Mets ownership unwillingness to pay impacts trade deals

The Wilpons are saving around $10 million for the rest of 2017 after trading away three quality players so far

The Mets have made three pretty big trades, and have managed to make the receiving team pay the remaining salary of each player they acquired.

You’d think this was actually a pretty smart move on the part of general manager Sandy Alderson and co. for the future of the franchise, and well, it is, if you’re part of the Mets ownership group. If that’s the case, you’ve saved yourself a good chunk of change from Addison Reed, Lucas Duda, and Jay Bruce‘s remaining salaries.

Unfortunately, when the team that’s receiving a player in a trade also has to pay them for the rest of the year, they’re less likely to give back better prospects. The money they have to pay becomes part of the trade. The Mets aren’t just trading a player, they’re also trading a contract worth millions of dollars.

When the Mets unloaded Duda, Tampa Bay took the estimated $2.5 million left on his deal on. The Boston Red Sox took on Reed’s remaining $2.66 million, and in Bruce’s case, the Indians took on around $5 million that was left. The Wilpons are saving around $10 million this year.

And while there’s maybe a couple of guys that could help the Mets down the line, these trades are looking more and more like salary dumps. In the last trade specifically, this was even more painfully obvious.

The Mets got a kid named Ryder Ryan who is in his second year of pro ball, and has posted a 4.79 ERA in single-A. Now, granted, Ryan is a converted position player, and can reportedly hit 97 m.p.h. on the radar gun, but the likelihood of him making an impact on the big league roster is almost nonexistent.

It’s easy to blame Alderson for these types of moves, but it really boils down to ownership. It’s frustrating when you think about how good of a player Bruce, Duda and Reed were in 2017. It’s impossible not to wonder what kind of players the Mets could have gotten in return had the Wilpons decided to swallow those $10 million.

This is specially true, when rumors point to the Yankees having offered a better deal prospect-wise to the Mets, but they didn’t want to take on Bruce’s remaining contract.

On the flip side, you could also make the argument that eating that money wouldn’t have made a difference in terms of prospects. You could still get a prospect that’s a long shot of making it but taking on salary isn’t nothing.

Hopefully ownership decides to reinvest the money they’ve saved thus far this year into acquiring some talent next season. Who knows if that’s what will happen, but it’s definitely nice to try and stay a little positive at least.

Next: Mets trade outfielder Jay Bruce to Cleveland Indians

As Mets fans we’ve gotten used to rooting for a team in a big market that deals like it sits in a small market, but this year’s deadline has shown just bad it can really be for the Amazin’s.