Only Fools Rush In

     Who's fooling who? Are the fans being bamboozled by the Mets' brass? Their recent moves, or lack thereof, would have us believe they are interested in these high-priced free agents- but is it just a ploy to appease the fan-base?  
     The diabolical plot goes as follows: go after free agents that other teams are interested in and are sure to land, but make it publicly known that we the Mets are "in the hunt" also. Did they really go after Zobrist? Was there truly even an offer made? Some reports suggest otherwise. Shortly after the Zobrist signing was announced, the Neil Walker for Jon Neise trade was made official. The time lapse between these two events is small enough that we have to wonder if it was the plan all along. This move was not expensive and essentially filled a hole from an area of excess.
     Moving onto the Cespedes debacle: "square peg in a round hole," Sandy said. So many statements and reports stating how the Mets are not interested and he is not in the plans. He just doesn't fit. In comes Baltimore, with a 5 year/$90 million offer and all of a sudden, the Mets are in on Cespedes? Why him? Because the fan base and even the players have come out and expressed how they would love having his bat back in the middle of that lineup. 

     The Orioles sign Chris Davis, which I thought would happen all along, and suddenly they don't have the money for Cespedes. The Cespedes offer was just a bargaining chip, and you would think the next announcement would be the resigning of Cespedes to the Mets... But instead, you get more reports on how he doesn't fit. That 3 year for maybe $60 million that was reported a few days ago is gone. 
     But if Yoenis wanted to take a 1 year/$18-22 million offer that's probably available. Just think about that- that's just about the cost of the draft pick compensation they would get when someone else signs him next season. The added revenue from attendance at Citi Field, merchandise, and hopefully a lengthy playoff run would easily cover this contract. Heaven forbid something bad were to happen (injuries/out of contention), Cespedes could easily be moved to a contender looking for a bat at the deadline in return for some prospects. 
     Let's backtrack Why have these offers only been unofficial and verbal? Why haven't there been any concrete, written offers on the table? Because that would actually give the player a genuine opportunity to accept it and the Wilpons would have to foot that bill. Cespedes aside, do they really want to sign any top dollar guy? Who's fooling who here? 
     Mets fans, wake up! Ownership is using the media to play us for fools. We've been made to play pawns in a horrible game by some of the most deplorable men in this business... the Wilpons. Why do they do it? To give us just enough hope to keep us on the hook- hope that we could actually act like a contending ball club that will spend to back its team up. 
     Who are we kidding though? We are Mets fans and we always have hope. This time, it's hope that maybe Sandy has something up his sleeve for some trade or some signing. Albeit this still most likely won't take place, but deep down where you bleed that orange and blue .. Ya gotta believe!!