I have to confess that I have been maniacally-obsessed with the Mets. The season started out with promise and has disintegrated into the usual dysfunctional mess that has come to define the New York Mets.

In yesterday’s State of the Mets Address by team president Sandy Alderson, who may not be dealing with a larger mess than Joe Biden this fall, but it’s debatable. Speaking to reporters, Alderson all but assured the press that Luis Rojas will not return as manager.

“It may be in everybody’s interest that those decisions are made in a more timely fashion,” Alderson said. “What I would hope is that those decisions are made with a new leadership potentially in mind, not trying to anticipate what they would decide, but to make sure, whether it’s in the case of players or other positions, they have as much flexibility as possible.”

“I’m big on process, but ultimately results matter,” Alderson said. “And if you don’t have good results over a period of time, then process may not survive. So as we approach the end of the season, we have to be realistic about what the results have been.

Alright, so Mets fans will be relying on Alderson to find a President of Baseball Operations, who will then be responsible for hiring a general manager, a new manager, decide on which players should go and which should stay, and decide on what free agents to pursue. Ideally, all of this should be completed before Dec. 1st when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement ends. That’s a tiny Honey To-Do List.

When it comes to Luis Rojas, it is hard to place blame on him for the Mets struggles. The Mets can’t hit. Rojas can’t step up to the plate and hit for Lindor, Conforto, McNeil, Smith, and McCann. These five guys killed the Mets offense. Unless the next Mets manager knows a guy who has a connect to Pedro Cerrano’s Jobu Voodoo, this offense needs an overhaul. A fair complaint about Rojas is he did little to change the Mets by being more aggressive with the running game. Rojas was reluctant to use the steal and did little hit and run action.

El Mago

For the month of September, one of the Mets best hitters has been Javy Baez. Acquired from the Chicago Cubs, who graciously agreed to pay Baez’s salary for the remainder of the season and allow the Mets to stay under the luxury cap threshold, Javy Baez has breathed life into a moribund offense. El Mago’s salary drive has resulted in a slash line over the last 30 days of: .352/.421/.602

Baez being one of the bright spots in an end of summer collapse that would have been hard to predict, seemingly has no future with the Mets. Sandy Alderson had this to say on the topic:

“Baez has been really exceptional for us since he came off the IL, on which he was placed shortly after we acquired him,” Alderson said. “Javy, as we’ve all seen, impacts the game in a variety of ways. Not only offensively with his power, but on the bases, in the field.

“Probably last night was a testimony to those additional qualities that make him such a good player. That tag at second base early in the game, and then scoring from third base on that infield hit.”

When asked by one of the knights of the keyboard whether it was possible for Baez to return in 2022, Alderson had this response:

“Is it possible? Yes. Is it realistic? Maybe,” Alderson said. “It’s hard for me to put odds on it. Does Javy want to be here, did he enjoy his stay, what could be expected from him over the next several years. There’s a lot of things that go into any free agent decision.

“But to say no, there’s absolutely no way that Javy Baez can be a part of the Mets next year, no I wouldn’t be prepared to say that at this point.”

Maybe it’s realistic? The Mets surrendered their first-round draft pick in 2020, Pete Crow-Armstrong, to acquire Baez and pitcher Trevor Williams. Crow-Armstrong could have been the Mets center fielder of the future but now it appears he was traded for a rental. Yes, Lindor was hurt at the time of the move and the Mets felt they needed Baez to shore up shortstop for their playoff push, but to give up a first-round pick for a rental is astounding. Coupled with the Kumar Rocker fiasco in the 2021 draft, where the Mets seemed ignorant and oblivious to the concerns shared by other teams regarding the health of Rocker’s shoulder, resulting in a wasted first-round pick and leaving the Mets with nothing to show for the first round in 2020 or 2021. Can you say s-l-o-o-o-w-l-y? FUCKED UP!

To sum up:

1. Baez does not appear to be a part of the Mets future.
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong is a part of the Cubs future.
3. Kumar Rocker is back at Vanderbilt or wherever he is.

After all this and Alderson’s previous hirings of Mickey Callaway, Jared Porter, and Zack Scott, Mets fans are to believe that Alderson can hire the right person to head the baseball operations department at Citi Field.

Just writing this shit is giving me agita.