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The best part about being a blogger is that you have the opportunity to express yourself without the worry and care that you wont be able to say what you really want. The worst part is when you struggle with finding something to say.

I’m sorry for the lack of posts on here this offseason, but don’t worry, we will be back to more consistent stuff as spring training finally rolls around and we have a team on the field working towards the 2012 season.

One thing though crossed my mind when reading a post where Mike Baron of Metsblog had people on twitter ask him questions about the Mets.

A novel idea and always interesting to see what other fans ask and what other fans answer when it comes to what we are thinking.

But I must admit that the final question on the post itself really made me think that some fans of the Mets need a bit of an in service, an intervention, almost like a good talking too.

I don’t know about the rest of you who read this site or follow me on twitter and will get a link to this post, but are you really serious when you ask Mike or any other blogger whether or not you should root for the Mets this season?

First of all, if you think any of us are going to tell you anything different from, of course you should root for the Mets this season and into the future, you are going to be very disappointed.

Why are you questioning your Mets fanhood exactly? Who gives you the right to do something like that? Is it because its easy? because you want to get a cheap laugh through social media? I mean, do we seriously think you are not gonna watch the games, smile when they do win? get angry when they do lose?

The biggest joke in the world to me by fans is when one makes a declaration that they wont spend money to go to games, that their 20 bucks will help the Wilpons save the team.

Sure, we all dislike Jeff, the rat son of our aloof principal owner, who is I’m sure that even close to as evil as his son his. (although I don’t know that for sure, but I like to pretend that I do).

It’s easy to just quit, I mean, this is not life and death and nobody will really care if you decide to sit at home and stare at the wall during the summer nights for 3 hours at a time.

But are you really going to quit? Of course you’re not, don’t pretend that you will and for the love of the Baseball Gods, whom I’m sure you believe have forsaken you, stop asking us, the bloggers and fellow fans if you have something to root for.

You know exactly what you have to root for, you have the Mets, for better or worse, till death do you part, because just like a Marriage, you have ups and downs and divorce can take a lot out of you and the perception you have amongst your peers (although, not to the same extent of course)

Its time to stop questioning ourselves, feeling sorry for ourselves. Time to stand up, dust ourselves off and look towards the future.

You know and have seen the stories of teams coming from nowhere and I don’t need to rehash those old stories, but the point is, those are great stories cause you never saw them coming.

Even though you think you know what will happen to the 2012 Mets, and even though you may be right, it’s the getting their part that is the most fun.

So Mets fans, stop questioning yourself and have some fun, cause that’s what this great game is all about.

Fun.

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When I look back on 2011, there were countless times when Mets fans just knew the bullpen was going to blow it.  Even when K-Rod was here, late inning situations were never in the Mets favor.  More times than not, K-Rod was in there in the 9th inning, walking that ever visible tightrope.  Hell, even at times during the early part of the season, his WHIP was higher than his ERA.

With the team clearly looking towards the future, Sandy Alderson needed to find a way to patch this team together the most cost-effective way possible.  The Mets obviously had no intentions of breaking the bank for Jose Reyes (even if they had the money, they shouldn’t have matched the Marlins offer) considering they suffered a $70 million loss in 2011.  When I got to thinking, “What’s the cheapest way to improve the team?”, the first thing that came to mind was the bullpen.

Below are the stats for the Mets bullpen from last year.  They were essentially the 2nd worst bullpen in the NL.

When Alderson finally waved the white flag last year around the All-Star break, he sent K-rod to the Brewers for lefty reliever Danny Herrera, who in 13 innings after the trade had a solid 1.13 ERA, and another reliever Adrian Rosario.

At the Winter Meetings, the Mets made another smart trade by sending arbitration eligible, and apparent bad seed, CF Angel Pagan, to the Giants for reliever Ramon Ramirez and CF Andres Torres.  Since 2008, Ramirez has a solid 2.77 ERA and a very respectable 1.21 WHIP.

Before leaving the Winter Meetings, Sandy and Co. still weren’t done adding to the bullpen.  They signed the back-end of the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen, set-up man Jon Rauch and closer Frank Francisco.  Although Rauch didn’t have the best 2011, he has been a pretty solid set up man/emergency closer for the better part of the past 6 or 7 years.  He doesn’t walk too many batters and that can be shown with his 2.6/1 strikeout to walk ratio and the career 1.25 WHIP.  Rauch’s partner in crime last year, Frank Francisco, saved 17 games for the Jays in 2011.  Francisco has been one of the better power relievers in the game over the past few years.  He boasts a 9.9 strikeout per 9 innings ratio for his career.

