Don Mr. Met

What better way to begin a new decade (otherwise a time of renewal, hope, and possibility) than with yet another story about the effed up backstory behind Citi Field?

That, evidently, was the thought at the New York Post, which produced the latest cringe-inducing headline in yesterday's edition: "Met 'mob' contracts: Shady firms got $52m to build Citi Field".

Now, my first thought was that Citi Field bashing is sooo 2009. But tip your cap to the Post, they packaged it without about as good a graphic as you'll ever see and, in so doing, instantly piqued my interest.

I mean, look at that. Bravo.

Unfortunately, the accompanying article was anything but amusing. Really, it was the latest in a series of articles that we've taken to calling "Yet Another Reason the Mets Are a Complete Joke".

Per the Post, the Mets "shelled out $51.6 million in taxpayer money to contractors shunned by the city for their ties to the Mafia, labor corruption or bribery". The Mafia, for crying out loud.

In response, the Mets released a statement saying that subcontractors were hired on the recommendation of Hunt-Bovis, who, I guess (the Post doesn't explain), was the grand poobah of Citi Field construction. The kingpin if you will.

Essentially the Mets awarded a series of contracts to companies on New York City's "caution list", which "warns city agencies of contract bidders' past problems".

This is the part where we ask, in bold faced type, who in this organization is responsible for quality control?

I mean, $7mm to Eagle One Roofing, whose principal, Damian Sabatino, was "convicted of fraud in 2001 for bribing a labor official, money laundering, falsifying business records and prevailing-wage violations" and who "also pleaded guilty to income-tax evasion in 1996"?

Or how about $5.6mm to L & L Painting Co., which "the FBI is currently investigating over an MTA contracts"? The FBI, for god's sake!

There's also the $5.5mm to Breeze National, a demolition company (perfect) whose "principal was convicted of federal bribery charges in 1988 and reportedly has ties to the mob."

It boggles the mind. How do you award contracts to subcontractors that are on the city's watch list? How do you commit over $50mm in public funds to companies with mob connections, companies that the FBI is investigating?

I might not care so much, only I worry that this disinterest in the details isn't limited to the nuances of stadium-construction. I mean, why should it be?

Just look at the way they've constructed the team in recent years. Each of the past three seasons they've spent a tremendous amount of resources on their top players, and they've gotten that part right (for the most part).

Nevertheless, when it came to the details (i.e., the bottom half of the roster), they showed the same relative disinterest that they seem to have shown in "the details" of Citi Field.

Now, screwing up a roster and awarding contracts to the mob are two VERY different things, and I don't mean to suggest they're one and the same. All I mean to say is that, with this organization, it sure feels as if the same type of problems keep turning up over and over again.

Oh well, maybe tomorrow we'll write our "hopeful new decade" piece. For today, however, we're starting 2010 on much the same foot as we closed 2009.

- A.F.O.M.G.