Reflections....

Now that some time has passed since the Second Annual Met Collapse, I thought I'd share a few of my thoughts, in completely random order.

I was thinking the other day about Carlos Beltran having shot off his mouth about how the Mets were the team to beat in 2008, and I remember saying, at the time, that considering what's happened since he's been here, and his own hand in it all, I thought that his statement was a little ridiculous and a tad premature, especially since the Phillies were the reigning NL East Champions, irregardless of how they laid down and died in the NLDS last year.

So I was just thinking about that, in general, and wondering the identity of the next Met to shoot off his mouth and look like a horse's ass sooner or later.

I was also thinking about how pissed off I am, in general, and more specifically, about Omar's new contract. And maybe even Jerry's. I just can't wrap my head around the retaining of Omar, considering some of the boneheaded things he's done lately, like bringing back Moises Alou, giving Luis Castillo a four-year deal, failing to help the bullpen when others helped theirs, and honestly, because of the collapse the last two years.

Now, I like Jerry Manuel, he's fun, he's hip, he's cool, he wears nifty glasses, and he even seems to have the support of the players, which on this team, is no small feat, I suspect. But he's been around during the past few years, and has been through the collapses, and frankly, I'd like to see the Mets go into a new stadium with a nice fresh start, and some fresh faces.

And here's to hoping Tony Bernazard gets that GM job with Seattle. He seems like a little twerpy blowhard and a control freak, often times rumored to be a "bad guy," and that's the last thing the Mets need is a bad guy. Or another bad guy, as the case may be.

And the more I follow this team, the more I come to realize what shitty owners the Wilpons are. They seem to put image and money before winning, and don't seem to understand that you can have them all. Is it because they're too stupid, or because they just don't care? And does it really matter, if the end result is the same?

I think it was somebody on metsblog.com that had an interesting piece the other day about closers, and how the big money guys aren't necessarily the biggest winners. I've been thinking about the closer and the closer role a lot since Billy Wagner went down, and I think rather than going out and getting one of the big boy closers, if I were the Mets, I might develop one in house. I've always thought that teams could and should develop closers in house more often, and if the Mets have the intelligence and wherewithal to find a guy within their organization who has the stuff and mental makeup to fill the role, well... why not?

I still don't want Delgado here next year. Or Castillo. I want a real left fielder (see below), and a decent bullpen. One that, you know, can get three outs without giving up more runs than outs once in a while.

And Manny can be Manny all he wants... on the New York Mets next year.

I don't want the old apple displayed anywhere prominent in CitiField. It's a relic, and should be relegated to relic status.

I can't lie -- this year really, REALLY stings. Maybe even more than last year. Because we're a team built to win now, and have basically reached the end of the line with some of the players acquired for the purpose of winning, and we've run out of excuses for failing to make the postseason. So now, it's put up or shut up. And I mean that. I don't want to hear any excuses or any other crap from anyone associated with the Mets. I don't want explanations or caveats. I don't want to hear how close we were, and how we "battled."

It's going to be an interesting off-season, I think.