Is Patience really a Virtue for the Mets?

The New York Mets are in waiting mode. They are waiting for a jury to possibly hear their Madoff case. They are waiting for the walls of Citi Field to be moved in. They are waiting for the right time to make a move on the free agent market.

The first one is inevitable. It will happen, it's a matter of time before the team sees the results of their labor; good or bad. The ball is rolling on the second one and so, it will eventually be completed. As for the third, however, the Mets hold that option squarely in their own hands.

They can choose to take part or not. They have shown little public interest in players this current off season. Names like Joe Nathan and Grady Sizemore have been kicked around with little fanfare.

While the whole of Mets nation holds their collective breath in anticipation for the Jose Reyes saga to reach a climax, many viable options in the free agent pool are getting hooked and reeled in by other teams. This is a disturbing trend.

After all, when GM Sandy Alderson was hired last season, he made it a point to avoid big free agency in the early stages. When the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies signed free agents and made big moves last year, he essentially said "good for them, they're not us, we have a different plan."

At the time that was admirable. The plan was to cut salary and relieve themselves of certain dead weight players that had become a detriment to the financial health of the team. He freed up salary. This season they have some money to spend.

It is debatable exactly how much, but all signs point to them having something to spend in order to wrap up a nice size gift for under the tree of Mets fans this holiday season. So far, though, they have held steadfast to their plan of discretion and patience. Patience is a virtue, as the old proverb says.

For further confirmation of this current status one needs merely to look at the local sources. According to Andy Martino of the New York Daily News (via Twitter) the Mets are still in "exploratory stage and aren't close to anything". Maybe it's the last part of that quote that has me so frustrated at this point of the off season.

I am well aware that the free agency period is only a few weeks old and has a few months still left. But the Mets stand idle while teams around them grow stronger and they watch players that would have been perfect fits for their system and their roster go elsewhere. That's the part that gets me.

Take Joe Nathan for example. He's a local product and a playoff-tested and proven commodity. He wanted far too much money in the end, but if the Mets had made a respectable offer he may have taken it for the chance to play for his home team. We may never know.

There was no real expectation for Jonathan Papelbon to land in Queens, but Grady Sizemore would have been realistic. The Indians did not overspend for a player just coming off of major surgery and trying to find his form.

If he regains his speed, that will be a great move on their part. Why couldn't the Mets have gotten into the bidding? He was a perfect transition from the Reyes era, should they lose him, to whatever the Mets were to try next.

In the end, there are still a ton of players available and this could become merely a mute point if they are able to sign a few good players in January or February when the athletes are itching for a team to report to.

But for the meantime, it is a fact that they are holding steady while their main competition gets better. That includes team that were better than them to begin with. This is perhaps a case where they need to be patient but public about their patience.

As more and more good players get gobbled up by contending teams, the fans will grow more frustrated and vocal. Don't they deserve to at least understand the philosophy of their team? They pay the big money salaries of these players and administration with their ticket sales and merchandise.

They should have a more open understanding of the mentality their team is taking on. It would appease millions of misguided and ignorant (as in not knowing) fans. They are waiting to see how things are going to shake out this off season. I understand that.

But is that a reason for management to go so quiet? Perhaps patience is a virtue, but silence isn't always golden.