Why are Mets fighting P Noah Syndergaard over $8,625?

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. “If anyone should understand the toxicity of bad optics, it’s the Mets and specifically the Wilpon family, who spent too many years making terrible decisions about money. The organization is once again financially stable, which is why their willingness to play hardball with Noah Syndergaard over $8,625 isn’t just counter-intuitive, it’s shortsighted. Heck, it’s just dumb.

To be fair, renewing Thor at $605,500 on Friday when he was asking for $614,125 was Sandy Alderson’s call, not Jeff Wilpon’s. The GM took full responsibility for the move he knew would irritate the Mets’ ace. “This was me,” Alderson said. “We have a system in place for all our players and it’s not in anyone’s best interests to make exceptions.”

Except when the player in question is exceptional. “Syndergaard is the game’s most dynamic and charismatic pitcher. He is also becoming the face of the Mets in the post-David Wright era. Syndergaard has done more than make the Mets competitive on the field, he’s part of a renaissance at the gate, too. With the exception of the Cubs, no NL team gained more fans in 2016. According to Forbes Magazine, the Mets are worth $1.65 billion - the franchise’s value soared 22 percent after the 2015 World Series.

So what are they doing arguing with their best pitcher over the equivalent of pennies? Syndergaard was asking for the same salary that Matt Harvey commanded after two years and 72 days of service. Alderson said no: Thor would be paid for exactly the two years he’s been on the major league roster.

Alderson is a fair and ethical man; his motives for denying Syndergaard were neither personal nor malicious. But the GM is picking a fight with the wrong player. Syndergaard refused to sign the contract “that was his form of protest. Although the right-hander is powerless against his employers, his response, symbolic as it was, suggests the Mets did a magnificent job of alienating him. Over pennies.

Syndergaard said, “I don’t agree with it” although he insisted “I’m indifferent” toward the process. The dead-pan answer fooled no one. The right-hander is upset enough that a friend said, “you don’t forget it.” It remains to be seen whether Syndergaard will hold a grudge, but the Mets are taking a needless risk.

Syndergaard wouldn’t go that far while speaking to reporters Saturday morning. He loves the Mets and made a point of expressing his loyalty on Friday while bashing the World Baseball Classic. When asked why he chose not to join Team USA, Syndergaard said, “I’m a Met.” before adding, “ain’t nobody made it to the Hall of Fame or the World Series playing in the WBC.”

Hours later, Alderson ruled against him.

This is where the bad optics kick in. It looks like the Mets are being cheap. It looks like the Mets are minimizing Syndergaard’s allegiance. The Mets say this is business; renewing players happens all the time “including to Jacob de Grom in 2016. He, too, refused to sign the contract in protest. But it appears as if the Mets are stomping on what could be a once in a generation star, just because they can.

This is where Jeff Wilpon could’ve and should’ve interceded. While contracts are Alderson’s domain, he ultimately works for the ownership family, not the other way around. The Wilpons have been sufficiently damaged by the public’s perception of them to know better than to walk straight into another manhole.

Of course, Alderson would’ve argued that rewriting the rules for Syndergaard allows the 20 other non-arbitration eligible players who agreed to one-year deals to ask for special treatment, too. It’s a logical answer. But there’s a difference between settling a dispute with a dry interpretation of the rules and using common sense.

In this case, Syndergaard was worth the very minor stretch it would’ve taken to keep him happy. Alderson would’ve indeed had to tell the other 20 players “tough luck.” But so what? None of them has had nearly the same impact as Thor. None is being counted as much as Syndergaard to take the Mets to the World Series.

One more time: Syndergaard did not sign the contract. It was his way of telling the Mets to shove it. He isn’t happy with a billion dollar company fighting him over $8,625. Thing is, the money itself is relatively insignificant. Thor won’t starve on $605,000. His earning potential on and off the field is limitless. But Syndergaard just learned an important lesson about the business world.

Loyalty is great, but nothing beats leverage. We’ll see what happens in a few years when he, not the Mets, has it.