Mets GM Sandy Alderson yesterday would "not commit to matching" the team's $155M payroll this season for '18, according to Marc Carig of NEWSDAY. Alderson said that this season's total was "higher than originally expected." Alderson said, "The fact that we have so many dollars coming off the books we recognize and a good percentage of that -- at this point undermined -- certainly will be reinvested in the payroll. But I can’t give you a specific number." Carig notes the Mets have roughly $70M "coming off the books" next season. Alderson added, "I’m certainly not sitting here willing to say OK, it’s going to be at least as high as it was last year. But I think we expect to be a competitive team next year" (NEWSDAY, 9/6). In N.Y., Mike Puma writes Mets co-Owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz did "just enough last offseason to silence criticisms about thriftiness." But now old questions are "bound to arise, given the Mets’ dismal performance this season, empty seats at Citi Field" and the GM’s "assessment next year’s payroll may decrease" (N.Y. POST, 9/6).
