The debate rages on in the comments section on yesterday’s qualified defense of the Mets’ offseason. It’s currently 49 comments deep and no one’s compared anyone else to Hitler yet, so that’s awesome. One guy called me a shill, but other than that, it was good work all around.

Anyway, I want to reiterate a point I made in the post but that I think got missed, at least based on the thrust of most of the comments. I in no way meant to excuse the Mets for their general lack of moves on the big-league level this year, but only to commend them for not selling the farm. As I wrote:

The Mets had opportunities to inexpensively improve their chances for 2010 without jeopardizing their future and missed them. I don’t know if there’s truth to the reports of budget constraints or bureaucratic inefficiency, or if the problem stems from either or both or is simply an innocent — and damning — misreading of baseball’s marketplace, but whatever it is, it isn’t good.

To that point, Howard Megdal wrote a good column for SNY.tv on Monday about how the Mets could have upgraded their roster for little more than the money they offered to Bengie Molina.

Sam Borden touched on a similar note today, pointing out that, as nice as it is that the Mets are playing up their past, it’d be nice if they did a little more to improve their present.

And if that weren’t all depressing enough, Mike Salfino uses the Bill James Handbook and catches up with Gene McCaffrey of Wise Guy Baseball to project how the Mets’ pitching staff will fare in 2010.

Because, you know, these websites are all about shilling for corporate interests. That’s precisely what we do here. (I honestly don’t know why I get so burned up by that, except, I guess, that it couldn’t be further from the truth, and I hate that anyone might think anything I write could be disingenuous.)

Anyway, Sam argues that my post yesterday defending the Mets for not destroying their future was akin to commending a man for not falling down the stairs on his trip to the basement, and maybe to some extent he’s right. Maybe that’s just how low my expectations have sunk.

I’m not sure, though. I’m still holding out hope that the Mets made a conscious decision to not trade prospects, and that it represents some sort of fundamental philosophical shift for the organization. And that could be very optimistic, I realize.

Regardless, now reports have it that the Mets have no money left. If that’s true, it’s both extremely bad and completely baffling, because, you know, what happened to that money they were ready to offer Bengie Molina and Joel Pineiro and all that?

And it’s a shame because, if it’s true, it would prevent one of the inexpensive moves the Mets could still make to upgrade their 2010 roster: signing Felipe Lopez.