The biggest move of the MLB offseason was made when the New York Yankees landed slugger Giancarlo Stanton. Fred Wilpon, owner of the New York Mets, was reportedly quite displeased when that happened.
Mike Puma of the New York Post cited a person close to Wilpon, saying “Fred is pissed every time the Yankees make a move.”
“At issue is the Yankees’ willingness to take on huge contracts, in the process embarrassing the Mets for their restrained spending habits,” Puma explained. “The Yankees, who acquired Stanton from the Marlins earlier this month for Starlin Castro and two prospects, will pay the All-Star slugger $265 million over the life of his remaining contract if he doesn’t opt out. Jacoby Ellsbury and Masahiro Tanaka are other current Yankees in the middle of contracts worth more than $100 million.”
Quite frankly, this is a strange thing for an owner in New York to be mad about.
It’s one thing for team like the Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, or Pittsburgh Pirates to be frustrated with the spending of big-market teams. There’s only so much teams in smaller markets can do to keep up.
But Wilpon has consistently pinched pennies with the Mets. They share a market with the Yankees and while they may not be as popular or have the budget that the Bombers do, the Mets could spend a lot more money than they do.
Really, that has as much to do with the spending gap between the two teams as the Yankees being free spenders does.