It is both incredible and disheartening to me how such a solid, promising ballclub has fallen to such a lowly state. A mere five seasons ago right now we all spoke of how bright the future is for the Mets; how we could be looking at a dynasty. Unfortunately, fast forward to the present, and we see a dynasty that never happened.

Following their defeat in one the most exciting postseason series ever, the Mets appeared to be back. With a young core centered around David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes and a promising future 1-2-3 punch of Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, John Maine; the Amazin’s seemed to be destined for greatness, many tasting a world championship.

Then we all know what happens next; unfathomable implosions back-to-back and an injury crippled 2009, leaving Mets fans realing over a gutwrenching past three years. The dynasty that we were so certain would make the Mets a perennial playoff franchise, has now buckled underneath its own weight.

Eventually it became clear that Perez, Maine and Pelfrey were busts, and even with the acquistion of Johan Santana, it wasn’t enough. After players such as Carlos Delgado, Pedro Martinez, Jose Valentin, Cliff Floyd and Billy Wagner grew older and eventually retired, it be came clear this strong run that was supposed to be the latter half of the 2000’s for the Mets had become just one gigantic disappointment. Despite trying to fix a growing hole in a sinking ship with guys like K-Rod, Jason Bay and Luis Castillo, the team fell apart.

This past year represented just about the end of any hope for this central core of players, who would never reach the expectations we had for them. We have seen Pedro Feliciano, K-Rod, Carlos Beltran and now Jose Reyes depart one-by-one. The only true pillar of this franchise remaining from the 2006 team is David Wright.

Hopefully this next team that is in transition will reach its full potential, will get the Mets back to becoming a respected name in baseball. With a young central group of bats headed by Ike Davis, Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada, coupled with a batch of homegrown arms including Jon Niese, Dillon Gee and soon to be Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler, the future may verywell be bright should everything go in the Mets favor.

But as for now, we can only watch the bitter end of a wasted, extremely talented core of players that was the late 2000’s New York Mets.