Mets’ Triple-A park needs to be flushed

THE TOILETS near the dugouts at Las Vegas’ Cashman Field “backed up and exploded” last Aug. 22, according to a newspaper report, perhaps shining a light on how much the Mets’ Triple-A club needs a new ballpark.

That day was “ugly,” said Don Logan, the president and COO of the Las Vegas 51s, the Mets’ highest minor-league affiliate. “The ballpark keeps deteriorating and the sewer backing up was the culminating point. It was the last Saturday (home game of the season) and we had a big crowd and that exacerbated the sewer problems. It was terrible.”

It’s part of the reason why the Pacific Coast League’s commissioner is wondering if Cashman Field can continue for long as a Triple-A ballpark, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The paper obtained two critical letters from league commish Branch Rickey III to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors’ Authority, the 51s’ landlord. The first one was written in May — before the toilet incident — and said, in part, that Cashman Field “has sadly been surpassed by every other facility in Triple-A baseball.”

In a second missive in November, Rickey wrote of the toilet issue, “That particular problem is representative of what are more regular and pervasive infrastructure issues.

“The salient point is that the Cashman facility has deteriorated. To assure it will be ready for play beyond 2017 and 2018 might force an expenditure of many tens of millions of dollars and still not provide an optical longterm solution.”

“The convention authority has been a great landlord, trying to fix things up,” Logan said in a telephone interview. “But at the end of the day, there’s no room, no space. We can’t put in new weight rooms, hydrotherapy.”

In 2014, the Mets signed an agreement to keep their Triple-A team in Vegas through the 2016 season.

SO LONG, CARLOS?:

The Mets officially announced their two-year contract with reliever Antonio Bastardo Friday night and it meant a potential parting with a familiar bullpen name – Carlos Torres. Also, the Mets avoided arbitration with Lucas Duda and Jenrry Mejia, according to MLB Network. Duda will be paid $6.725 million in 2016 and Mejia’s salary is $2.47 million. Mejia won’t earn all of that money, either — he’s serving the final 99 games of his second drug suspension and won’t be paid while completing it.

Torres, meanwhile, was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Bastardo, who got a $12 million deal. The Mets had given Torres a one-year, $1.05 million contract about a week ago, avoiding arbitration. He was 5-6 with a 4.68 ERA for the Mets last year, making 59 appearances. ... In other Met news, the team announced it has invited infielder Danny Muno to spring training.