It’s kind of sad to sit back and watch the names of all these solid young pitchers dominate the rumor mill and the trading block this hot stove season.

In any other year, we might have seen the Mets jump in on one or two of these pitchers to fortify the rotation, but instead we sit on our hands and look, but not touch.

Of course you get all the silly rumors that the Mets are interested in this one or that one, but nothing ever comes of it except some meager signing afterward like a Chuck James or Jon Rauch. This is what the Mets have been relegated to as the Selig-enabled Wilpon-sideshow continues in Flushing.

Somebody asked me the other day, why hasn’t MLB taken over the Mets like they did with the Dodgers? I responded, who said they haven’t? Alderson coming here to slash payroll and try to make the Mets solvent again is in fact an MLB takeover, only fluffed up like a china doll in a gift shop window. But once you walk in and look around you can see exactly what’s going on in the inside – empty shelves and no customers buying.

Getting back to my rant, I can’t believe the quality and quantity of great young arms that have been available this offseason. Some of them have already been scooped up, but there’s still plenty of top talent available for the taking.

  • Jair Jurrjens – The 25 year old posted a career best 2.97 ERA for the Braves in 2011.
  • Matt Latos – The 23 year old righty has career marks of a 3.37 ERA and 1.15 WHIP to go with a 8.7 K rate.
  • Gio Gonzalez – A 25 year old southpaw who won 16 games last season with a 3.12 ERA and 197 Ks in 201 IP.
  • Trevor Cahill – The 23 year old won 18 games in 2010 and has a career 3.91 ERA in three major league seasons.
  • Matt Garza – In his first season with Cubs he posted a 3.32 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 197 strikeouts in 31 starts.
  • Yu Darvish – Only 25, he went 18-6 with a 1.44 ERA and a league-leading 276 strikeouts in 232 innings last season.

There’s even more names rumored to be available, but that hardly matters for the Mets.

It’s just a terrible time to be the Mets right now – a team fresh out of money and **** out of luck.