Oh indeed, Beltran should not be looked at for the future. For myself, I felt Carlos would be a vital part from 2011 through the end of this season. I think his performance the past two seasons shows he would have been a great asset AND would not throw a monkey wrench into any future plans to keep the team young because this would have been his last season as a Met.

Of course, with an outfield of Duda/Hairston, Pagan and Betran, 2012 would have been much different and certainly, our hopes would be higher for 2013.

BTW – I do have a question for all those excited about the kids projected to be our future. Would one’s enthusiasm be curbed if Wheeler wasn’t one of the many young arms in our system to look forward to? If the answer is yes, that doesn’t say much of the rest of the core for one rookie does not a team make. If the answer is no, that means that our future would still be bright even if no one ever heard of the name Zach Wheeler.

I know, many will answer that our future looks even brighter with Wheeler than without him. That is true, but then, would not have our last two seasons been brighter with Beltran – along with Pagan and a real closer? To me, that would have been the best of both worlds.

Which is why I can’t say all the pitching we seemingly have is going to shine without defense up the middle and hell not even defense anywhere in the OF grass.

In that sense, Sandy & Collins really dropped the ball when it came to assessing proper value to the contributions of Reyes and Pagan to the NY Met engine, both offensively & defensively. Losing Reyes without sensible compensation is utterly tragic. Trading Pagan betrayed Collins distaste for him, which was downright prejudicial, but not in a racial sense. Terry just didn’t like him. What’s done is done, however… which makes the failure to acquire Bourn that much more quizzical.

Moving forward, time will tell how the Mets rectify these oversights. Can we acquire SF prospect Gary Brown, or Marlins prospect Jake Marisnick, both CFers? Do we wait & sign Carlos Gomez or Jacoby Ellsbury? What do we have, if anything, in Kirk, Duda, Brown & Baxter? Will den Dekker ever amount to anything? Durability should be factored into the analysis.

Pitching, on the other hand, appears to be solid. By 2015, Harvey, Wheeler, Niese, Montero & Fulmer/Syndergaard will emerge as one of baseball’s most formidable, young rotations. The bullpen will not be short on options, either, with names such as Parnell, Familia, Mejia, Tapia, Edgin, Carson & Leathersich at the front of a long line of young, strong arms.

Going into this spring, the everyday players on my radar screen are Wilmer Flores, Reese Havens, Andrew Brown, Lucas Duda, Kirk Niewenhuis, Juan Lagares, Zach Lutz & den Dekker. We pretty much know what all other everyday players bring to the plate. If two (2) of the aforementioned step forward, we’ll be in unexpectedly good shape.

Could not have said it better. It is obvious you can differentiate baseball the game from baseball the business and can clearly see that at least with the Mets there is a conflict between the two preventing the organization from actively trying to put together all the pieces required for building a possible competitor for long-term success. The methodology being professed is not a methodology at all or, at best, a very incomplete one.

If you think it is tough on you to be so pessimistic you can only imagine what it must be like for us who saw the Amazins’ in the Polo Grounds in the days of Marvelous Marv and Casey and when Ed Kranepool was still a senior at James Monroe High School.

Hope you continue to contribute to MMO – really enjoyed the way you put this piece together.

pretty much a moot point, because 99% of the time players take the largest money.

Remember, just last week, it was widely reported that Bourn’s first choice was the mets. He only went to Cleveland for the option year.

a free-agent comes here only if he is either A – WELL OVERPAID…which Sandy is not going to do…

OR B – has no other option other than the mexican league

u cant compare that era with this one…

excuse #1 – then the mets may have to give up a draft pick

excuse #2 – Beltran is old

excuse #3 – Beltran is injury-prone

excuse #4 – Beltran wants too much money and is risky

excuse #5 – Beltran would stunt ____ <(insert fringe prospect) development in the OF

Wally Ball and the hope it brings will be used to sell tickets in 2014…

It would not have been a pipe dream had we took December and January to explore trading David Wright for prospects..which could’ve been sent to Florida for Stanton…

then pay Stanton a fraction of the money we were going to pay David Wright for the next 8 years..

In 8 years, Stanton will be 29…

u could sign him to a 8 year 80 mil deal…and sign Ike to a 5 year 35 mil deal….and sign Murph to a 4 year 20 mil deal…and it would’ve avg out to the same money we gave Dr. Dimples….

Instead, we probably only have Dr. Dimples…with a bunch of retreads and fringe prospects surrounding him

Suckas

Just things happened- Ray Knight’s home run in a driving rain in April, Hojo in St. Louis, rallying on a dropped popup against the Giants, a crazy game ending double play in San Diego, the Eric Davis-Ray Knight brawl game where Dave Parker dropped a game ending fly ball in the 9th.. it was awesome well before the playoffs.

I only wish that being 40 now, and that taking place when I was 13 was not the highlight of my Mets fandom…