https://twitter.com/TheSeanKenny/status/254230607763222528

There were a ton of questions about Wright and Dickey, so let this stand in for all of them. I don’t know that it necessarily comes down to one or the other and obviously any extensions depend on the deals — both players could easily be seeking more than the Mets should reasonably pay for their services, regardless of how awesome they are.

I think Wright is more important to the Mets’ success in the short and long terms than Dickey is, which is not to diminish Dickey’s excellence so much as to trumpet Wright’s. I don’t think enough Mets fans recognize and appreciate how great a baseball player David Wright is. Even in his down years he’s still very valuable, and in years like this one he’s among the tops in the Majors. He’s the best position player in franchise history, by all accounts he keeps himself in great shape and is a great teammate, and he seems like a generally excellent dude.

A few people noted that because the Mets don’t appear primed to contend in 2013, they should trade Wright now and rebuild for the future. And, again, if someone wants to give the Mets some crazy package of talented young players for Wright, then sure, peace out. But it’s downright silly to just say, “trade him for prospects” and assume one of the prospects will grow up to be even half as good as Wright. Wright’s certainly not a Hall of Famer yet, but he’s on that trajectory. Did you know he’s second only to Miguel Cabrera in career WAR among position players under 30? Guys as good as Wright don’t come around very often. That’s why the Mets have never had a better position player in their 50-year history.

Time can catch up with players pretty quickly, but I don’t see why anyone would expect Wright to stop being awesome before the Mets can cobble together a contending team — especially since Wright makes them all that more likely to contend. Plus, figuring the money allotted to Wright could then be redirected elsewhere later assumes that a free agent of Wright’s caliber at a position the Mets need will hit the open market — far from a guarantee.

Dickey’s status is less clear, and the case for trying to trade him this offseason, I think, is a bit stronger. (Depends on the deal, again.) Obviously it’s not a possibility I’d like to consider right now, but he’ll be 38 in a couple of weeks, he’s coming off an extraordinary season, and there’s an extremely inexpensive option on his contract for 2013. Knuckleballers don’t age like most pitchers, of course, but Dickey is not like most knuckleballers. And though starting pitching depth can be fleeting, the Mets appear to have way more on the mound than they do at the plate.

But the Mets’ best chance to contend in 2013 requires Dickey fronting their starting rotation, and since I’ve seen baseball before and I’m not willing to count a team out six months before the season even starts, I’ll hope they make a go of it with both Wright and Dickey.

https://twitter.com/Briligerent/status/254230330410688512

I suspect there’s some lingering animosity among Mets fans over the pond-scum stuff from the late 80s, but I’m all for the Cardinals provided they are led straight to the monkey by Carlos Beltran. Yesterday’s poll here pretty accurately reflects my rooting interests on the National League side, actually: Beltran, the Reds, the Nats, then a big break, then the Giants and Braves. As an added bonus to any Beltran glory, the Cardinals defeating the Braves in the play-in game might help expose how silly the play-in game is, since the Braves proved six games better than the Cardinals over a 162-game regular season.

In the AL, I’m first and foremost for the YOLOrioles because I know enough long-suffering Baltimore fans to sympathize and want something good for them. The A’s and Tigers are cool, too.

https://twitter.com/FlagrantFan/status/254230279395360769

Bryce Harper and Tim Bogar.

https://twitter.com/tpgMets/status/254230957148762112

I’ll go with my birthday, Jan. 22.

https://twitter.com/mikerudner/status/254230743235055622

No, but it’s close. As fun as the public shaving was, the highlight still has to be the day I spent with Ralph Kiner doing the Kiner’s Korner Revisited videos a couple years ago.

https://twitter.com/sabometrics/status/254229729295601666

None, unfortunately. Keith’s mustache powers are non-transferable, and the mustache is lifeless and limp without Keith’s lip. The two share a synergistic relationship.

Here’s the messed-up part of it all: I think the Mets could be good next year. That’s not spin and it’s not something I’m writing for the sake of getting your attention. I believe that.

There’s work to be done, no doubt. But the Mets should return a solid young infield featuring a bona fide superstar and a deep staff of starting pitchers led by R.A. Dickey, Jon Niese, Matt Harvey and — given health — Johan Santana and Dillon Gee. That’s a nice place to start, and though the horizon would appear quite a bit sunnier if we knew they had any money whatsoever with which to secure some outfielders this offseason, I’ve still got enough faith in Sandy Alderson and baseball’s pervasive randomness to reasonably hope the Mets leave Spring Training with a squad fit to compete in a tough division.

Would I bet on it? No. But then I certainly wouldn’t have bet on the A’s or Orioles being alive today a year ago.

That’s only the logical presentation, though. Part of being a fan, I think — or at least part of being a Mets fan — is the odd balance of suspecting your team is irreparably doomed but maintaining some real sense of hope they’ll prove otherwise. Because another part of me — a big part, an angry part — expects the Mets will suck next year and suck the year after that just like they sucked last year and the year before that and the year before that.

I spent some time on the podcast this morning agreeing with Patrick and Toby that this season’s Mets had more than their share of great moments and stories for a 74-88 team: Johan Santana’s no-hitter, David Wright’s return to form, R.A. Dickey’s Imperial March over the National League. But then as we talked, I remembered the great things of 2011 — Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran — and even the great things of 2010, the fleeting heroics of Rod Barajas and Jeff Francoeur.

Every year, right? Every year there are great things among the disappointments. And every year there is hope, every year hope is crushed, and every year we come back hoping. This might be the weirdest thing I do. And the Mets exist in such splendid juxtaposition with their rivals across town, who practically never disappoint. How does a Yankee fan distinguish season from season? Does he need to isolate the small victories from the mire of failure, or is it reversed — is 2007 the year they gave way too many at-bats to Melky Cabrera and lost to Cleveland in the ALDS? Or is it as simple to a Yankee fan as Years It Happened and Years It Didn’t?

I started off with a point to make and it’s fast slipping away from me. I think I’m trying to justify how I can emotionally invest in something practically bound to disappoint me, then still come away oddly satisfied when it does.

Is baseball that good? Certainly; baseball is the best. But I suspect, too, there’s something oddly enjoyable about being Mets fans that leaves us better prepared than most for our daily and monthly and yearly challenges. How often is anything all it’s cracked up to be? And what better way to shoulder reality than to celebrate the small triumphs and hope there are grander ones to come?

One time I was randomly cast in a Jack in the Box commercial, and another time Francoeur walked twice in a game. I think the Mets could be good next year.