3 NY Mets stealing from the team thanks to bad contracts

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Aug 9, 2022; New York City, New York, USA; Cincinnati Reds catcher Austin Romine (28) attempts to play a foul ball by New York Mets first baseman Darin Ruf (28) during the first inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /

For all the talk about the New York Mets and the money they’ve spent, they don’t have many horrible contracts. There are, however, three bad ones that stick out.

The New York Mets have a record-setting payroll. It’s been quite the contrast from the days of the Wilpons being in charge. Steve Cohen has given Billy Eppler the green light to spend whatever it takes to field a competitive team. The Mets didn’t get as far as they wanted to last season but did win 101 games.

The Mets are paying Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander over $40 million annually. Francisco Lindor is making over $30 million annually. There is a slew of players making over $10 million in 2023. Despite all of that money being spent, New York really doesn’t have many bad contracts. The players making a lot of money are still productive. Those who were on bad money deals like Robinson Cano and James McCann are now gone.

The Mets do have three players in particular who are, because of bad contracts, essentially stealing money from their team.

3. The Darin Ruf trade has aged very poorly for the Mets

Darin Ruf is not making a lot of money, he’s set to make $3 million this season, but for a guy who might not even make the roster, that’s too much. Ruf was acquired at the trade deadline in the deal that sent J.D. Davis and three other players to San Francisco.

Most Mets fans weren’t thrilled with the deal at the time, but it did make sense. Davis was struggling to hit left-handed pitching, and they needed someone to platoon with Daniel Vogelbach at DH. Unfortunately, things couldn’t have gone much worse for Ruf.

The veteran who had crushed lefties for most of his career slashed .152/.216/.197 with no home runs and seven RBI in 74 plate appearances. Most of these plate appearances came against southpaws. Ruf was by far the most hated Met down the stretch, whether that was fair or not.

With the Mets signing Tommy Pham and having a prospect like Mark Vientos whose bat is MLB-ready, there’s a very good chance Ruf doesn’t even make the team. If that’s the case, that’s $3 million the Mets will be paying Ruf to play against (and likely torment them).

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