Mets must fatten up the payroll to gut-busting proportions this offseason

It’s time for the New York Mets to fatten up on team payroll and add to the roster regardless of the cost.

Thanksgiving is a day when we’re meant to reflect on the things in life we should be thankful for. In addition to this fine tradition, it’s a day to fill our stomachs to full capacity. Rather than look at the aspects of the New York Mets we should be thankful for, I want to focus on the other part of the holiday and talk about fattening up.

The Mets are way too skinny in the payroll department. For a New York City sports team, they have no excuse not to fatten up this offseason.

After finishing with the best record in the National League among those who didn’t make the playoffs, it’s time the Mets do the obvious and spend more. I’m not breaking any new grounds with this statement. It has been one of the franchise’s weaknesses for years.

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A misconception about the team is their lack of spending. They do spend. They don’t spend wisely or enough. They head to the Thanksgiving table, grab a nice plateful, leave a little room for dessert, and then call the meal over.

That’s not going to win them a championship. They need to have cranberry sauce spilling into the turkey. Their plate needs to be flooded with gravy. When the pie comes out, the Mets need to ask for seconds after already taking a slice twice as big as anyone else.

The Mets have reached a point where they need to improve upon what they already do well. Let’s consider them fortunate to have the current crop of young players performing as well as they did this past season. All on affordable contracts, it’s time for ownership to go on a spending binge whether they like it or not.

When the Mets hired Brodie Van Wagenen, they had an opportunity to rewrite the narrative. It didn’t quite work. Van Wagenen is still as unloved as any general manager in sports yet to deliver a championship. Until he turns the Mets into serious contenders, nothing is going to change.

They can hire Carlos Beltran as the manager, give Jacob deGrom a well-deserved and overdue extension, and do other things to get the fans excited. Spending money on the best players available is the only way to have the fans fully onboard. Otherwise, it’s lipstick on a pig.

Now is the best time to fatten up and push the payroll to full capacity. This doesn’t necessarily mean signing players for the sake of appeasing fans who want to work the payroll department harder. This means getting the best fitting players possible on the team, no matter what the cost is.

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On Thanksgiving, the one thing we should always be thankful for is to have an ownership that wants to win as badly as the fans. Too often, this doesn’t feel like the case.