It was just a matter of time before a prominent voice spoke out against the Mets' free-spending offseason -- but it came from a somewhat unexpected source.
Of all people it was David Axelrod, a longtime political operative and former White House senior advisor during the administration of President Barack Obama, who was one of the first notable figures to turn heads when he lashed out on Wednesday after the news broke that the Mets had continued their splurge by agreeing to terms with Carlos Correa on a 12-year, $315 million deal.
Axelrod, who grew up in New York City before later settling in Chicago, lamented that the Mets were no longer the "plucky underdogs" of his youth and that "anyone who loves baseball should root against them."
He also slammed "disreputable" Mets owner Steve Cohen for "blatantly trying to buy a title."
Not surprisingly, Axelrod faced pushback from baseball fans on Twitter, particularly Mets fans. Many of them said MLB's billionaire owners should be more willing to follow Cohen's lead.
actually, an owner being willing to spend a reasonable portion of his ridiculous profits in order to make their team better is a good thing
— Bill_TPA@mastodon.social (@Bill_TPA) December 21, 2022
How dare billionaire owners pay for talented labor and build a team with potential to increase their chances of winning!
— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) December 21, 2022
What a laughable and ridiculous stance after the Wilpons ruined championship hopes by not spending money on players for so long.
But Axelrod clapped back at the haters and the losers, saying his bona fides as a Mets fan stretches all the way back to their inaugural season, when they bumbled their way to a mere 40 wins and kicked off their half-decade run as loveable losers.
It bears noting that the Miracle Mets team that Axelrod is apparently yearning for enjoyed its run in 1969 -- some six years before MLB players won the right to free agency in 1975. So, clearly he is looking to make the Mets great again in a way that is literally no longer possible.
Meanwhile, the Mets' heel turn as the new evil empire has been largely well received by the majority of their long-suffering fans, who have long complained about playing second fiddle to the Yankees, both in terms of spending, and more importantly, winning.
But that didn't stop Axelrod and at least a couple sports media figures -- including, reportedly, Chris "Mad Dog" Russo -- from voicing their concerns about the Mets' shopping spree.
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