Last week, Adam Rubin posed a question to his readers that seven days later I still can’t find the words to compose an appropriate response. But I’ll take a stab at it.

Mets fans, how do you feel about the prospect of seeing Reyes come back to Queens in a garish Miami uniform? Can a New York team ever justify losing a star player to a team from a smaller market, and what, if anything, should be done about it?

To the first question of how would I feel? Terrible, of course. It’s not so much that you’re losing your number one offensive player, but the possibility that he goes to the Marlins and makes them instantly and infinitely better than the Mets is a punch to the gut.

As for whether we can justify small market teams running circles around the Mets, it’s unjustifiable, but it is what it is. Regular readers of mine shouldn’t find this surprising at all.

What should be done about it?

Nothing can be done about it  as long as the MLB Commissioner and Fred Wilpon are in cahoots… And make no mistake of the fact that they are indeed in cahoots… One hand washes the other with those two and it goes all the way back to the second Fred cast the deciding vote to make Bud – a team owner – the commissioner of baseball.

There’s still plenty of offseason left and Jose Reyes to the Marlins is still not a done deal, but it does look pretty good for them.

If the goal of the Mets and specifically Sandy Alderson is to make the Mets relevant again by 2013 or 2014, why would he allow a small market division rival to become significantly better than the Mets  – not just for 2012, but also for the foreseeable future?

Now there’s a question worth looking into.

If the goal is to win again in ’13-’14, how could you possibly stand by with your arms folded and help create the future juggernaut that is the Miami Marlins?

We talk about our prospects helping in a couple of years, but the Marlins have some of the top prospects in baseball and a couple of them are already here with even more reinforcements on the way.

Mike Stanton, Hanley Ramirez, Logan Morrison, Gabby Sanchez, Emilio Bonicfacio… Does anything we have compare to that core of players?

Now add Jose Reyes into that mix for the next 5 years which now brings us out to 2016… Get the picture? No need to mention young Josh Johnson is the ace…

It will be a lot longer than 2013 or 2014 before the Mets can even sniff a division title again. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you’ll understand what’s really going on in Flushing these days.

Brother, can you spare a dime?