Peter Gammons refuses to acknowledge the Mets
Peter Gammons
Yesterday, Peter Gammons published a column that begins:
Injustice remains throughout the system, which is why it is so refreshing to see the Pirates and Royals reinvest their revenue-sharing money into signing players above Bud Selig’s hallowed (and irrelevant) slots. But the reality is that for all the revenue sharing, for the seeming world championship parity for the last 31 years, less than a third of the season remains, and (except for the St. Louis Cardinals) the highest payroll in each of the other five divisions sits in first place.
On July 29th he wrote:
Now, Sabathia is in New York, Cliff Lee is in Philadelphia and when the Cubs moved into a first-place tie Wednesday afternoon, it meant that every one of the teams with the highest payroll in its division was in first place.
The problem with these statements is, of course, that the Mets began 2009 with the second highest payroll in Major League Baseball and continue to have the highest payroll in the NL East — and they are most certainly not leading the division.
I emailed Jeff, who runs the most excellent Cot’s Baseball Contracts, and he confirmed that the Mets still have the highest payroll in the NL East.
So if you thought the Nationals had it bad with the misspelled uniforms and piddling attendance, well, at least Peter Gammons hasn’t started pretending they don’t exist.
August 17th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Well Gammons is right if you don’t count all the payroll money that is going to players on the disabled list. If he was going strictly by active roster, then yeah, the Phillies and even the Braves have a higher payroll than the Mets…
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August 17th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I’m still laughing that on Gammons’ bio on ESPN, he calls himself “an accomplished musician”. What could be more pathetic than this doddering old poser doing his Keith Richards impression with other “accomplished musicians” such as Jonathon Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, Tim Wakefield, and NESN broadcaster Don Orsillo. (Yes, really. Again, his own bio.)
He cashed in his journalistic credibility in exchange for shameless self-promotion decades ago.
Now he looks like a freakish turkey-necked cross between $20 bill Andrew Jackson and ancient Michael Corleone in Godfather III.
His career now exists of kissing Theo Epstein’s posterior and being an relentless shill for Red Sox Nation. (Smoltz signing…Genius!!! – P.G.)
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August 18th, 2009 at 11:38 am
John, you are a douche. Gammons is still a good reporter, and at one time was the very best around. If anything, he could use a better editor. Also, I’d like him to bring back the mustache.
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August 18th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Doesn’t he mean AFTER the Phillies added Cliff Lee’s contract?
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August 18th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
JR, even if you take Lee’s contract into account, the Mets still have the larger payroll. Lee doesn’t actually make that much. He’s only making $5.7MM in 2009.
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August 18th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Lee makes only 5.75 million this year. So, it has nothing to do with this.
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