Slow Time for Mets Fans

February is traditionally a dead time in the world of sports — the football season is over, nobody really gets excited about basketball until the spring and nobody really gets excited about hockey ever. As far as baseball, most rosters are set, and everybody is just sitting around waiting for spring training to open.

For the Mets, this is the slowest time of an already-slow off season. The players who will report to spring training are pretty much the same players we saw last season, with the exception of a few guys here and there. So what to do during such a time? Well, many writers are just chasing shadows.

Like the “reports” that the Mets were pursuing such left handed hitting outfielders as Rick Ankiel, Johnny Damon and Kosuke Fukudome. These were the same people claiming the Mets were going after Seth Smith, Ryan Theriot and a host of other available players this winter. Of course, none of this came to pass.

When will these alleged “experts” get it through their thick heads that the Mets are not spending money on anybody unless they can be had for around a million dollars or less — preferably less. Why do you think such superstars as Scott Hairston and Ronny Cedeno are taking up room on the Mets bench?

This off season was dominated by money, or more precisely, the lack of it. The Mets spent the least that they possibly could to field a respectable team. So much for playing “meaningful” games in September. The new buzz word around Flushing is now “respectable.”