To say the Mets have been a circus for the past few years would be something of an understatement. In the past year the Mets have had to deal with their ownership coming under increasing levels of scrutiny for their suspected involvement in the Bernie Madoff scandal. Despite all of that, not to mention the key injuries the roster has withstood over the first third of the season, they're only 4.5 games behind the co-Wild Card leaders Brewers and Braves.
Currently, the Mets record stands at 30-32. That makes them 25-19 since their terrible 5-13 start. That's without Ike Davis and David Wright for almost a month, Johan Santana the entire season thus far, and Jason Bay rocking a batting average down near the Mendoza Line. That's with paying 3 players (Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Gary Matthews Jr.) a combined $19.5 million this season to not play for them (or in the major leagues for that matter). That's with essentially running the Buffalo Bisons with Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran out there on a daily basis.
Why bring all of this up? People in the media along with fans continue to insist that the Mets absolutely have to start dismantling their roster for two reasons.
- They don' t have the money to hold on to these players
- They aren't that good
I think in general, both of those to a certain extent are nonsense. I'm not saying they'll have the same payroll they do this year in 2012. I don't foresee this being a problem for the Mets. With the expiring contracts, there will be money to keep Wright and Reyes. Honestly, those are the only two players on the roster with large contracts worth keeping long term. It should be a top priority of the front office to keep them.
And to say that they're not that good is wrong too. Imagine if the Mets avoided all of these huge injuries and bullpen wasn't so inconsistent. Could we not conservatively add 3 more wins to their total if Davis, Wright, and Santana were healthy? That's 3 of their 5 or 6 best players taken off the roster for extended periods of time.
Now is not the time to trade the core. The Mets are playing good baseball right now. People should expect the Mets to see how things play out for the next month before they re-evaluate and decide whether or not to clean out the roster.
