F@#* it. I mean really. I’ve been apathetic about this team for quite some time. Part of it is the mongo fans who have bought into the Kool Aid the cheap or insolvent ownership is selling. But the greater part of it is the cheap or insolvent ownership, and their puppet, Omar Minaya, and manager, Jerry Manuel. I know Manuel is bad, but ownership is so much worse that it’s almost impossible to hold him accountable. A list of the worst of the worst about this franchise now and going forward, things that engender rage at best and pure apathy at worst:

1. Are the Mets on the brink of insolvency, or just cheap? Does it matter?
2. Omar Minaya will be back as sure as the sun rises.
3. The Mets continued insistence on finding at bats for Jeff Francoeur and his .667 OPS
4. The combined 820 at bats given to Louis Castillo, Alex Cora, Jeff Francoeur, Gary Matthews Jr., Frank Catalanotto, and Mike Jacobs. This was after the Mets identified the bench as something that needed to be upgraded. At least most of these guys are gone. Total cost of those at bats? Just under 14 million.
5. The amount of at bats Fernando Tatis, an above average MLB reserve, lost to those guys listed above before getting hurt.
6. The lumping in of Tatis with all those crappy players.
7. 17 starts of 6 plus ERA baseball given to John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Fernando Nieve. Maine and Perez were guaranteed rotation spots this season, and Nieve was given a shot to compete for the fifth spot, and then expected to be a major bullpen contributor.
8. 15.3 million for Oliver Perez and John Maine.
9. Oliver Perez still has 12 million dollars on his contract.
10. Louis Castillo has 6 million on his contract.
11. Credit to @willdavidian – Will Louis Castillo be the Mets second baseman next season? Will the sun come up tomorrow?
12. A bullpen where Elmer Dessens is the 8th inning guy
13. Raul Valdes “on loan from the Mexican League,” in the media capital of the world.
14. Darren O’Day pitching in Texas in October.
15. Matt Lindstrom pitching in Houston. The Mets will re-acquire him for another minor league talent they undervalue.
16. Heath Bell pitching in San Diego in October.
17. Pedro Feliciano has faced more righties than lefties.
18. 88 righty at bats against Feliciano at a .364 clip, and I’m still not sure the Mets have this one figured out.
19. The sad reality that all of them could have been parts of a top flight bullpen in New York, but no, we’ve got Elmer Dessens and Raul Valdes, “on loan from the Mexican League.”
20. Raul Valdes “on loan from the Mexican League,” is the only Met with an OPS over 1.
21. Jason Bay 4 year, $66-million contract set against Carl Crawford’s pending free agency.
22. Jason Bay’s 4 year, $66-million and 1.3 WAR set against Austin Kearns 750,000 1.2 WAR.
23. “Jason Bay’s swing will play better in Citi Field than Matt Holliday’s.”
24. Jason Bay’s swing does not play well on the road (.680 OPS).
25. Jason Bay and Matt Holliday have the same number of home runs at Citi Field this year.
26. Matt Holliday’s .9ish OPS.
27. The lack of a 9 anything OPS on the Mets.
28. The Mets never gave JJ Putz a physical when they traded Endy Chavez, Joe Smith, Aaron Heilman, Jason Vargas, Ezequiel Carrera, and Mike Carp to the Indians and #6org for JJ Putz.
29. The Mets thought that this was a good value move, sans physical.
30. The Mets promoted Jenrry Mejia, stunting his growth, because they worship at the altar of the 8th inning man.
31. But apparently not enough to hold on to O’Day, Lindstrom, or Bell.
32. Jason Vargas, a throw in that deal, outperforming Maine and Perez who were guaranteed rotation spots, for $412K.
33. Tobi Stoner’s uninspiring 2010.
34. The crushing realization that I’ll never own a “Stoner” jersey at this rate, and that the New York Post will probably never run a “Cold Stoner” headline or something equally inventive.
35. There’s no new spending in sight, but if there were, it’d probably be more of the catastrophic type we’ve grown accustomed to.
36. The continued refusal to go over slot for draft picks, in pursuit of an All Star game, or the opportunity to spoon with Bud Selig. I’m not entirely sure.
37. Instead of spending, management keeps blaming the core.
38. Mongos on WFAN buy into it.
39. Mongos calling WFAN wall to wall. Depressingly enough, still better than ESPN radio.
40. Management strategy centered around acquiring cheap name players of declining stature
41. Management treats injuries to its core like traveling circuses once abused freak show performers.
42. Management alienates core players like Carlos Beltran in the interest of perpetuating their dog and pony show and selling tickets to meaningless games, future be damned.
43. The Mets might trade Carlos Beltran in the off-season, and they wasted his prime with sub-par outfielders alongside him.
44. The Mets will trade Beltran not because this gives them the best chance to win, but because it will allow them to save money.
45. The Mets spent roughly $29 million of their payroll on Luis Castillo, Alex Cora, Oliver Perez, John Maine, Gary Matthews Junior and Jeff Francoeur this season.
46. The Mets can’t get value for Beltran otherwise, because Omar Minaya gave away the ability to offer arbitration at the negotiating table.
47. Wally Backman will manage the Mets next season because he will light a fire under this players, which is a nice way of saying “he’ll be cheap.”
