Typically, speaking when fans are frustrated during the offseason it would indicate their team has been largely inactive.  After a “flurry” of early activity that included Neil Walker accepting the qualifying offer and Yoenis Cespedes signing a four year deal that team has been the Mets.

The frustrating reason why the Mets have been inactive is they have been unable to move Jay Bruce or even Curtis Granderson this offseason.

When the Cubs traded away Jorge Soler before signing Koji Uehara, I was almost led to believe that a team could not sign a free agent reliever until they traded away an outfielder.  Given the relative inactivity on all free agents this offseason, it seemed like this was a bizarre and strange wrinkle added to the newly ratified Collective Bargaining Agreement.  Alas, when the Marlins signed Junichi Tazawa and Brad Ziegler it proved a team can sign a reliever without trading an outfielder.

That’s what makes this offseason so frustrating.  The Mets are letting Bruce and/or Granderson hold their entire offseason hostage while players who can very well help them are going to other teams.  Once again, the Mets have signaled they are not quite willing to spend.  They are not willing to spend like a team in New York.  They are not willing to spend like a team on the cusp of the World Series.  Instead, this team is actually looking to cut payroll from its current levels before making another move.

Somewhere, someone is saying that spending doesn’t guarantee a World Series.  That person is largely correct.  However, this point also neglects the Chicago Cubs, a team that just went to the NLCS, went out last offseason and signed Ben Zobrist, Jason Heyward, and Jon Lester.  The team also took on Aroldis Chapman‘s salary because they needed a closer heading into the offseason.  No, the money didn’t guarantee the Cubs the World Series, but the money spent helped them win the World Series.  By the way, Zobrist was the World Series MVP.

Somewhere else is a fan urging patience.  Admittedly, Chapman and Kenley Jansen making late decisions held up most of the free agent market.  This in turn led to a late and slow developing market for the next tier of relievers.  However, those relievers are now coming off the board, and the Mets were not really in the discussion for any of them.  In reality, the Mets aren’t going to be contenders for any relievers if they are looking to hand out cheap one year deals.

This means a player like Fernando Salas, who was very good for the Mets last year, may very well find himself playing for another team without receiving a competitive offer from the Mets.  That really is unacceptable.

Lastly, there is someone saying that signing a reliever now would really hurt Bruce’s trade market.  This is of course nonsense because Bruce obliterated much of the trade market by hitting .219/.294/.391 with the Mets.  That market took another hit when the Mets re-signed Cespedes.  It took yet another hit when Sandy said the Mets had to trade him before making another deal.  Essentially, the Mets have forfeited whatever little leverage they had in trade discussions.  How can the team re-signing Salas hurt Bruce’s market any more than it has?

Overall, the fact is the Mets are going to eventually be able to move Bruce.  Once players like Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and even Mark Trumbo sign, there are going to be teams interested in Bruce.  However, how long is that going to take in what has been a really slow developing free agent market on almost all fronts?  What players that can help the Mets are still going to be available in free agency?

The likelihood is players that would be willing to sign with the Mets are going to be elsewhere which makes this inactivity all the more frustrating.  The team has real needs in the bullpen, and they need to address them now especially with the prospect of losing Jeurys Familia for 30 games.

Ultimately, it is time the Mets act like an even mid-sized market team and get the players it needs to compete for a World Series next season.  This isn’t a matter of going out there and giving Jerry Blevins a five year deal for the sake of making a move.  It is a matter of letting a pitcher like Ziegler go to an in-division rival on a reasonable contract.  That’s an error created by the Mets not having the resources they need to compete.

It’s a shame too because with one or two moves this team could have been drastically better.