Between Francisco, Rauch, Ramirez and Herrera, I think the Mets have made a significant upgrade in the bullpen.  Herrera seemed to have a little bit of that Pedro Feliciano ability in him.  Rauch or Ramirez are certainly an upgrade over Izzy/Parnell, and Francisco is way better than anyone who closed for the Mets in the 2nd half of last season.

My math may be off, but those four are going to cost the Mets roughly $10 mil to completely revamp the back-end of one of the worst bullpens in the league.  I know most fans wanted that $10 mil to go into signing Reyes, but the truth is that we are in a cost cutting mode.  We just have to accept it, and understand that baseball is also a game of economics.  It really made no sense to go into battle with essentially the same garbage in the pen this year along with Reyes.  It’s a financially responsible move along with a good baseball move.  If Sandy could get something in return for K-Rod, what makes you think he can’t get something of value back for one of those four if a team comes knocking at the door around the trade deadline?

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Don’t worry. Your eyes are not deceiving you. It is I…the czar of the Daily Stache, making my triumphant return to talk about all things Metropolitans.

First of all, AFMU.com is the worst to host a website. Don’t make the same mistake we did. Anyway, back to new business.

The Mets don’t have much to lose this year…except games. We all expect plenty of that, but there are several glimmers of hope to keep an eye out for. Here’s a look.

The Return of Ike Davis — Perhaps the most promising part of the future of the Mets, Ike needs to prove his health and step up as a leader. With the fences moved in, he should be primed to have a sensational year as long as he can stay on the field. My early prediction for his line (if he plays at least 140 games) is .281, 31 HR, 109 RBI.

Daniel Murphy’s Bat in the Lineup — We all know that he can mash as well as anyone, but can he handle the position at second base? We saw that he can handle third, so that may lie in his future if David Wright is eventually traded. If he plays at least 140 games, look for a .308, 18 HR, 81 RBI line.

Will Lucas Duda Continue Improving — This is a guy I thought was nothing better than a scrub until his emergence last year. Now, we look at him as a source of power, and he is a lock to be the starting right fielder on opening day. Defensively, it will probably be an adventure, but offensively, he is capable of being a force, as he can hit the ball as far as anybody. For his line, if he stays healthy, I expect .265, 23 HR, 90 RBI.

Mike Pelfrey’s Farewell Tour — Pelfrey is my least favorite Met in recent memory, and he is going to really need to refine his game to change that perception. We all know the talent is there, just like it was with Oliver Perez, but Pelfrey has never been able to keep his head on straight. He always buckles under pressure, and I see no reason why this will be his breakout season. Don’t be surprised if he’s demoted to the bullpen at some point. Also, why is this a glimmer of hope? I think Pelfrey will either be dealt during the season or will leave after the season.

Thoughts?

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#Moneyball, #FireSandyAlderson, #Mets. The 3 hashtags on Twitter that have made me absolutely furious the past 36 hours.

Now, like most Mets fans on Twitter, we know who petals 2 of those at nausium. But it wasn’t that person specifically who’s driven me nuts. It’s the other Mets fans who have just thrown babble out there that is crazy talk.

Like most fans, I speak my mind (@ttlsportsblog) and it’s usually a knee-jerk reaction to what has just happened on the field or from the front office. Granted its mostly a sarcasm laden, 140 character or less, sometimes profanity laced, tirade. But not today.

When I look at my Twitter timeline, I can pretty much decipher the fans who “get it” from those who just spew anything that comes to mind.

What Mets fans have to do is just come to grips with the current situation. I know that’s going to be tough, but what Sandy says is right. In order to sustain a winning team, you must be able to have a revenue stream that allows you to add pieces when you need to. The Mets lost $70 million last year. $70 Million!!!!! So if that means not spending $106 million over 6 years for Jose Reyes, that’s what he needs to do. Basic economics tell you that if you spend more money than revenue you generate, your business cannot operate.

So while a team like the Marlins, who are under SEC investigation http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/02/2529191/feds-open-sec-probe-into-miami.html for the financials surrounding their new stadium, is spending money like the Yankees, the Mets are sitting in a financial downward spiral that may not end for years.

