Are the Mets done?

Written by Nikki DeMaio | 27 July 2010

This weekend, a bunch of my friends and I got together for a group brunch.  There are a few Mets fans in the group, and we usually get into some pretty spirited discussions regarding the Mets, their chances, or how frustrated we are with the team (unfortunately, this last topic has been coming up far too much).  Anyway, one of my friends sat down across from me on Sunday and, with a look of complete desolation, said, "Nikki...the Mets are done."  And this was the New York kind of done, where the word is almost spit out at the end of the sentence.  As I struggled to think of one good reason why we weren't done, at least not yet, someone else chimed in:  "I'm just glad I get to hate the Braves again."

This is where Mets fans find themselves this week.  We have no hope that anything will be done by the trade deadline, because there are not even rumors that anything is in the works.  We're focusing on the fact that the once hated Braves can be legitimately hated again.  Personally, I never stopped hating the Braves, so this is not exactly consolation for a season that seems to be going nowhere.  As fans continue to question the competence of management at all levels - GM, manager, coaching staff - the Mets continue to release statements claiming that all of those jobs are safe.

The scary thing for me is that I'm not even sure what the Mets need anymore.  I want to see them something, because it's clear that changes need to be made.  For whatever reason, the Mets are not playing the same kind of baseball in the second half.  They seem to have lost some of their grit and fight, and I have no idea how to fix that.  Recently, the speculation has drifted away from the stability of the starting rotation and has made its way to the anemic offense and a bullpen that can either be spectacular or implode at the slightest provocation.  At the end of the day, the Mets are reactive - not proactive - and that's the reason it seems like the team is falling apart.  These holes have always been there, it's just that rather than attempting to construct the best possible roster, the Mets adopt Napoleon's battle plan:  Show up and see what happens.  Napoleon died in exile, and that seems to be where Omar, Jerry & Co. are headed.  I don't think many Mets fans would complain if that were the case at the end of the season.