The negative headlines from the Mets’ latest p.r. fiasco are subsiding as the Phillies come to Citi Field for the start of a three-game series tonight.
But the stinging comments from owner Fred Wilpon made to the New Yorker about his team, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and David Wright serve as another black eye for a Mets franchise that has been bruised and bloodied these past four seasons.
Al Leiter, who spent 1998-2005 with the Mets, said this controversy should blow over, but the bigger concern remains the Wilpons’ financial woes.
“I think it’s a little unsettling for the team as a whole because you are sitting in the clubhouse and you’d have to be an idiot not to know the story,” Leiter, now an analyst for the MLB Network, said about the cash-strapped Wilpons, who sold a portion of the team to hedge-fund manager David Einhorn yesterday.
“Obviously, there’s an unbelievable amount of frustration with all things transpiring in ownership’s situation that I would take the comments with a grain of salt. As a player you have enough to worry about.”
While the Mets have floundered, the Phillies have flourished. Since chasing down the Mets — down 7 1/2 games with 17 to go to win the NL East in 2007 — they have won four straight division titles, two NL pennants and a World Series. They have become the premiere franchise in the National League and because of that they were able to convince prize free agent Cliff Lee to return to Philadelphia at a discount this past offseason. It wasn’t always that way.
“I remember when I got traded to Philly in 1991, I was not excited at all,” former closer and MLB Network analyst Mitch Williams said.
“I know from a sports standpoint in general it was a joke. . . . But now and especially in the Phillies case, the owners realize that if you spend the money to build a winner on the field, the fans show up in droves.”
The problem for the Mets is they can no longer afford to spend a lot of money and are looking to cut payroll next season. The Phillies coming to Queens should give the Mets a boost in attendance in their still-new ballpark, which on most nights is half-empty.
Despite all these problems, the Mets have remained competitive on the field, staying within shouting distance of the Phillies in the division and close to the wide-open wild-card race. With Wright, Ike Davis and Johan Santana on the disabled list, it’s the two players Wilpon was most critical of who have kept the team going.
“It goes right to Reyes and Beltran,” Leiter said of the reasons for the Mets’ success. “With so much being discussed as to their whereabouts come July 31, they are playing as good as they’ve ever played, really. Even with those distractions you have a core of older players playing for contracts or young guys playing to stay in the big leagues.”
But the Phillies have set the pace once again on top of the division.
“There are times when you’re lucky enough to look at a franchise and say that’s a model franchise,” Leiter said. “And that’s what they have. When the time is good and you have players that you’ve invested in coming into their own you run with it. And they are running with it.”
justin.terranova@nypost.com