Plan C Starts Now

We now live in a world in which we actually find ourselves thinking, "I feel much better now that we have Alex Cora back." Welcome to the unexpected summer of the 2009 New York Mets. Stalwarts are now sidelined: No Carlos Delgado and no Jose Reyes. Offseason acquisitions and reacquisitions are now idle: No J.J. Putz and no Oliver Perez. Temps are now past-tenses: See you around, Ramon Martinez. Heck, we have health concerns about guys we didn't concern ourselves with in March: Has any player gone from shocking arrival to unknown quantity to pleasant surprise to relied-upon regular to dreaded absence faster than Gary Sheffield has? We've got prospects who aren't old enough for a legal beer expected to do a large part in keeping an anxious fan base from hitting the bottle. We've got old men expected to be regulars in the summer heat. We've got Emil Brown, whoever the hell he is. We've got hopeful visions of reuniting with guys we'd figured ...