Cutting your losses

(Note: School is starting next week for me. As odd as it may sound, this means I'll be blogging MORE. I've never quite understood why this is the case, but it is, so don't worry.)

The Mets opening day positional alignment:

Catcher: Rod Barajas
Acquired in the offseason, claimed on waivers by LA a couple of weeks back.

First baseman: Mike Jacobs
Designated for assignment earlier in the year, ended up manning first for Buffalo, eventually traded to Toronto for a player to be named later.

Second baseman: Luis Castillo
Struggled on the field, was benched for a while, now is starting on a temporary basis due to Jose Reyes' day-to-day injury.

Shortstop: Alex Cora
Was bad. Released before his 2011 option vested. Signed with the Rangers, and is now a backup outfielder with the club.

Third baseman: David Wright
Face of the franchise, nothing's really changed with him.

Left field: Jason Bay
Posted worryingly low home run totals before being shut down for the year due to a concussion.

Center field: Gary Matthews Jr.
Remember him? Was awful for the Mets. Designated for assignment. Signed a minor league deal with Cincy, but used his out clause there after he couldn't crack the big league Reds (he had been playing with AAA Louisville).

Right field: Jeff Francoeur
Had some small hot streaks, but for the most part was mediocre at best. Finally was traded two days ago: to Texas for infielder Joaquin Arias.

In addition to these guys, early roster mainstays like Frank "Smithtown's Own" Catalanotto, Fernando Tatis, Fernando Nieve, Sean Green, and John Maine fell by the wayside (though the last four are still at the moment members of the Mets organization).

This makes me think two things.

1)Why was management so confident in such a mediocre team?

2)Why does management continue to show a lack of an ability to cut losses before it's too late?

The sad part of all this is that if these questions go unanswered, and management remains the same, what's the reason to believe that happy days are on the horizon?