There’s nothing I like writing less than the dreaded mea culpa column. But there’s no getting around it now. 

I was wrong. 

In fact, I was so far off base when I wrote the Mets should stay the course, play it out and not even for a second consider deadline selling that from where I stood I couldn’t even see the base. 

There are many reasons I blew it, but the most obvious is this: The 2023 Mets just weren’t going to be good enough to contend. 

The other thing to keep in mind as they muddle and meander through the final 43 games is that they will be competitive in 2024. I truly believe that, and not just because the Mets higher-ups claimed it. 

Here’s why I think so: 

1) The Mets have a better than decent positional nucleus. 

2) The pitching staff will be better (more on that below), and here’s the big one, 

3) I don’t think Steve Cohen is any more anxious to endure a continuation of this type of play than the average Mets fan is. 

I probably should have realized that their deadline day standing on the outer cusp of the wild-card race was a mirage. I should have understood that the excellent 2022 season was a lot longer ago than I realized. Just be thankful I’m not on Cohen’s ample payroll, and that his baseball people didn’t listen to me (Not that they would!). 

No way, no how were the Mets going to be able to turn things around even if they’d bought instead of sold. They are that far away. That has become obvious, as the offensive numbers continue to sink, the baby Mets are showing they aren’t yet ready to rescue them and their pitching keeps proving to be about as deep as a Skip Bayless rant. 

It isn’t fair to use the Braves — baseball’s best team — as a measuring stick. But before salvaging the finale of their otherwise telling four-game series at Citi Field, it became clear the Mets aren’t in the same league as the Braves, and perhaps shouldn’t be. 

While I didn’t see the upside to the expected sale of productive free- agents-to-be David Robertson, Tommy Pham and Mark Canha yielding enough to surrender an entire season, I mistakenly didn’t consider that the Mets would actually hold a true fire sale. I didn’t foresee that they’d actually trade future Hall of Famers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, and play 57 games with what’s left of what was a mediocre team (something a lot less than mediocre, of course). 

At this point, however, I’d say they had little choice. 

The 2023 season was rotten. I didn’t want to admit it, but something is severely wrong. 

The sale was painful, too. But they enhanced their future, and that includes their near-term future. That’s right, I’m not at all worried about 2024. 

Let’s not go over this awful season. Too painful. But thanks to Cohen’s willingness to admit his own mistake (and also to eat more than half the money owed traded players), the future looks a lot better today. 

Four of the Mets’ top eight prospects came in deadline deals. Shortstop/center fielder Luisangel Acuña is their new No. 1 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. Forget that he has Braves bloodlines, everything else about him is a net positive. Outfielders Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford and infielder Marco Vargas are their new Nos. 2, 6 and 8 prospects, so half their top eight prospects came in deadline deals. 

Most importantly for Mets fans who are now understandably suffering, don’t give up on 2024. Cohen and other Mets higher-ups say they expect to be competitive (as opposed to the team you’re now watching), and I think that’s right. 

Here’s why. The Mets still have the bulk of the position-player nucleus that helped them to a 101-win season in that long ago 2022 season, the game’s best closer Edwin Diaz will be back, the list of free-agent pitchers is the best in years and the Mets can afford to restock quickly. 

“If people think [Cohen] will punt on next year they are mistaken,” one Mets-connected person opined. “[They] have a very good core of position players and if they play close to their potential will be in the hunt next year. And you know [Cohen] will sign pitching.” 

That Mets expert went on to say it wouldn’t be “old, expensive” pitchers this time. Which is probably for the best. 

We know Cohen and his higher-ups have been eying the great Shohei Ohtani, but even if we believe Ohtani will ultimately stay on the West Coast with the Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Mariners or perhaps even the incumbent Angels, there’s a litany of free-agent pitchers who’d help immensely. The list begins with Blake Snell, Julio Urias, Aaron Nola and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who’s expected to be the next great Japanese import, and it’s a fortuitously long one. 

The Mets probably need three starters, and there are plenty to choose from. Who realistically thinks Cohen wants to watch a whole season similar to what we are witnessing now?