Yesterday, our own Barry Duchan wrote a solid post expressing his dissatisfaction with how things have progressed as we complete year two of the Alderson Era. His argument was not like the usual “WE GOTTA SPEND MONEY” diatribes you see oftentimes, but more of a thoughtful look at some of the shortcomings he saw with regards to working around the money issues by doing a better job on the trade front, and wanting to see more creativity from the three general managers whose job it is to turn this franchise around and point it in the right direction.

One of our longtime readers and friend of the site, Mr. North Jersey, left a very thoughtful comment in response to Barry that provided a nice little contrast to what Barry had to say. I thought it merited a closer examination by our community in case you missed it. Enjoy…

Understanding the need to express displeasure at what has been just a horrible second half. Once past that (easier said than done), there still remains the point that the team, up to now, has continued to allow time for players down on the farm to develop. If pitching is what the team is banking on to turn this team around by making it a strength, then it comes down whether you believe that players like Niese, Harvey, Edgin, Familia, Mejia and Wheeler can be part of what makes that difference.

There is no argument that moves that have been made have not panned out. Primarily the bullpen is cause for concern, and while there have been some pickups that have pitched well in large part like Izzy, Byrdak and Rauch, they have not been good enough to offset many of the other arms like Carrasco, Beato or R. Ramirez for example.

They gambled with Thole and lost. Torres’ hitting was always a question and outside of a brief run to start the 2nd half his bat has been subpar. His glove in the end never really impressed me as being that much better than Pagan’s. Pagan left much to be desired for me to begin with so that doesn’t say much for Torres. Still he was just a place holder for Kirk Nieuwenhuis who was overall very productive as a rookie (even with the strikeouts) up to the Tampa Bay series this season. Kirk’s numbers were comparable to what Pagan put up during that same span. I still feel Kirk will be starting at centerfield for the Mets before all is said and done. He made some mistakes out there, but he also showed enough where I think he could play center at Citi now. Whether it’s in a platoon situation, remains to be seen.

I don’t dismiss the possibility of Ike Davis being traded, but at this time I am of the opinion they would only do so as part of some huge deal that answers their need at some other position be it in the outfield, catcher or possibly second base.

This is without getting into what I still am waiting for some type of explanation on, and that is how do you fail to sign half of your 2012 First Year Player Draft picks? It only irritates me every time I think of it.

Overall while anyone is free and entitled to pass judgement on the Mets Front Office thus far, and many already have as much as it may bother some, my opinion continues to be that while there are obvious causes for concern I still feel the front office deserves three years to see where things are.

Year Three will be interesting to say the least, but for me it’s about winning a World Series, and if the Mets can win a W.S. either next year or say 2014 then I will look back on this season as being worth it for me.

Of course if the opposite occurs and they continue to struggle, then change will be needed and the 3 to 5 year clock will start once again for the next GM.

Mr. North Jersey represents a good portion of the fanbase who feel as he does in terms of giving it three years instead of two. My only problem with that is that I would wait five years as long as I was seeing some progress. My problem is that I have not seen enough progress to suggest that things are getting better.

If you look at it by counting wins, nobody can disagree there is no progress on that front and it will be difficult to eclipse last season’s 77 win total.

If you look at it from a rebuilding standpoint, you have to wonder how we failed to sign a second round pick and 20 other players in this year’s draft. That was a fail.

If you look at it from a position of trading to fill team needs that won’t soon be filled by organizational prospects, you can’t give them a passing grade there either because we now have more needs than ever before.

All that they have done is wait. Wait for Ruben Tejada. Wait for Josh Edgin. Wait for Matt Harvey. That’s great and all, but these players were already here and all teams wait for their farm to produce, it’s not really a strategy more than it is a byproduct of time elapsing whether you do or don’t do anything else.

Thoughts?