SPOT ON!
They made some incredible stupid off season moves but the overall roster is solid. I truly believe in McNeil. He's hit at every level when healthy. They went out and took a salary dump and traded their best hitting and pitching prospect to move McNeil off second, granted they got Diaz but still they could have just signed a closer and kept McNeil where we was. Hell Kimbrel is still sitting out there. To exasperate the issue they go and sign ANOTHER 35 year old second baseman in Lowrie to further push McNeil off his position. In typical Mets fashion they assume McNeil will just play OF. That worked great for Murphy and Tod Hundley... I don't know why they hate solid hitting middle infielders. Luckily Frazier is hurt so he's at least at 3B. I'm praying McNeil doesn't turn in Jeff Kent, Justin Turner, Daniel Murphy where the Mets just missed it.
They never signed a CF so we have Lageras and Broxton who aren't MLB players. They needed another starter for depth as you noted (although Oswalt looked very good in spring training but still you need more than 6 SP for a full season) and in my opnion still really need that one super star in the lineup, Harper just made so much sense for them. Conforto can be that guy but he's the streakiest player I've seen. He hit like Mike Trout in April of 2017 and then hit like Lagers for 3 straight months.
They also greatly reduced their payroll this year if you count the insurance money they get for Cespedes and Wright which is frustrating. They are going for it but reducing payroll?????
Bottom line, the Wilpons are cash strapped. They can't get loans and their existing creditors don't want them taking on any significant risk. Even look at Degrom's contract. It's Bobby Bonilla 2.0 with nearly 50% of the money differed over time. I figured when Fred's pall Selig left MLB would force a sale but it just hasn't happened yet.
All that said this team can absolutely contend but man it's all got to break right.
Excited for real baseball today.