The Raiders, The Mets, And Dwight Perry Today

It has been almost two years since Raiders’ WR Henry Ruggs III was involved in a car crash that killed a young woman and saw Ruggs charged with felony DUI, driving 156 mph, possessing a firearm and vehicular manslaughter.  After two years of legal wrangling, Ruggs pleaded guilty yesterday to reduced charges and was sentenced to prison for 3 to 10 years.  Ruggs is 24 years old; if he is released after 3 years, he might be able to resume an NFL career; if he serves the full 10 years, I doubt he would have any chance for a return.

Speaking obliquely about the Raiders, someone sent me a link to a listicle of the “Ten Most Hated Players In The NFL”.  Lists like this are usually silly at best and I would not even try to set up any sort of measurement scale that might confirm this list either in aggregate or in order.  But I did find it notable that none of the ten “most hated players in the NFL” are Las Vegas Raiders.  I suspect that Al Davis is somewhere in the cosmos wondering what has happened to his squad …

Yesterday, I mentioned that this year’s USWNT had 11 of the highest paid women’s soccer players in the world and the team’s early exit demonstrated that big payrolls do not necessarily translate into championships.  In MLB, the 2023 New York Mets would be the poster children for such a circumstance; so, I went back to check just how far short of dominance that squad fell.

Here are some data:

• The Mets’ Opening Day roster of 40 players totaled $376M.
• The Mets were “sellers” at the trade deadline and had to eat portions of the bloated contracts they traded away.
• In total – – including the infamous Bobby Bonilla contract from more than 20 years ago – – the Mets are paying $155M to players who are not playing for the Mets.

[Aside:  If I have counted correctly, there were 10 MLB teams that started the 2023 season with 40-man roster payrolls BELOW $155M.]

• This morning the Mets are 7 games behind the Marlins in the NL East.  On Opening Day, the Marlins payroll was $130M.  The Mets’ contractual commitments were 290% of the Marlins’ commitments, and yet …
• This morning the Mets are 2.5 games ahead of the Nationals in the NL East.  On Opening Day, the Nationals payroll was $93.1M.  The Mets’ contractual commitments were 404% pf the Nationals’ commitments, and yet …

Success in professional sports requires owners to spend money on players and good players cost more than scrubs.  Those two statements need no historical litany.  But the important and intangible element for success is roster building – – and roster building involves signing some top players to big contracts and pairing those players with young talent that can perform at a high level but does not have the history that allows them to command top dollars – – yet.

What the Mets tried to do was to buy top-shelf talent up and down the roster and did so by paying big money to good players.

• Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander were to make $43.1M each this year.
• Francisco Lindor was to make $32.4M this year – – and he is signed at that figure or higher through 2031.
• Starling Marte was to make $21M this year – – and he is clearly on the downward arc of his career.

You get the idea.  The Mets were committed to overpaying at far too many positions and they were concentrating their spending on players who were not likely to improve their performances as compared to previous performances.  The Mets were paying players for their lifetime achievements in many cases and not for what might be reasonably expected as results in 2023.  As of this morning, sportsline.com gives the Mets a 0% chance to win the NL East and only a 4% chance to make the NL Playoffs.

Moving on …  I got an email from Dwight Perry earlier this week.  I miss his Sideline Chatter column in the Seattle Times, but it is good to hear from him periodically.  His note this week dealt with “Pac 12 Stuff”.  This is the kind of stuff that is below the surface here on the East Coast but is clearly worth knowing:

“A couple things among the Pac-12 rubble: Washington State is also left holding the bag to the tune of a $100 million athletic deficit, for paying extravagant coaching salaries and making facilities upgrades while anticipated/promised income from the Pac-12 Networks fell way short of anticipated projections. But they were still getting $25-30 million a year in TV revenue; now they might get a quarter of that.

“Check my figures, but I think Oregon State is $80 million in the hole. The Beavers, ironically, are a solid threat to win the final Pac-12 (as we knew it) football title this year. [Aside:  I like Washington in this final PAC-12 season …]

“The most logical solution to this mess I’ve seen is to let football break off on its own and keep all the other sports in their traditional, regional conference set-ups. I know I’m not salivating at the thought of Washington’s softball team making a cross-country road trip for a riveting three-game series at Rutgers.

“Also, I saw a headline where the NCAA president is ‘deeply concerned’ about the latest conference realignment/implosion. In a related story I think I saw a chihuahua with a wolfhound’s tail.”

Finally, I will close today with these words from George Orwell:

“On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good and not quite all the time.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………