So what is a GM to do? Fix the problem. That’s what he’s paid to do. No matter what the ownership tells the public (which seems to have been nothing but lies), his job is to set the team up for years to come. Not just the current season.

I pose this question to all Mets fans. Other than Mike Piazza, what long-term contract that the Mets have given out in the last 15 years, has “worked out”? Let’s have a little hashtag fun with those contracts.

Perdro? #AyePapi
Bobby Bo? #CompoundingInterest
Ollie Perez? #@*&=¥!!!!!
Louie Castillo? #Vomit #BadKnees
Jason Bay? #JasonBayMicrowavesKittens
Tom Glavine? #IHateYou
Carlos Beltran? #BlameBeltran
Johan Santana? #RotatorCuff
K-Rod? #VestingOption
Kevin Appier? #MoVaughnAteMe
Cliff Floyd? #AnyoneHaveASpareKnee?
Kaz Matsui? #JoseAtSecond
Mike Cameron? #HaveYouFoundMyCheekBone?
Scott Schoenwiess? #Meatball

I can think of 3 contracts that have worked out. Wright, Reyes, Wagner. Granted they all had their ups and downs, but over the total length of the contract, they performed to expectation. Sure, Wagner had a bad post- season in ’06, Citi Field is in Wright’s head (along with a Matt Cain fastball), and Jose’s hammys were a bit of a problem. But they all got paid and performed to their contracts.

Now that that’s out of the way, Sandy stated in an interview on WFAN the other night that the less multi-year contracts that we have, the better we can manage finances.

So here Mets fans. Please take a look at Cot’s Baseball Contracts. This is a great site that breaks down contracts on every team. https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tfJWfaPG4VXbDyBscIZf1MQ&output=html

I encourage you to look at 2014. That’s 2 seasons from now. There’s $8.5mil on the payroll. That’s it. And those are the possible buyouts on Santana and Bay.

For the 2014 season this could be (and with a bit of wishful thinking) the Mets starting lineup and salaries.

C. Free Agent
1B. Ike Davis – Arbitration year 2
2B. Daniel Murphy – Arbitation year 2
SS. Ruben Tejada – Arbitration year 1
3B. David Wright – Resigned 5yrs/$90mil ($18 mil)
RF. Lucas Duda – Arbitration year 1
CF. Kirk Nieuwenhius – $500k?
LF. Matt Den Dekker / Corey Vaughn $500k?

Bench: Jordany Valdespin, Reese Havens, Justin Turner

SP. Matt Harvey – Rookie Contract
SP. Jon Niese – Arbitration year 2
SP. Zach Wheeler – Rookie Contract
SP. Jeurys Familia – Rookie Contract
SP. Dillon Gee – Arbitration year 1
SP. R.A. Dickey – You never know? Could be Wakefield

CL. Jenry Mejia – Rookie Contract
RP. Bobby Parnell – Arbitration year 3
RP. Pedro Beato – Arbitration year 1
RP. Daniel Herrera – Arbitration year 1

Just think about this for a moment. The Mets have the best farm system they have had since the early 80′s. I’m not saying that all these kids are going to pan out, but if even 4 of them do, that would be incredible. With all the young players and hopefully the Madoff mess in the rear-view mirror, 2014 should be a great start to the “New Mets”.

Other than the Yankees, this is the way you need to build a team. You need solid young contributing players, especially pitchers, who are under team control. Teams will ALWAYS overpay for young arms. Hopefully the Mets will have one of those and will be able to use one to aquire a superstar player when needed.

Sandy and Co. have a plan. Just because they haven’t sent you an Email via the “Flushing Flash” doesn’t mean there isn’t one.

Frank Francisco and John Rauch are middle of the road relievers that sadly enough, are big upgrades in the pen. Ramon Ramirez is a solid setup guy (who by the way, was that one who drilled Shane Victorino this year that sparked the massive brawl), and Andres Torres is supposedly a great defender and clubhouse guy. From what I have read recently, Angel Pagan has become a poison in the clubhouse and had a terrible attitude. So you know what? Good. See-ya Angel. No one was looking to pay his arbitration salary that would have been probably just over $5 million.

Stay patient Mets fans. Just because Jose Reyes isn’t here, doesn’t mean there’s no one steering the ship. Jose Reyes isn’t Tom Seaver. Things will get better. Ya Gotta Believe the will.

