Tom Verducci on the Mets' Spending Spree

In an interesting article for Sports Illustrated, Tom Verducci takes a detailed look at where the money came from to fund all of Omar's big signings.

He points out that this isn't as big a payroll increase as it might first appear. The payroll is expected to go up to $115 - 120 millions from this year's $101 million payroll. The Mets were third in payroll in 2005 and will remain in third for 2006. They will come nowhere near the 2006 luxury tax threshold of $136.5 million.

Verducci points out that the Mets recovered $30 million in salary they won't be paying Mike Piazza, Braden Looper, Doug Mientkiewicz et al. They made extra money from ballpark revenue in 2005 and expect to do better with an even better team on the field in 2006.

Verducci is one of the best baseball writers around today, and this look inside the business of the Mets is a nice change of pace from what everyone else is doing. A must read for Mets fans.