Reese Kaplan -- The Time of Year for a Mets Gift to Fans

With the holidays either already here or rapidly approaching, you begin to wonder about what kind of gift would be best for today's Mets fan. Obviously a fat wallet capable of paying Citifield prices for everything from parking to tickets, to refreshments to souvenirs would obviously help immensely. Not everyone this side of Steve Cohen has a net worth in the range of $17 billion.

I remember vividly as a kid asking to go to ballgames again and again and again, only to have my father come up with excuses (or what seemed like them anyway), from having to work late, to not being able to make the time to take the 90 minute (with traffic) drive each way from northern New Jersey to Shea Stadium, to a variety of other allegedly plausible justifications to deny his sons their desire to see the games in person. 

Of course, at about eight years of age I wouldn't be able to understand the realities about economics. What young kid would understand about mortgage payments, car payments, the cost of toys, the cost of food and the inability to take vacations and what our eventual college educations would set him back.

It's difficult to buy the jerseys of ballplayers you'd expected would be there forever. How many folks have to retire their Jacob deGrom shirts or their Michael Conforto adorned team wear because they are no longer a part of the ballclub?

Of course, then there are the realities of watching the games in person, on TV, over the Internet or hearing them on the radio. As good as the 101 victory 2022 season was, obviously it was not nearly enough to take them deep into October against the competition. What on the roster would help make fans feel they got the perfect gift for the December holidays?

We've already had to say goodbye to 2022 players, including Mychal Givens (back to the Orioles), Trevor Williams (onto the Nationals), Seth Lugo (onto the Padres), Chris Bassitt (onto the Blue Jays), Jacob deGrom (onto the Rangers), Trevor May (onto the A's) and Joely Rodriguez (onto the Red Sox). 

As of right now former Mets still looking for work include Adam Ottavino (until yesterday), Michael Conforto, Dominic Smith, Tyler Naquin and a slew of AAAA types who had a cup of coffee now and then with the big club.

Some folks would like to see the club deliver not one but two more quality relief pitchers to supplement the core of returning Edwin Diaz, newcomer David Robertson, Drew Smith, Rule 5 choice Zach Greene, hot-off-his-2022 performance Brooks Raley, and perhaps Stephen Nogosek. 

Then there are a plethora of wannabes looking to make the club, but frankly missing out on the innings from Lugo, Ottavino, Givens, May and Rodriguez is going to take more than seeing a Tayler Saucedo or Bryce Montes de Oca on the mound.

For a team near the top in offense gauged by runs scored, the Mets were in the lower third of teams when it came to putting the long balls over the fence. Consequently the perfect gift for many would be a right handed complement to lefty DH Daniel Vogelbach who can produce more with the bat than Darin Ruf did with his pitching arm. 

The list of names is familiar and the owner's willingness to spend whatever it takes suggests that pretty much anyone on the open market or whose salary another team wishes to unload is on the list of possibilities.

Finally, there's the arrival in spades of the youngsters who all show hope and promise and power hitting skill. The Mets have not been very good at the position player lottery over the past several seasons as they were trading away folks with good promise (like the deal to Cleveland sending away Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez). 

Now for every new David Wright or Jose Reyes who comes up through the farm and is even better than you'd hoped, the fact is there are a great many hot prospects who go the way of Ike Davis, Lucas Duda and many others not even up to their mutual mediocrity. Everyone is hoping that the Syracuse slugging trio will force veteran players like Eduardo Escobar, Mark Canha and James McCann off the club or onto the bench.

So, as a loyal (and likely frustrated) Mets fan, what is on your most-wanted gift list for the 2023 season?