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They say that if you love something, you should let it go. Well, there’s little doubt that many Mets fans loved Jose Reyes, but they aren’t the ones who decided to let him go. It was that cold, calculating, college-educated Mets front office that put all emotion aside and decided that they would not pay Reyes more than they though he was worth. Not even if he was about to jump over to a division rival.

On the internet yesterday, there was much emotional reaction from even the most level-headed Mets bloggers. Matt Cerrone decided he did not care what the rational thing to do was; he wanted his favorite player wearing orange and blue for the next six years.

Right now, I don’t really care about what’s most prudent, and what helps this team long-term, or what will get them to increase revenue and be more consistent down the road. Maybe when Spring Training comes, when I’m full of hope, sunshine and optimism, I can be more measured about this and know it’s for the best. Maybe. However, right now, all I can think about is how the Marlins just ran off with my favorite player … and that sucks.

Meanwhile, over at Faith and Fear in Flushing, Greg Prince lamented the loss of a Mets legend. Difficult to replace will be the run production that Reyes brings to the box score. Impossible to replace will be the excitement he brings to the stadium.

What it was to me was Jose being Jose. Jose lashing. Jose dashing. Jose gunning. Jose grinning. Jose and the Mets winning, Maybe not as much as they had been when they were an annual 89-win proposition (on average) for four straight years and he was leading off virtually every day, but enough so you could put together his legs and his arm and his bat and their fortunes. Gosh, it was fun to be in your seat by the start of the bottom of the first if you were going to the game or at your TV no later than 7:11 if they were on the road. Gosh, it was comforting crossed with exhilarating knowing the game couldn’t commence until Jose had the first of his ups. Gosh, he relished being a baseball player, and he did it as a New York Met.

Up front, it seems kind of stupid that the Mets would let Reyes go for less than $20 million per season. They sure would have won more games in 2012 with Reyes in the lineup and they sure would sell more tickets as well, which would help with future endeavors. General manager Sandy Alderson did his best explaining why he let Reyes go during last Thursday’s conference call with bloggers.

Do I consider him a franchise player? Yes. But a franchise player is only valuable as such if he is contributing to a winning franchise as opposed to simply acting as eye wash for a team that is not very good. So for me, franchise players are critically important — this goes back to the bonding that takes place with a handful of players on each team — you need those kinds of players to win. But ultimately, even a franchise player has to make a contribution to a winning team.

Alderson has said a lot of stuff regarding Reyes in the past few days, but for me, this is the quote that matters the most. We all know that whichever team decided to pay the most for Reyes was going to going to most likely get the most value out of the deal in the first two or three years and then be forced to to overpay a declining Reyes for the rest of the contract. It only made sense, then, for the team that signed Reyes to be prepared to win in 2012 or 2013. Clearly, Alderson does not see the Mets as ready to compete in that window.

Maybe if Alderson could freeze Reyes in carbonite until prospects like Matt Harvey and Zach Wheeler were ripe and ready to front the rotation, he would make a better deal. Unfortunately that’s not the case, and by the time the Mets have enough talent to think about taking the division, Reyes will likely be in his decline stage. The timing just did not work out.

The good news (if you’re bitter like me) is that if the Marlins fail to bring in another high-impact player, they also will probably waste Reyes’ prime on a team that is not quite ready yet. Not with Philadelphia still loaded with veteran talent and with Altanta stocked with more young arms than you can shake a tomahawk at. Even if Miami does bring in Pujols or Wilson, that doesn’t quite guarantee a playoff run.

Of course, until the rest of the off-season plays out (and we’ve got a long way to go), we won’t know if Miami made a good deal for Reyes. In fact, even after this season we probably won’t know if it was a good deal. There’s plenty of speculation on the web, though. Dave Cameron of Fan Graphs had one of the more bullish opinions.

The value is certainly there when he’s on the field, but his ability to stay on the field enough to justify a big contract is essentially the question that will determine whether the Marlins made the right call today. Performance isn’t the issue, as a full-throttle Jose Reyes is clearly worth in excess of $18 million per season — in his case, it’s simply a question of health.

Cameron goes on to say that Reyes could miss 40 to 50 games per season over the length of the contract and still work out as a good deal for Miami. If you’re an optimist, that probably makes you upset that Alderson did not at least match the contract that Miami offered. If you’re a pessimist, you’re probably thinking that 40 games missed in Miami is equivalent to 100 games missed in Queens. For me, the deal is better for Miami than it is for the Mets because the Marlins have more talent in the majors for 2012 and 2013 than the Mets do.

