2010 Mets…more of the same

First of all, I want to wish everyone well and I apologize for the lack of content lately. I was away this week and didn’t watch a game until Friday night. I’ll try to keep the posts going and hopefully do a show in the near future.

As for the Mets, about as awful a start as you could possibly have. After a disappointing series loss to the Marlins, the Mets could ill afford to lose another series to the Nats. And of course…that’s exactly what they did.

This weekend was absolutely brutal. There’s no way they should have lost on Saturday with guys on base every single inning it seemed like. And then today was a complete no-show. How do you lose a Santana vs. Livan matchup!? You should win that game every single time.

As for the issues with the team right now, it pretty much boils down to situational hitting. Just like it has been for the past few years, the Mets are allergic to “clutch” hits. The starting pitching has been all right except for two poor starts and the bullpen has done its job.

The offense has been terrible though. And well…who didn’t see that coming. Everyone wrote about how the Mets needed to get more offense and they failed to do anything besides bring in Jason Bay. When you factor in that they were losing Carlos Delgado, it was pretty much a wash.

I know it’s tough to kill the Wilpons because the Mets payroll is still among the highest in the majors, but why were they penny pinching this past season? The team was terrible last year and they basically bring back the same squad. And the Mets spent less money on the draft last year than any other team in baseball. The Mets should be outspending nearly everyone in the draft and free agency, especially after being the most profitable team in baseball last year thanks to the new stadium.

There’s really no excuse to put out a product that’s anything less than the absolute best. Why didn’t they go out and sign another starter, reliever and hitter on the cheap (less than 20 million total for all 3)!? They could certainly afford to do all three, but the Wilpons felt this team would be good enough to draw the box office revenue. So until fans stop going to Citi Field, the Wilpons won’t spend any more money than they have to. I mean why they didn’t fire Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya in the offseason were just more cost-saving moves.

I do predict, however, that Manuel won’t make it to the All-Star break and Omar might not be far behind. The Mets have a very difficult rest of April and I could see this season spiraling out of control very quickly. They don’t really have an “easy” game until May 10th when they host the Nationals again. And we just saw what happened this weekend against the Nats.

Two things I have liked so far. The first is the new Mets museum. I was at the stadium today and had a chance to check out the museum. It’s awesome. I highly recommend everyone getting out there early to take a look.  For about 30 minutes, you’ll forget how bad the current team is.

And second is Jeff Franceour. The guy has looked incredible so far this year. If he keeps it up, Carlos Beltran comes back within a month’s time and they get someone who can hit a little at first base (i.e. Daniel Murphy, Ike Davis, or Chris Carter) maybe the offense will fall in line.

But all in all, pretty scary first week. The pitching staff, arguably the biggest question mark going into the season, performed admirably and the bullpen was stellar. Yet the Mets sit at 2-4 with a road trip to Colorado and St. Louis opening Tuesday. Yikes.

My hope was that the Mets would play the “nobody believes in us” card and surprise everyone this season.  Through the first week of the season, it looks like everyone was right.