Will the 2011 New York Mets Be Any Good?

I've been a Mets fan for as long as I can remember. I have vague memories of my dad watching the World Series the last time they won, way back in 1986, when I was only three years old. Even back then, though, I knew it was right to cheer for the Mets instead of the crosstown Yankees. For sure, life in the 1980's was pretty good for Mets fans, even young Mets fans like me who instinctively bled blue and orange.

Since then, there haven't been many good seasons in which to cheer them. At the end of each dismal season I promise myself, next year, I swear I won't be as involved in cheering for them. Next season, if they start losing I'm done.

My stubbornness begins to melt annually, though, as soon as the off-season heats up. Just like the start of the season in spring, the four months before pitchers and catchers report in February hold the nearly tangible promise of the Mets signing the one necessary piece of the puzzle, that one player who take them back to the promised land of October baseball. The off-season preceding the 2011 baseball season has been no different.

Like so many other winters since I donned my first Mets jersey my expectations increased as soon as the final out of the World Series was recorded. My imagination began to run away from me while I daydreamed about all the free agents who might pull on a jersey in the home locker room at CitiField. Sadly, it did not take long for my hopes to be dashed. Before too many weeks passed it became clear the 2010 off-season was going to be just as bad as so many others.

They started the winter by dumping their General Manager and hiring a new one, who promptly hired a new manager and team coaches. They signed exactly zero free agents who will make a difference this season, and decided to let the oft-injured John Maine take his pitching talents elsewhere. Such a move put their starting rotation into chaos, a situation further exacerbated by the disappointing news that ace Johan Santana would most likely not be ready until July.

Add to all this the shocking news the Wilpons, the owners of the Mets, may be served with a lawsuit of up to a billion - that's billion with a "B" - dollars due to their involvement with Ponzi scheme architect Bernie Madoff. According to Adam Rubin, they may have to sell off up to a quarter of the controlling interesting in the team to pay back Madoff's victims.¹

Flash forward to the present. Pitchers and catchers have just arrived at spring training, along with several position players. The excitement and anticipation of the approaching Opening Day is second only to that of the change from winter to spring. This year, I think to myself, will be different. This is the season the Mets will exceed expectations and win it all.

But will they? In my head I know that logically, it's not likely the Mets will even have a winning record this year let alone possibly make the playoffs.

With all of the off-season changes to consider, is the Mets' season already shot? Perhaps. They don't have a very good rotation, the bullpen is most likely going to be an epic failure, and they have several questions about their aging centerfielder in Carols Beltran. That being said, however, nothing is written in stone yet. Maybe they'll be the team that each year that gives their fans a thrilling run to the playoffs. Maybe, just maybe, the Mets can pull it all together and every player on the team can have the best years of their careers. Crazier things have happened to the team before, there is no reason the 2011 season can't hold some magic.

All those maybes, all those questions, all those possibilities, those are the reasons that I will inevitably root for the team again this year. I've invested far too much time, energy, and passion to do otherwise. Great, terrible, or something in-between, I'll be cheering for the Mets again this year.

And if they have a bad season, well, I swear next year...

¹http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=6127931