(UPDATED: 11 P.M.) CHICAGO — Adding to the questions about their post-Madoff financial health, the Mets have quietly shifted their fall instructional league in a reported cost-saving maneuver.
Former Mets GM Jim Duquette, now a baseball analyst for Sirius XM Radio, reported earlier today that the Mets had killed their fall league entirely as a way to save the roughly $300,000 it costs teams to conduct a usual 4-to-5 week program.
But the Mets released a statement tonight saying that, rather than dissolve the league, they have instead moved the 75 players in it to their Dominican Republic academy because so many other clubs have left South Florida. “We will have more opportunities [in the Dominican] to have competition against opposing teams that have training facilities nearby,” the team said in the statement.
Although they continue to deny team finances were affected by Fred Wilpon reportedly losing $700 million in the Bernie Madoff scheme, the Mets have been in cutback mode most of the season.
According to insiders, the Mets will save about $250,000 by moving the instructional league to the Dominican because of much cheaper living expenses on the island.