48. The Mets think their fans are stupid and that Backman will sell tickets while allowing them to get away with continuing to be cheap.
49. Wally Backman uses the bunt more than Jerry Manuel.
50. Neither Wally Backman or Jerry Manuel has ever heard the Earl Weaver maxim “if you play for one run, that’s all you’ll get.”
51. The Mets are 23rd in the major leagues in runs scored, 13th in the National League.
52. The Mets traded Billy Wagner to the Boston Red Sox for Chris Carter because they were afraid he would accept arbitration, even though he stated that he was looking for the opportunity to close.
53. The Braves signed Billy Wagner to close for them. The Red Sox received two compensatory draft picks.
54. The Mets traded Billy Wagner and two first round picks for Chris Carter.
55. Chris Carter has received 91 at bats this season and has no real future in the organization, despite being a “gamer” of equal to or greater intensity than Jeff Francoeur.
56. The Mets spent the million dollars that was left on Wagners salary on Alex Cora. So theoretically, the Mets traded Billy Wagner and 2 high draft picks to the Boston Red Sox for pinch-hitter Chris Carter and 1 million dollars.
57. Wayne Hagen makes Fran Healy look good. WTF is a “bounting ball?” To quote Nelson Doubleday “this isn’t Paducah.”
58. Jeff Wilpon was lying when he said 2009 was unacceptable to him.
59. 2009 and 2010 are still unacceptable to the fans.
60. The Mets, bereft of roster depth, sold their rule 5 pick, Carlos Monasterios, to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
61. Carlos Monasterios 5 innings of 6 hit, 0 run baseball against the Mets.
62. the Mets are still paying Bobby Bonilla.
63. That poor miserable Pit Bull in Mets gear outside of the promenade on hot days. It was cute the first time. Now I just feel bad for that animal.
64. The three catcher platoon.
65. Putting Rod Barajas on the DL with an injury that Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan were forced to play thru, eliminating possibility of deal with the Red Sox for a marginal reliever that might provide an upgrade.
66. Blaming last year’s pitching woes on the catcher.
67. Rod Barajas (.5 WAR) + Henry Blanco(.6 WAR) = Ramon Castro(1.1 WAR).
68. The 3 catcher rotation so as not to upset the stability of the clubhouse.
69. The stability of the clubhouse taking a backseat to putting the best possible team on the field every night.
70. Paying a lot of money for Francisco Rodriguez and then failing to use him in high leverage situations.
71. That’s just baseball.
72. Putting Nick Evans at AA and giving a AAA roster spot to Mike Jacobs.
73. Promoting Fernando Martinez ahead of Nick Evans and Lucas Duda, despite his obvious lack of readiness.
74. Platooning Fernando Martinez during his promotion, costing him at bats.
75. Fernando Martinez spent a large chunk of another year on the DL.
76. Reese Havens, who seemed like he might be the answer for next year, wasting away on the DL a la Fernando.
77. The sinking feeling that the Mets will attempt to rectify two years of mistakes with Luis Castillo by signing 33 year old Orlando Hudson to a multi-year deal two years too late. With a vesting option.
78. The K-Rod Circus.
79. The fact that Jeff Francoeur referred to K-Rod assaulting his father-in-law as a possible spark for the Mets dying season.
80. The fact that this is the second violent reliever the Mets failed to properly vet
81. The fact that we owe this violent, albeit talented reliever, a lot of money.
82. The fact that this whole situation probably could have been avoided if we had a manger capable of understanding the term “high-leverage situation.”
83. Speaking of which, a bullpen featuring Manny Acosta and a manager who believes that he’s a viable 8th inning option.
84. The sad realization that this off-season’s lack of spending will probably lead the Mets to rush Fernando Martinez and / or Jennry Mejia again.
85. Jeff Francoeur’s status as a great clubhouse guy. He has a huge hole in his game he won’t acknowledge, it makes him suck, and he refuses to fix it, to the detriment of his teammates.
86. The fact that Francoeur is more loved than Beltran, because, well, he’s a good looking white guy, and not a lazy, greatest Met position player of all time named “Carlos.”
87. Mike Sielski on Rod Barajas.
88. Mike Sielski on Jeff Francoeur.
89. Mike Sielski in general. Is Mike Sielski f’ing kidding me with this tripe?
90. The level of entitlement bad players on the Mets feel, as articulated in those articles listed above.
91. That those bad players are considered clubhouse glue guys by the Mets organization.
92. That a good set of seats at Citi Field is more expensive than going to watch every home game at Peter Luger and throwing down 300 dollars.
93. The mid-season speculation about where Angel Pagan would play when Carlos Beltran returned, mostly from the booth and press corps.
94. The lack of speculation about where Jeff Francoeur would play when Carlos Beltran came back.
95. McFadden’s – The Mets couldn’t have found a less douchenozzle bar to partner with? Murray Hill Yuppie chic seems so much more Yankees.
96. The youth movement vs. Jerry Manuel’s “Save My Job Drive” month of August.
97. The hopelessness that envelopes me when said mindless owner makes public statements with a vacant gaze and I realize that Omar Minaya may be the brains behind this operation.
98. With that in mind, remember this?
99. Megdal for GM. Not funny. Not going away. Check out the Gift Shop. Book on the way!
100. the LOLpen.