Adam Rubin of ESPN-NY suggested this projected Mets lineup for 2012 — one with which manager Terry Collins more or less agreed:

The current Mets projected lineup:

Andres Torres, cf
Dan Murphy, 2b
David Wright, 3b
Ike Davis, 1b
Jason Bay, lf
Lucas Duda, rf
Josh Thole, c
Ruben Tejada, ss
Pitcher

And this is assuming that:

– Torres is not non-tendered
– Murphy doesn’t break his leg turning a DP in his first spring training workout
– Ike Davis actually returns from his foot injury
– A random Mets veteran pitcher doesn’t strangle Thole to death

I haven’t seen a Mets lineup this bad since the days of Steve Henderson, Frank Taveras, Joel Youngblood, Ron Hodges, Doug Flynn, Bruce Boisclair, and Mike Jorgensen were gracing my black and white TV on WOR / channel 9. I can still remember perpetually fidgeting with the antenna to get a semi-watchable picture … though, in retrospect, a screen full of snow and white noise was probably a blessing in disguise in those days.

But never mind my harkening back to the glory days … what do YOU think of the above lineup? Is it inspiring? Does it give you optimism, particularly when combined with a starting rotation that consists primarily of back-end starters? Post your opinion in the comments.

I read and hear many empty excuses for the Mets’ current financial problems and their inability to spend enough money to field a competitive team in 2012. Toward that end, I’d like to share two comments posted to MetsBlog on Sunday.

First, from “Hodges14”

… I never hear the Yankees owners complaining that they lost $70M in a season so they can’t put a competitive team on the field for years to come. Since George Steinbrenner bought the team in the early 70s he always understood that if you make winning the priority you will sell tickets and the business can sustain itself.

Second, in reply to this comment, from “4everMets“:

You hit the nail right on the head!!!! The Wilpons are NOT interested in winning!!! Imho, they only want to be good enough to sell tix and play meaningful games in Sept. Nobody has talked about how if the Wilpons were making ALL this money through Madoff how they STILL would not spend enough to get the Mets over the top instead settling for the B or C free agent instead of spending on the sure thing. This is where they wind up wasting their money.

Please post your reaction to these thoughts in the comments.