Keith Law at ESPN.com is adamant that the Mets made the right call in letting Miami take their shortstop (subscription required). Law claims that “Shortstop is a tough hole for [the Mets] to fill in the short term, but given their other issues, they are better off with Reyes in South Florida.”

Law isn’t sold on Reyes’ ability to stay healthy into his 30s and call the assumption that he will even be able to play shortstop at age 34 “wildly optimistic.” He also believe that Miami isn’t good enough yet to sign such a risky deal based on winning right now, but like I said, that could change in the next few days.

There’s also the whole idea of creating excitement for a new ballpark to consider. Whatever, their rationale, Law is believes that Miami is taking a big risk with Reyes and that the contract could be a burden on them in the future. If they don’t make the playoffs in the next couple of years, that burden may be in vain.

Finally SB Nation’s Rob Neyer is sort of in between the opinions of Cameron and Law. He notes that if Reyes can play around 130 games per season, then the deal will look good. However, there is also the chance for a “catastrophic” injury that could make Reyes a liability on Miami’s books.

Right now, emotions of Mets fans are no doubt running wild. Many considered Reyes their favorite player. With Wright struggling with batting at Citi Field, Reyes took over as the face of the Mets last season and provided fans with great joy in an otherwise unhappy season.

However, when looked at objectively, Sandy Alderson’s mindset becomes more clear. The peak of Jose Reyes’ career simply did not coincide with the Mets contending for a playoff spot. Add to that the risk of Reyes’ legs not holding up into his early 30s, and you have a deal that would only be made with the purpose of selling tickets and winning a few more games in the short run. Good thing Sandy Alderson has the Mets’ future as his top priority.

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A new trend is happening in sports. Athletes are spurning New York and taking their talents to South Beach. This time it is different. This time the city of New York has lost one of it’s own.

Buster Olney reported tonight that Jose Reyes has agreed to terms with the Miami Marlins tonight. The contract is for 6 years and $106 million. There is a team option for a 7th year at $22 million. If the option is not picked up then the Marlins will pay Jose Reyes $5 million at the end of his 6th season to part ways.

If you’re keeping up, Jose Reyes contract is either for 6 years and $111 million or 7 years and $128 million.

Part of me wants to be angry, upset, bashing Jose for leaving the city. But why should I be? It’s not like I didn’t know this was coming. If you follow the Mets as closely as I do, you knew Jose was going to bolt town a year ago. Not that he necessarily wanted to, but because the Mets were not going to give in to his salary demands.

If there is someone to be upset with here, it is the New York Mets organization. How could you let this happen? How could you let the best player you’ve had since Mike Piazza leave town without even a contract offer?

That’s the kicker here folks, the Mets never even offered Jose Reyes a contract. He never even had a shot to come back. Sandy Alderson spoke with Jose’s agents to get a ball park figure of his salary demands.

What I have heard is that if the Mets were to make Reyes an offer it was going to be somewhere in the ballpark of 5 years and $85 million. The Mets were considering throwing in a club option for a 6th year that would total somewhere around $100 million. The problem is the Mets were so worried about Reyes’s hamstring injuries that they felt 5 years was a stretch.

The Marlins are looking at Jose Reyes as a piece to the puzzle. The big piece for the Marlins is luring Albert Pujols out of St. Louis and to South Beach. I myself cannot see that happening, but if the Marlins offer the most money, then why not? Puljols has been to the World Series three times with the Cardinals and won two championships. At this point it will most likely be more about money then championships.

The Marlins had to lure Jose in first for someone like Pujols to even consider the Marlins and take their championship intentions seriously. The Marlins ignored Jose’s injury history and completely outbid, which to this point seems like themselves.

Who was in the market for Jose?

All off-season we have heard numerous teams linked to being interested in Jose. But, who really contacted him? Who made Jose an offer?

There was a report last week that Jose Reyes was spotted in Philadelphia and dining at a luxurious restaurant that the Phillies bring their free agent targets to. As expected when this report leaked Phillies GM Ruben Amaro denied it. If there is something to be said about the Phillies tho, is they are always secretive about their free agent targets and they are always the mystery team that seems to sweep in at the last minute and claim their prize, so maybe Philadelphia did have some interest. Regardless when this report leaked it may have caused the Marlins to panic and increase their offer for Reyes dramatically.

Whether this report was true or false, it didn’t hurt Jose at all.

