Above: Mr. Met throws a free T-shirt, symbolizing the sale's beginningRight: Luis Castillo's price - a carton of Marlboro cigarettes
By Jeremy Strauss
Editor-in-chief
NEW YORK -- The New York Mets have certainly kept busy this offseason.
Having hired a new general manager and coach, the club's front office decided to shake things up this Thanksgiving, holding Major League Baseball's first ever Black Friday sale. From Friday morning until Tuesday afternoon, the Mets managed to sell their entire roster to other major league teams, clearing the slate for a new season.
"No more will the Mets be the joke of Major League Baseball," new manager Terry Collins proclaimed at the start of the sale. "We feel we couldn't win one game with the roster we have, and we plan to dump all of them."
And dump they did.
The Mets opened the doors to their sale -- which was held in a warehouse in Uniondale, Long Island -- the Friday after Thanksgiving at 4 AM. It didn't take long for the first transaction to be made, as the Pitttsburgh Pirates bargained for the oft-injured Carlos Beltran, earning his rights for $15.80 at 4:46 AM.
Pitcher Pedro Feliciano would be next, being sold to the Yankees in a backup catching role for a cool $5.67.
"The success of this sale is unprecedented," said Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson. "We never dreamed we'd be able to unload our entire crappy roster in just a few days and make over $100 in the process.
"Amazing. Just amazing."
While the Mets had originally envisioned the sale only lasting until Sunday evening, second baseman Luis Castillo proved to be, quite literally, a hard sell. Finally, at 3:41 PM EST on Tuesday, the Frederick Keys Single-A team bought the grounder-hitting phenom for a carton of Marlboro cigarettes, which, rather than cigars, the Mets front office elected to smoke in celebration to mark the grand conclusion of the event.
Minds around MLB agreed that the sale was something to be admired.
"I think it was a great idea," said Yankees Manager Joe Girardi. "I'm just sorry we couldn't get Francisco Rodriguez. We just weren't willing to spend the $10 the Royals were - not for a guy that violent. $8, maybe, but $10?"
"I'm happy with the sale, and I'm happy with what we got from it," said Orioles Manager Buck Showalter. "I couldn't get my kids the toys they wanted on Black Friday, but I managed to land Daniel Murphy for $0.80."
Above: Castillo reacts to the news of his sale.
