The Mets had a 19 win drop from 2008 to 2009, mostly due to injuries. They won’t be rebuilding in 2010, because that’s not something the Mets can afford to do in New York anymore. If you play in the city, you better put out a team that at the very least people think can win a championship at the beginning of each year. The Mets certainly accomplished that this year. Heck, Sports Illustrated had them picked as World Series champions in their annual baseball preview issue. Finishing with less than 75 wins is not acceptable, but the Mets have buckets of excuses.

The Mets can’t build from within because there isn’t much “within”. Our farm system is terrible. There are a few prospects here and there, but overall we have one of the worst farm systems in the majors. I think Omar Minaya has to take a good chunk of the blame for that. The Mets have been trading away top prospects in exchange for proven talent for many years now. It seems our only choice is to improve via free agency. That’s going to get expensive, but it could pay huge dividends. Without the injuries this season, the Mets should have been able to win 90 games. With a little luck, they could have been pushing 100. Add a couple good free agent signings to the mix, and we’ll be postseason favorites again next season.

I think Mets fans are warming to Citi Field. Sure, it has some problems, and the home run issue takes some of the excitement away from games, but we have to remember that our fond memories of Shea had nothing to do with the stadium. It was about the players and the other fans and the excitement. The stadium itself was a worn-out dump the day it was built. The fans will be back next season in droves as the Mets rebound. It won’t take a little bit of good luck for the Mets to be good again, we just need to avoid the amazingly bad luck we had this season. If we get an average number of injuries next season we should win the division.

Tags: 2010, citi field, free agents, new york mets, omar minaya, signings