Mets offseason is helping to prove Wilpon haters right

Is this what Mets fans have become conditioned to get excited about, Jay Bruce and Adrian Gonzalez?

Not me. It’s not enough; not by a long shot. The Mets are validating every Wilpon hater this offseason.

The Mets “hot stove” has been nearly as cold as the temperatures outside. Even Ebenezer Scrooge let Bob Cratchit put more coal on the stove than the Wilpons allow Sandy Alderson to. Bruce and Gonzalez are underwhelming pieces of coal on the hot stove in my opinion.

Sure, they may not be done, but the Jay Bruce signing was probably the “big” offseason move. Now it’s on to filling the rest of the holes with silly putty and chicken wire. I’m sorry, but you can probably forget about Josh Harrison. I could be wrong but what would make you think differently? The Mets continue to shop at the thrift store while the competition shops at the name brand stores.

Signing Bruce was a nice move, but don’t we want better than “nice?” After all, Mets fans have to watch in awe and rage at what the Yankees have done. They’ve rebuilt a team without having a down year. On top of that, after coming within one game of the world series, they’ve gone and added the reigning NL MVP.

If the Mets are thrift store shoppers, then the Yankees are the wholesale shoppers of the league. “Do we really need a 100-pack of toilet paper when we already have a ton at home? No, but at this price, how can we pass it up?”

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I understand that the Mets do not operate at the same level of the Yankees. Can they at least match their division rivals like Philadelphia and Atlanta’s activity levels? Both of those teams have made significant signings and trades to improve this offseason. It will not be long before the NL East title is being fought over by more than the Mets and Nationals.

Over the past 10 years, this team has notoriously gone nine-tenths of the way, never going after the best player available and instead opting for the no-frills version. In 2009, the Mets chose to sign Jason Bay when Matt Holiday had been available. That’s just one example – do we really need to go into all of the bargain-basement and past-their-prime deals, the Mets have pursued over the years?

Here’s the reality we face as a fan-base: the Mets will never win a title on purpose while the Wilpons are in charge.

What I mean is that I don’t see any scenario where the Mets go all-in and really add enough to put the team over the hump. It’s been maddening these last few years because the team wasn’t that far from becoming elite.

2015 was great, but it was the perfect example of the only way the Mets will win in a post-Madoff era. By accident.

That season, while exhilarating, was a series of best-case scenarios. The Nationals tanking and Yoenis Cespedes coming to the team instead of Carlos Gomez were both extremely fortunate situations. For a franchise constantly entrenched in Murphy’s law, we can certainly call it an accident.

While I won’t use the word “fluke” for a team that was clearly talented, the circumstances that propelled the performances on-the-field could best be described as such. At least as it concerns this franchise.

Given the blandness of this offseason, we need to get used to the Mets irrelevance in these parts while the Wilpons remain. That is not to say, that it is hopeless for the Mets. 2015 proved that the stars could align. Well, almost.

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I’m weary of all this offseason talk about who the Mets might target to fill the team’s holes. Until we see otherwise, we should just assume the player in question will ultimately cost too much for the Wilpons to act.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. That’s how the saying goes. Well, the Mets have fooled me a few dozen more times than twice at this point. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that way. But, hey, it could be worse. We could be Marlins fans.

Here’s to hoping the stars align again in the near future.

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