Almost every Mets’ headline after the Cespedes signing has been about Jay Bruce. Jay Bruce doesn’t fit on the roster! Bruce must be traded! Mets need to dump Bruce salary! Bruce suitors dwindling! Mets overplayed the market on Bruce! Two teams still interested in Bruce! Mets want two prospects for Bruce! Mets hope to land reliever for Bruce!

Whoooooooooooo cares?!? Don’t you see what’s happening here? These BS headlines are simply a distraction from the reality that the Mets haven’t done a damn thing to improve the roster this offseason. The Bruce headlines have fans in a frenzy. I see some people defending Jay Bruce as a player. I see the majority of people saying perennial 30 home run hitter Jay Bruce stinks and unproven Michael Conforto deserves all the playing time. The debate rages on every single day.

If you believe that dumping Jay Bruce should be the team’s top priority then you’ve been totally brainwashed by the Wilpon media.

If you read these headlines about Jay’s untradeable salary and let BruceGate dominate the winter conversation then you are allowing ownership to scapegoat Sandy and Bruce for the lack of activity.

This team let Bartolo Colon walk and didn’t replace him. This team is going to let Kelly Johnson walk for the second straight year and not replace him. This team already needed two set up relievers before the prospect of a Jeurys Familia suspension. What have we done to fix the pen? Nothing other than watch every viable reliever fly off the free agent board. And I’m not just talking about the high-priced relievers. Almost all of the middle tier arms have signed for 1 or 2 year deals. As of now it still looks like the Mets intend to let Jerry Blevins walk without replacing him. The Wilpons threw the fans a bone with the Cespedes signing, and then they told us to get back in our cage and shut the hell up.

I’m so damn tired of hearing the brainwashed fans cry about having Jay Bruce on the roster. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with keeping Bruce if we can’t work out a mutually beneficial trade with some team. There’s plenty of playing time to divide up between Jay Bruce the defensively challenged slugger, Juan Lagares the defensive wiz who can’t hit right-handed pitching, young buck and unproven talent Michael Conforto, old man and new everyday center fielder Curtis Granderson, and Yoenis Cespedes who battled injuries for the entire 2016 season. And keeping Jay Bruce should have nothing to do with improving the bullpen. Nothing.

I called this from day one of the offseason. I wrote a post that said trading Jay Bruce is fine but a salary dump is unacceptable. I knew that if the Mets tried to work out a deal involving Bruce it would be primarily motivated by their desire to rid themselves of his 13 million dollar salary. I knew there was no way they’d take that 13 million and re-invest it in the roster. There was never a chance they’d eat some salary to make a better deal. 0% chance from day one.

My current frustration has nothing to do with Jay Bruce. I understand that we gave up a nice prospect for him, and he’s not a great fit on our roster. I get that he’s a one-dimensional slugger. Yes he can’t play the field. Sure he’s blocking Conforto and Terry Collins will always play him over Conforto even if Jay is batting .150 for three straight months. Does that frustrate me? Nope. All of my frustration is directed at the Wilpons for cutting off contact with the media after the Yo signing and closing up their wallet.

At this point I want the Wilpons to be stuck paying Bruce out of spite. Screw them. And who are we kidding? Spring injuries are an unequivocal lock for the Mets. Bruce will be playing everyday and batting fourth once God is finished smiting our regulars and destroying our depth. At least if we keep Bruce we have a viable option for when the inevitable injuries strike. I certainly can’t say the same for the bullpen.

P.S. With each passing day it’s looking more and more like Jay Bruce The Fish will be joining my family. Just like the real Jay, he’ll never walk and he’ll probably stink.