Michael Kay, the Yankees Yes man, I mean Yes broadcaster, was railing into the Mets yesterday on his afternoon sports talk show heard on 1050 ESPN here in New York.  He was going on about how the Mets were low balling Willie Randolph in offering him a new contract.  His sources had claimed that the Mets offer to Randolph was a meager $200,000 raise over this year’s salary (man I know how upset I would be if my boss offered me only 200,000 more than I made last year).  Callers to ESPN and Kay both made the point of how cheap the Wilpons are and that for sure they would run Willie out of town.  I don’t know what made me angrier, their unfairness against the Mets or perhaps that they could have been correct in regards to the Wilpon’s treatment of Randolph. 

Of course the point now is moot because on the same day the Mets did in fact give Willie a truly deserving contract. Randolph could earn up to 8.5 million if the club picks up their option in 2010.  Upon signing the deal, Willie instantly jumps up to the top tier of salary for managers.  But why did Kay pounce on the opportunity to bash the Amazins?  There are a couple of points to make here. One, the perception that the Mets are cheap and two, Michael Kay hates the Mets because although he gets insulted and denies it, he’s a diehard Yankee fan.

Now in fairness to the cheap claim that is thrown on the Mets, that’s unfair.  They really haven’t been cheap. even before Minaya began his tenure, the Mets spent a lot of money, they just spent it foolishly.  Generally they paid for players who were past their prime (Mo Vaughn) or simply were a bad fit (Vince Coleman, Bobby Bonnilla, et al.). But to say they didn’t spend money is totally ridiculous.  The Mets over the past twenty years have always been one of the top salaried teams in baseball.  Michael Kay made a point to single out the Wilpons as the culprit and not Minaya.  Excuse me Michael but did Omar pay for Pedro, Beltran, and Wagner out of his pocket?  Did he kick into the till for Delgado’s contract or the deals the Mets gave to Reyes and Wright?  What about the 12 million given to Glavine for this season? Aren’t the Wilpons footing the bill for Citi Field? So where does this idea come from that the Mets are cheap. Again, it stems from bad spending not not spending.

Michael Kay claims to be impartial when it comes to the Yankees.  Please give me a break. You know the guy is a huge Yankee fan.  Look, he grew up in the Bronx and was a fan of the Yankees as a kid and he hated the Mets.  He’s admitted to that in the past.  Now he has his dream job, the lead broadcaster for the team he grew up loving on the team’s television network.  How could he possible be impartial?  I don’t even blame him for not being impartial. Gary Cohen is an unabashed Mets fan because he grew up on Long Island and his second home was Shea Stadium.  But here’s the difference.  I never hear Cohen unfairly criticize the Yankees and we all know how much Gary despises the Bombers. Gary always remains professional.  I really felt that Kay was just totally unfair in regards to the Mets and their dealings with Randolph.  After all, Minaya and Randolph had stated on many occasions that the negotiations were on going, neither indicated that there was any pressing need to get it done immediately.  If this were September, assuming the Mets were still doing well, and Randolph still did not have a deal, I could see their being some unrest.  But given the fact that both parties said everything was cordial and moving along, plus the fact that the Mets have spent a ton of money on free agents and trades, and on financing a new stadium, yesterday’s bashing seems a bit over the top.

But I’ll tell you what, I actually like Michael Kay. I don’t hold it against him that he’s a Yankee fan.  I know that if I were in similar shoes working for the Mets, it would be hard for me to not show my true colors too. And I will bet that on today’s show being the professional he is; Kay will admit that he was wrong. Well maybe that’s a stretch by we’ll see.

Check out Mike Lupica’s really nice article on Willie in today’s Daily News.