I absolutely love this time of year. The annual rite of passage known as Spring Training is nearer then Greece’s economic collapse and I’m excited about the upcoming baseball season and nothing gets me more fired up than when a reporter like Jon Paul Morosi claims the New York Mets are waving the white flag. You can read his article here if you would like.

Why even bother heading down to Port Saint Lucie, boys. Stay home and rest up until the Mets are able to spend the type of money that would keep Greece afloat for another month or two.

Is Morosi kidding or what?

I like what Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson had to say….

“It’s a perception,” Alderson acknowledged Sunday. “But I don’t think anybody in the division could add any more talent to their roster than we can. We’re talking about adding Johan Santana. We’re talking about adding Ike Davis. Daniel Murphy was the fifth-leading hitter in the league when he went out with his injury. David Wrightmissed two months. [All are expected to be full participants in spring training.] We’ve substantially improved our bullpen.

“So, did we add talent? I think we did, the fact that we didn’t sign someone for $100 million notwithstanding. … It’s an uphill battle getting that message across.”

I have to believe that Sandy is correct here.

Ike Davis was seemingly headed towards an All-Star type season prior to spending the majority of the 2011 on the disabled list. From everything I’ve heard Davis is chomping at the bit to prove his rookie season wasn’t a fluke and hopefully 2012 will be a healthy and productive one.

Johan Santana missed the entire 2011 season and while I’m the first to admit he may never return to the form that made Santana an extremely feared and respected ace of the staff but he probably could be counted on to still win 12-15 games just on sheer nerve alone. Hopefully he’ll be healthy enough to be on the hill on opening day.

In 2011 Daniel Murphy had the type of season we Mets fans have been waiting for. It’s too darn bad an injury shortened his 2011 campaign and to be perfectly honest with you if this guy could ever stay healthy he may one day win a batting crown.

When you consider the guy was playing hurt prior to a 2 month stint that would have left most folks lying in their beds yelling for someone to bring them some soup David Wright had a very good 2011 and with the left field porch moved in 12 feet look for a great 2012 from Wright.

Frank Francisco had a decent season for a .500 team in Toronto and is definitely an upgrade over last year.

So tell me who in the National League East added this type of quality to their line-ups?

The answer is no one.

Did the Mets really get worse as Morosi claims? Are the Mets really waving the white flag and throwing in the towel on the 2012 season.

I suppose that’s why they play the games, right?