Since Brodie Van Wagenen pushed for Jacob deGrom to receive a contract extension, it has been an issue for the Mets organization. With Van Wagenen being the General Manager and his handling the negotiations himself, it is a situation he has to handle himself.

With deGrom’s former agent, a man who knows exactly what it would take to sign deGrom to an extension, handling things, most reasonably expected a deal to get done. Even the most skeptical of Mets fans thought deGrom’s agent would take care of him. So far, no deal is in place.

While deGrom is not getting his deal, other teams are locking up their aces. The Yankees extended Luis Severino. The Rays extended Ian Snell. The Red Sox extended Chris Sale. The Astros extended Justin Verlander. The Phillies locked up Aaron Nola. The Dodgers extended Clayton Kershaw. We have also seen the Indians sign Carlos Carrasco. There’s no deal for deGrom, and according to him, he’s now not as optimistic a deal gets done.

Mets fans aren’t the only ones who have noticed. The team has as well. In fact, Noah Syndergaard went off on the team over the weekend. With respect to deGrom he said, “Jake’s the best pitcher in baseball right now. I think he deserves whatever amount he’s worth. I want to keep him happy, so when it does come time for him to reach free agency, he stays on our side pitching for the Mets. I just think they should quit all this fuss and pay the man already.” (ESPN).

Syndergaard’s gripes go beyond paying deGrom. He is also irritated the team is traveling to Syracuse before the season begins because he does not feel it is conducive to preparing for the season and winning baseball games. As part of his scathing rebuke of the team, Syndergaard would say, “I mean, I’m sure the amenities in Syracuse aren’t the best for a Major League Baseball team to go up there and have one last workout before the regular season starts, but those kinds of decisions are above my pay grade.”

Syndergaard is right about there not being sufficient amenities. In fact, reports indicate due to budget constraints there were concerns about the ability to obtain the type of equipment required to host a Major League workout at a non-baseball venue. So, yes, once again, we are talking about budgets and money with the Wilpons. As it turns out, the Syracuse situation is the least of the concerns.

As reported by the New York Post, “Wilpon’s investment firm Sterling Equities has agreed to pay roughly $180 million to buy back about a 12 percent stake in the Amazin’ s from cable giants Comcast and Charter Communications . . . .”

What was quite troubling about the repurchase was most likely made in cash because of the Major League “rules limiting the amount of debt an owner can put on a team.” Essentially, as many expected, the team is highly leveraged and perhaps more than anyone expected.

This not only shows a team still in disarray after the Madoff scandal, but it also shows a team not very well run. In fact, based upon this repurchase, the Mets valuation now stands at $1.5 billion. To put that into perspective, a Marlins team which was purportedly a financial mess sold for $1.2 billion to an ownership group which included Derek Jeter.

Between the reports over the weekend, we have the Mets not stepping up to the plate to sign deGrom, the team not providing a sufficient budget to provide proper amenities and equipment for a promotional stop to help boost their Triple-A franchise, angry players, and they are highly leveraged leading them to try to cobble together money so as to not violate MLB debt rules.

It really makes you question is these are just a series of random events, or if this is just a series of dominoes falling and knocking down the Mets valuation and chances to win in 2019 and beyond.