Recently I turned to my friends in the Mets blogosphere and asked them the following question:

What was the most surprising thing to you about this offseason for the Mets?

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Howard Megdal – Plans to go to Surprise, Arizona for Spring Training

Most surprising thing? That the Mets really will enter 2014 with the shortstop and first baseman they so willingly, publicly criticized in 2013. Of course, they still might jettison them both, but I’m surprised it’s gotten this far.

Mack Ade – Secretly wishes for a surprise birthday party

Well, in a general sense, I expected the Mets to make more moves especially by trading some of their secondary rotational pitching talent to add some high end positional player depth at the AAA/AA .level.

I fully understand the reluctance in losing the to draft picks by signing people like Stephen Drew, but what I don’t understand why you want to lose a draft pick for signing someone for one year. You have a shortstop problem and it looks like it will remain that way through at least 2016. Doesn’t that mean a three year deal is a good thing?

I’m also surprised that Sandy Alderson seemed to take the free agent process for granted again. You have to be ‘in it to win it’ when you play the FA game and you can’t honestly expect players like Jhonny Peralta or Mike Napoli to sign a one or two year low end deal with you when other teams are willing to pay the ‘going rate’.

Jon Springer – Is always surprised when his box of Crunch ‘n Munch has no toy prize

I guess I’m surprised that more hasn’t yet happened on the trade front. It seemed to me that given the Mets’ redundancies and needs a trade would almost have to happen, and I still think it ultimately will. I’d like to think it’s because Sandy’s driving a hard bargain for us and will wear his counterparts down before the bell rings. Coughing up the powerful WFAN signal to the Yankees without as much as a fight I suppose isn’t surprising given the way the Mets do biz these days, but a terrible thing to have to swallow.

Greg Prince – Says surprise three times, like Gomer Pyle

The surprise of commission was the signing of Bartolo Colon, which seemed to come out of nowhere, except that he was an Oakland Athletic, and the Alderson group seems to favor players who played for franchises where its key executives used to work. That, I assume, is why we wound up with Chin-lung Hu, Brad Emaus and Mike Baxter. The fact that there were no Colon rumors floating around made the signing all the more delightful, let alone surprising.

The surprise of omission was, as of the eve of Pitchers & Catchers, not obtaining a starting shortstop. I thought they’d make a genuine (or jhenuine) run at Jhonny Peralta, but he got away from them fast and, to date, they haven’t exactly moved to scoop up Stephen Drew as he bounces through the deepest part of the hot stove infield. Given their barely disguised contempt for Ruben Tejada, I’m a little stunned he enters Spring Training as the de facto Opening Day starter. Though evidence points against it, I’d be surprised if we don’t see Wilmer Flores given a chance to show he can play there (it must be February if I think that’s a good idea). There’s something about not upgrading at that position that signals an unseriousness to the Mets’ 2014 intentions…which might be a prudent reserve of resources given where Matt Harvey is this spring, but it’s a little disappointing.

Ike still being here, on the other hand…somehow I’m not shocked.

John Coppinger – Was very surprised not to run away with things in the Celtic Pride league

I’d say the Colon signing, because that came out of nowhere for me. But the Mets frequently sign older players to fill important roles … so that’s not it. I’d note the fact that the Mets basically came out in October/November and said that they were going to get a new shortstop, and then, y’know, not get a new shortstop. But this also falls in line with recent history, so that’s not it either. The potential of losing the radio team surprised me more than anything with the baseball team. But again … Jeff Wilpon potentially doing something stupid? That’s not a surprise … that’s just a day that ends in “y”. I guess as you root for this team for 40 years, you learn that nothing surprises you anymore.

James Preller – Consistently surprised when the bad guy is unmasked in Scooby Doo

It’s so hard to pick only one. It was surprising that Sandy could not trade Ike Davis for a quality power arm. Ha, kidding! The surprise was how badly Sandy bungled it from a PR perspective. It was amateurish, like watching “The Gong Show.” In other news, it was surprising how management transformed its message regarding Ruben Tejeda from lazy bum at a position the team clearly needed to upgrade to . . . “Never mind, folks!” I was surprised by the dollar amount and the promises made to Chris Young. But the biggest surprise to me was the two-year deal for Bartolo Colon. With Jenrry Mejia and Rafael Montero and, to a lesser extent, Jake deGrom, ripening on the vine, I figured Alderson would be content to fill-in with low-cost veterans as insurance policies. But signing Colon was a statement move, with an emphasis on the present, and it completely caught me by surprise. I still have mixed feelings about it, but I appreciate the risk and understand the strategy. Let’s hope he got this one right.

I almost forgot to mention: Bobby Abreu contract offer! It’s nice that the world still has the capacity to surprise us, I guess.

Chris Walendin – Saw the surprise in The Crying Game coming from a mile away

The most surprising thing to me about this Mets offseason is that both Ike Davis & Lucas Duda are still on the team. (The second most surprising thing is that I’m surprised by this.) In all seriousness, though, I really thought they’d find a taker for Ike Davis (or Duda, though I thought Davis was more likely to be on the move). I wasn’t expecting much back in return, of course, but I was pretty confident back in October that they wouldn’t both be in camp.

*****

There’s been a ton of surprises this offseason. But the thing that floored me the most was the release of Justin Turner and then trashing him on the way out the door for not hustling. Getting rid of him was the right call and he certainly jogged to first base on some grounders. But I just assumed he had reached Luis Sojo, team mascot status with the Mets and would be here as long as he wished. Now if we can do away with the pie-in-the-face routine, so much the better.

*****

Thanks to Howard, Mack, Jon, Greg, John, JP and Chris for participating!

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