As I mentioned earlier the Mets never made an official offer. The Marlins initial offer was for $90 million which Reyes declined.

Those are the only offers or stories we have heard publicly about Reyes free agency up to this point.

Why did Reyes sign so soon?

When I broke the news of Reyes bolting to Miami to some of my friends this evening they asked me what his price was and I told them, and they all had the same response.

That’s it?

It appears to me that most of the public thought Reyes was going to get more or could have gotten more if he waited it out longer.

I myself think Reyes got a fair offer, and I think they Marlins may have even overpaid considering he is good for at least one DL stint a season and we know he is not a quick healer. He healed quickest in his contract year.

The reason Jose Reyes signed so soon though is because the Marlins made him his biggest and best offer to date. If Jose waits on this offer, maybe the Marlins really up the contract offers to people like Mark Buehrle or Albert Pujols and they commit and then the Marlins take the offer to Reyes off of the table. Now maybe his best offer left is $90 million. He’s then out $21 million.

That’s a lot of money especially considering Reyes last contract with the Mets was for 4 years and $22.5 million with the Mets. Reyes had to jump on his highest offer quick before teams reconsidered or even lowered offers, and Reyes seen the market dry up right in front of him.

What does this do for the Marlins?

Jose Reyes joining the Marlins does not make them a championship team. At this point it doesn’t even make them a championship contender yet. What it does do is add another nice piece to build around.

The Marlins already have a stud shortstop in Hanley Ramirez. Early word on the street was that Hanley will most likely move to third base or the outfield and he was not thrilled with the idea. Will that be an issue throughout the season? How will Hanley adapt to the new position defensively?

Jose and Hanley are good friends. Hanley Ramirez is the god father to one of Jose Reyes daughters. Their relationship is similar to the Jeter/A-rod situation in New York years ago.

What kind of attitude will Jose have? He’ll have his smile and his handshakes and he can motivate the team, but there is also another side to Jose. A childish side, a selfish side. When I say selfish I am not talking about bunting to win a batting title and finish your Mets career. I am talking about having a poor attitude when he’s in a slump or things are not going right with the team. With Ozzie Guillen as the manager, personalities may clash.

Right now the Marlins have a lot of talent on paper, but as the Philadelphia Eagles have shown this season in the NFL and the Miami Heat showed last season in the NBA…talent on paper means nothing.

If Pujols does join the Marlins next, it gives them the best offense in the National league, but they still lack pitching. The only thing the Marlins have accomplished so far is stealing one from the Mets.

How this effects Reyes?

Reyes got the big contract he’s always wanted, he’s in a brand new ballpark and he is going to be playing in nicer weather. That is a huge factor on his hamstrings. Reyes also joins a team that has a much better chance of winning next season then then Mets do. I myself cannot knock Jose Reyes for this decision.

How this effects the Mets?

If the Mets were willing to shell out 80 million to Jose Reyes you would think the club has that kind of money to spend on other free agents. I am curious to see what Sandy Alderson does with this money. He has cleared a lot of payroll, and he claims this team is not rebuilding, so how does this team immediately improve without bringing back your best player?

Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed every moment Jose Reyes put on a uniform and took the field for the Mets. We all saw this coming, so I prepared myself for this day months ago so when the news finally broke I wouldn’t feel so hurt.

What bothers me is this…in the last two days the Mets have lost Chris Capuano to the Dodgers on a 2 year $10 million contract and now Jose Reyes to the Marlins.

Last season the Dodgers declared bankrupcy. Major League baseball had to step in and pay their players. The Florida Marlins (now the Miami Marlins) have always been known as a cheap team and they would always trade their star players before they had to pay them too much. The Mets were the team competing for top free agents with the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Now the shoe is on the other foot. The Marlins and the Dodgers miraculously have money and the Mets have re-signed no one. When I see players leave the New York market for teams that have been known to not have money, I feel like I am being slapped in the face. Even if that player is being overpaid.

With the Reyes news now becoming real, New York now has a mid market team. I never thought it would ever get this bad for the Mets. It’s not just bad for the Mets, but it is bad for baseball and the longer this keeps up I have to ask myself, when does the MLB step in?

All we can do right now is believe in the Sandy Alderson regeme. Tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow starts a new era for the Mets. When Jose Reyes comes to New York on April 24th for the first time, if I’m in attendance, I’ll be giving Jose a standing ovation. I will then rely on hope that sooner then later, we can make Jose regret his decision of taking his talents to South Beach.