Mets Offseason In Jeopardy

New York sports fans are fickle and Mets fans are no exception.  An offseason which once had promise is now threatening to end with little more than a whimper.  With yesterday's news that Ike Davis isn't on the fast track to a new franchise, combined with another report that an acquisition of Stephen Drew is far from certain, Mets fans are growing irritated.  Guess what...they should be.

The 2014 season was the target, or the promise of things to come.  Although the team never said it out loud, it was widely accepted that the plan would be to wait out the bad contracts, and then reinvest in the future.  Different fans took that different ways.  While many thought the team should immediately be on track to contend, others (myself included) felt that this offseason would begin the rebuild.

Now I ask you, have the Mets taken any legitimate steps to rebuild anything?  What they have done is finally spend some money.  They dropped $7.25 million on a stopgap outfielder in Chris Young who they're hoping will have a bounce back year, another $20 million on a stopgap starting pitcher in Bartolo Colon to fill in in Matt Harvey's absence, and finally $60 million on the only real quality investment for the future they've made this winter, Curtis Granderson.

The issue remains, the team has spent all that money, and may not be any better than they were in 2013.  Granderson improves the team in the long term, however his career numbers suggest he will provide roughly the offense we saw from Marlon Byrd last year.  The other two are legitimate long shots.  So now that the front office has failed to deliver on two other fronts, fans are left to wonder if they've been duped yet again.

Neither moving Ike Davis nor acquiring Stephen Drew are season changing moves.  Accomplishing each would have not turned the Mets into contenders, however it is still a missed opportunity.  If neither comes to fruition, the Mets will be poised to return a roster with a payroll lower than last year.  As a result, not only will the front office have missed an opportunity to improve its ballclub, but will will also have missed an opportunity to makes strides in repairing its relationship with the fans.

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