Had a chance to read the disturbing piece by Joel Sherman in today’s NY Post yet? Here it is for your viewing displeasure. Now I haven’t brought the name Madoff up for some time in this space, but after reading Sherman’s column, I can’t help but think the Jason Bay signing fooled us into the thinking the Mets financial standing has not been compromised by the Ponzi schemer-in-chief.

The evidence is clear. The Mets payroll is likely to drop by around $30 million before all is said and done and the 2010 roster is set in April. Do you think it is coincidence that the likes of Ben Sheets, Jon Garland, Joel Pineiro and  Bengie Molina somehow found their way to places other than Queens? Based on all I have read and heard, I am starting to think not. I recall that much of the literature I perused after these guys signed elsewhere included phrases like “the Mets were unwilling to go that high” and “the Mets were waiting for the market to come back to them”. This line from Sherman’s column is most telling:

“How could the Mets have encountered bargains for players they wanted and not ended up with a single one; outbid instead by, among others, the Brewers and Padres? San Diego officials actually were stunned the Mets did not jump on Garland at these prices.”

I myself am not stunned. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say that the organization was barely even in on most of the players they were reportedly targeting. I believe their supposed “interest” was a strict PR maneuvering to keep a dispirited fanbase hopeful. They really had no intention of raising payroll after the Bay signing. Simply a guess. No evidence…. but the pieces seem to fit

I will say this though, on the baseball side of the coin, after taking a few weeks to digest the Mets offseason failures, I am not all that unhappy that none of these guys ended up in Flushing. On a case-by-case basis:

• A) Bengie Molina is 35 years old, a base clogging, low OBP guy who clearly didn’t even want to come to NY.
• B) Ben Sheets, a guy  with a injury-filled resume who hasn’t pitched in almost two years was give a guaranteed $10 million contract. Can you blame a team for failing to agree to that kind of financial commitment for a guy with those kinds of question marks. I love the guy but that is way more than I would have been willing to pay him.
• C) Jon Garland? Does that name really excite you that much? An innings eater yes, but pedestrian numbers across the board otherwise. Wouldn’t you rather see Jon Niese get a shot to prove his worth?
• D) Joel Pineiro had stellar numbers last season and probably deserves the 2-year/$16 million deal he got from the Nats. I’d be worried that he was really just another in the long line of Dave Duncan reclamation projects who may come back down to earth without the Cardinals pitching guru by his side.

Seriously, this organization just needs spring training to be here and then they need to start winning some games. That is the only thing that will erase this sort of negative chatter.

It is hard not to put a negative slant on everything Mets related these past few months. As afforded to me by my other line of employment, I got a chance to listen to Darryl Strawberry’s comments to reporters during yesterday’s Thurman Munson Dinner in Yonkers. Despite his pulling no punches, the Straw Man created some positive vibes for me….a glimmer of hope that the Mets prospects of recovery are not as dreary as we all think. Not surprisingly, Darryl believes it all starts with the guy at the top of the lineup.

“You got Reyes coming back. He’s a big part of what they do, getting on base, running, getting him back at the top of the order is a plus. David Wright, I believe he is going to bounce back and have a great year. I mean he struggled last year because there was no pieces in the lineup for him. No protection. There wasn’t Carlos Beltran. There wasn’t Carlos Delgado. They have the capability. It’s just a matter of  ’are we confident enough?’…’do we believe in ourself’?'…’are we too sensitive about dealing with the media?’”

So obviously Strawberry, who we must note is now employed by the Mets, was doing his best to say that not all is lost with this franchise. On the flip side of the coin, Darryl wasn’t shy when assessing his disappointment over what the Mets “accomplished” in the offseason.

“It could have been better. You could have put a couple more pieces in the puzzle. I know they signed Jason Bay, but the big loss was the Beltran situation. This team if they want to get over the hump, they need Carlos Beltran in the lineup and to perform like he’s capable of performing to help this team move forward. When you look at pitching (they need) a little more pitching. Hopefully guys will bounce back. Pelfrey , Maine will bounce back this year. (Johan) Santana’s gonna be Santana. You gotta get other guys in the rotation to be able to come through and I think that is important for them.”

Darryl hit on what every other Mets fan is thinking at this point. They have Johan and then four other big, fat question marks in the rotation. To that point, Jon Heyman in his latest SI.com column agrees with Darryl in his assessment of the Mets offseason failures.

Man! I was trying my hardest to be positive for a change in this space and low and behold, the conversation gravitates toward negativity. You just can’t escape it as a Mets fan these days. The only cure as we all know….winning.

(Adam Garnett is the lead blogger for Rising Apple.  Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)

As if we needed any more clues as to how dysfunctional the Mets organizational dealings are, here is a story today from CSNChicago.com detailing J.J. Putz’s stint with the team in 2009. The most damning quote from Putz was this one:

“When the trade went down last year, I never really had a physical with the Mets. I had the bone spur (in the right elbow). It was discovered the previous year in Seattle, and it never got checked out by any other doctors until I got to spring training, and the spring training physical is kind of a formality. It was bugging me all through April, and in May I got an injection. It just got to the point where I couldn’t pitch. I couldn’t throw strikes, my velocity was way down.”

No physical for a guy you just traded 18 players for? For a guy who was documented to have a bone spur in his precious right elbow? Talk about the height of incompetence.

The next nugget that strikes a nerve with me is the fact that the Mets told Putz not to talk with the media throngs about his injury. Obviously, it is not a new tactic by sports organizations to keep the media, and subsequently the fans who pay money to see these guys play, in the dark about injuries.

Obviously, the Putz in this situation was the one who didn't think a physical for J.J. was necessary (William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)

This one just rubs me the wrong way because of the way the injury manifested itself originally and the fact that the Mets pretty much brushed it off. First they trade for the guy before checking out his medical history. Then, they let the guy twist in the wind by allowing him to pitch with a bum elbow and stink up the joint to the tune of a 1-4 record with a 5.22 ERA in 19 innings of work. And you wonder why Carlos Beltran decided to get that knee surgery without consulting the Mets.

Nothing official from the Mets yet, but it looks like our old, double-play machine friend Fernando Tatis will be back in the mix in 2010. Tatis, who hit 282 in 340 at bats for the Mets last season, with eight HR, 21 doubles and a .339 OBP, will be expected to share first base duties with the lefty swinging Daniel Murphy. The biggest implication of this signing is that it likely signals the end of the Carlos Delgado era with the Mets.

All winter, I was convinced the mets were going to find some way to bring Delgado back to Flushing. After his stint in the Puerto Rican winter league, it obviously became apparent to the Mets that his 37-year old body and surgically repaired hip could no longer endure the rigors of playing first base full time.

If you’ve read this space before, you know my feelings on Delgado. I would have welcomed him back if he were healthy enough to contribute at a high level, but the Mets clearly deemed that not to be the case. It is likely that Delgado and his Hall of Fame credentials will find his way to the American League to become someone’s DH.

Some may argue with me, but I feel this is yet another setback to the Mets hopes of a resurgence in 2010. A healthy Delgado would have been a boon to the Mets lineup, even at age 37. Get ready for a healthy does of Murph and his limited power and spotty defensive prowess. Delightful.

I finally got a chance to read this piece Ken Rosenthal penned on FoxSports.com. Depressing as it’s contents are, it is a must read for Mets fans of all colors and stripes. Folks, it is safe to say we are looking at one of the top 5 inept organizations in all of sports at this point. Hey, look on the bright side. At least we’re not the LA Clippers and have Donald Sterling as our owner.