How Much Damage Control are Mets Management in for, come Spring 2014?

Well, most Mets fans, at this point, are already well aware of the slight controversy surrounding the recent comments of former Met, and new Yankee, Carlos Beltran. Which basically centered around perceived poor treatment, and a lot headache, that ensured Beltran would not be returning his talents to Queens to finish his career. So this got me thinking. How much further damage control will the 2014 Mets have once spring training roles around? After months of speculation, rumors, comments, support, and backhanded remarks by management, the bottom is that, as of late December 2013, the Mets still currently employ Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda, Ike Davis, and Ruben Tejada. Not to mention, the back of forth comments in the media about the possible status and standing on the team of EY Jr., and new Met Chris Young.

And the list goes on.

Lets start with Daniel Murphy. The hard worker who forced his way into the starting lineup after years of bouncing around positions, and coming off the bench. After finally supplanting himself as the legit starting second baseman, and playing pretty much every game in 2013, he has since found himself in the ongoing saga/rumor mill of the current hot stove season. Murphy, while playing every game, also probably followed along with the Mets starting also later giving Wilmer Flores time at second base in Las Vegas. He's been rumored for all kinds of trades, which would lead to anything from a relief pitcher, to simply a low cost prospect, thus basically dumping Murphy and his salary in the process. Depending on what publications, bloggers and beat writers you believe, it sounds more and more like Daniel Murphy will be heading right back to Port St. Lucie come spring, anyway.

  Then there is Lucas Duda. The man with all that power. Since his promotion to the bigs, he has bounced around, back and forth, from the Mets, to AAA, to the Mets, to AAA, and so on and so on, playing both first base, and even the outfield (ooops, never mention that experiment again. Then, all of a sudden, based on another players lack of ability to secure his place at first base, Duda is now possibly getting the backing of the organization.....well, to at least be part of a platoon at first base with Josh Satin.

  Then, of course, we have fellow first basemen Ike Davis. The man the Mets fully supported, and did not want to give up on. Well, thanks to social media, and lots of writers, bloggers and analysts alike, he can now spend his days hearing about the daily trade rumor, and which possible organization wants to give him a shot to get his groove back. And all the ways the Mets can best dump him, and his salary, and spend the money elsewhere.

Last, but not least, there is Ruben Tejada. The man who may or may not be currently deciding on when to file an official grievance against his current team, for possibly manipulating his service time to delay arbitration and free agency. He has since quickly gone from after-thought, to possible starting shortstop once again for the Mets. I quickly added the Young's for a few simple reasons.

Again, thanks to social media, and the instant gratification that comes from any/every interview conducted, can now lead to speculation as to how much playing time they will get, and who may or may not bump the teams super defensive center fielder (Lagares)out of the starting lineup, to make room for both of them. I guess my main concern is the long term impact this may cause.

 As I see it, Sandy Alderson seems to have the long term backing of the Wilpons. This, in turn, will give Sandy the opportunity to possibly see his dream come alive, in the form of some long term, homegrown, next-David-Wright type talent, who can feel the support needed to stay for years to come. Well, if there are concerns for the spending by the owners, added with possible ongoing damage control from management following each offseason, will that have an ongoing effect on some of out possible homegrown superstars (Harvey, Wheeler) resigning for long term deals when the time comes? Anyway, maybe I'm just overacting. I'm sure this obviously goes on in every organization, at least to some extent. What are your thoughts? If all of the above mentioned players find themselves still on the Mets 25 man roster, can management downplay all the confusion, and convince all to continue to buy into the philosophy and fight on with the Amazins?