Mets in trouble with MLB

February 28, 2008 · Paul Raymond · Jump to comments

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Only a day into spring training and the New York Mets are already in trouble with the commissioner’s office. So what did the Mets do? They violated MLB rules on how many “regular” players must attend road spring training games. They brought only 1 regular to their game vs the Detroit Tigers. What makes this violation worse is JUST the day before, MLB executive VP Jimmie Lee Solomon sent a memo out reminding all teams of the policy.

So are the Mets in direct violation or did the league know? According to Mets GM Omar Minaya the league knew of their situation. “Right now, we have a situation where some of our players are not physically ready to go right now,” Minaya told ESPN.com. “We have Luis Castillo coming off surgery and Carlos Beltran coming off surgery, and some other guys. And this early in camp, if players aren’t ready to go, we just aren’t able to bring a full complement of players. We communicated this to Major League Baseball, and they understand.”

The only regular who played for the Mets was OF Ryan Church. Other notables were Marlon Anderson, Ramon Castro and Ruben Gotay definitely not players u can consider in the leagues “four regulars” rule. Solomon’s memo supposedly informed teams that the league will be “closely monitoring and vigorously enforcing this policy”.

The Mets could be facing sanctions, to what level is unknown. For this first offense in the very beginning of camp I’d say they’d risk at most a league fine. But honestly i think they’ll get a slap on the wrist and told don’t do it again.

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