Mets fans in for some tough times

I feel really bad for my uncles and their fellow fans of the New York Mets. They are in for some tough times.

Just listen to the Mets’ plan now that they have lost shortstop Jose Reyes to the division rival Miami Marlins: Ruben Tejada will move to short to replace him while Daniel Murphy will likely receive the bulk of the playing time at second base. That’s a pretty weak infield even if the Mets keep David Wright at third base, which is no guarantee considering Sandy Alderson’s comments about the Mets losing $70 million. The Mets clearly have no plans to even look at a solid free-agent infielder, let alone someone who could bring some excitement back to Queens.

It seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy: the Mets gut their team because they want to reduce payroll due to diminishing gate returns, with Mets fans abandoning the team in droves because they rightfully don’t want to spend their limited dollars to watch a losing team. The Mets are going to struggle to sell tickets to any 2012 baseball games aside from Opening Day and the interleague series against the New York Yankees. Perhaps they get lucky and some fans turn out the first time Reyes’ returns so that they can say a proper goodbye, but a sizeable number of fans may resent Reyes for following the money all the way to Miami.

I’m not going to gloat to my uncles about the demise of the Mets. In truth, I like it more when the Mets field a competitive team. It makes those interfamily arguments about whose shortstop is better a lot more fun.