The Mets are a vase fallen from a high shelf and shattered.

The way the team handled the departure this week of General Manager Sandy Alderson, who is taking a leave of absence to focus on treating his cancer, underlined the club’s broken nature. It is in hot pursuit of the worst record in the National League. They have lost 44 of their last 65 games and were only 1.5 games ahead of the Miami Marlins, a team that is striving to lose every game possible, entering Wednesday.

The team’s crown prince, Jeff Wilpon, who shies from reporters as a horse from an electrified fence, showed up at Alderson’s news conference on Tuesday. Often reading off a written statement, looking ill at ease, he offered a reckoning with his broken-down jalopy of a team.

“This is a results business and we’re well below our expectations, from ownership on down,” said Wilpon, the team’s chief operating officer and the son of its principal owner. “Nobody expected to be in this position.”

Wilpon left a triumvirate of Alderson deputies in charge, though he retained the final say on any decisions. Ancient Rome’s government featuring two consuls lasted for centuries, but it led to rivalries and the occasional knife in the ribs. A triumvirate is more confused still. The Mets are about to enter a fateful month in which someone — the owner, or an office temp, perhaps — must decide how much of this team to dismantle before the trade deadline.