If you had a chance to read Mets owner Fred Wilpon’s comments about the current state of his team and players on Monday, you don’t need us to tell you the things he said were idiotic and ill-advised. For starters, it probably isn’t a good idea to refer to your team as “sh***y” when you are the one who put it together and fans are paying huge money to attend games. It also may have been best if Wilpon refrained from trashing his most highly-paid players, especially ones like Carlos Beltran who could shaft the team going forward.
Beltran is on the books for the Mets for one more season and owed $18.5 million. The Mets have not gotten off to a good start (22-24) and thus far have looked like a team that would be sellers at the trade deadline. Dealing Beltran would make the most sense considering he is in the final year of his deal and owed a ton of money, but the problem is Beltran has a full no-trade clause.
When asked about Wilpon’s comments, Beltran’s agent, Scott Boras, said that he wished things like this would be kept in-house but also reiterated the importance of the no-trade clause. “No doubt,” he said. “It was a primary point that he wanted to make sure he got to stay in one place with his family as long as he could.”
Check and mate. As ESPN’s Adam Rubin pointed out, Beltran could make life very difficult for the Mets if and when they are looking to trade him. He could refuse to go to certain teams that are offering the best deal simply because they are not playoff contenders. He could also refuse to be traded to a team that has no interest in extending him. Whether or not Beltran is interested in sticking it to New York after hearing Wilpon’s comments remains to be seen. The only thing that matters is he can if he so chooses.
