 11:21 pm (UTC -4)
Interesting. Maybe they really are as broke as we all expected. Though, saying that your ‘source’ should definitely know doesn’t give you any credibility. Still just rumors and hearsay.
Whatever. Rabble rabble this team hates us all. I miss baseball games happening instead of just rumors and nonsense.
Mr North Jersey
11/11/2012-11:40pm at 11:40 pm (UTC -4)
I just scanned a few of this Salfino fellow latest tweets and it seems with every tweet he is trying to get further and further away from his original claim.
darknova306
11/11/2012-11:45pm at 11:45 pm (UTC -4)
What a shock! More media shysters doing the “let’s stir up trouble because it’s easy with these crazy Mets fans” nonsense.
Until something concrete actually happens in the reality of the universe, we have no reason to believe anything some dumb f*&king idiot tries to tell us about sports.
I just went through his timeline, too, after seeing some retweets that sounded like he was backpeddling hard. From his Twitter feed:
“I have no knowledge of the Mets financial situation other than hearsay.”
Never believe the stupid sh!t that comes from these dumb clowns.
Mr North Jersey
11/11/2012-11:51pm at 11:51 pm (UTC -4)
@MichaelSalfino
I learned a hard lesson today about social media today and apologize to everyone and most importantly the New York Mets.
https://twitter.com/MichaelSalfino/status/267849506551373824
This reminds me of that Dino character and a tweet that garnered similar attention last off season.
darknova306
11/11/2012-11:54pm at 11:54 pm (UTC -4)
Yup. Just another worthless shyster trying to get his name out there at our expense. What a sad joke.
Prismo
11/12/2012-1:50am at 1:50 am (UTC -4)
I don’t think he’s trying to get away from his original claim. I think the WSJ came down HARD on him, probably gave him a real nasty call…and he’s trying to relieve the situation.
Mr North Jersey
11/11/2012-11:53pm at 11:53 pm (UTC -4)
@MichaelSalfino
The reason I am apologizing is that I thought there were different standards between reporting news and tweeting and clearly there are not.
https://twitter.com/MichaelSalfino/status/267851134381735936
Mr North Jersey
11/11/2012-11:59pm at 11:59 pm (UTC -4)
So doesn’t this,
@MichaelSalfino
I am not an employee of the Wall Street Journal and nothing said about the Mets has anything to do with them.
https://twitter.com/MichaelSalfino/status/267852913945235457
sort of contradict with this?
@MichaelSalfino
Source who would DEF know tells me Wilpon/Mets are broke, can’t extend R.A. or Wright and have maybe two years left before they lose team.
https://twitter.com/MichaelSalfino/statuses/267766748965658624
Mr North Jersey
11/12/2012-12:00am at 12:00 am (UTC -4)
Oh I see by “Them” he is refering to his clients.
Saltygary
11/12/2012-8:26am at 8:26 am (UTC -4)
Wow the dude got owned last night. I believe this is the last time we will hear from him. Lol what a jackass.
TX
11/12/2012-10:44am at 10:44 am (UTC -4)
So… Much to do about absolutely nothing?