If you are a Mets fan, you certainly are familiar with their troubles — on and off the field.
Their defense is suspect. Their roster is thin. And did we mention that Madoff fellow? Ownership is deplored, Jose Reyes is in Miami and yet another season of an injury epidemic already is underway in Port St. Lucie.
The storyline around the Mets for a long while has been about misery — from finances to the field.
Yet after spending a week with the Mets this spring, I came away feeling their biggest problem was not their weaknesses, but their strengths. Or more aptly, their lack of them.
Even bad teams generally have an area of the team that is viewed as a real asset to build hope, wins and possibly a future around — a good up-the-middle defense, a power-laden lineup, strong lefty pitching. Something.
But in my unofficial survey of what Mets officials see as their best qualities, they pointed to four areas that — at best — will need heaping helpings of good fortune to actually play out well enough to keep the Mets out of the NL East cellar. Here they are:
1. JOHAN SANTANA: I actually was shocked at how relatively unrestrained Mets officials were on Santana returning as an ace. The guy did miss all of last season. He did have a shoulder injury similar to Chien-Ming Wang, who missed the better parts of two seasons trying to make it back.
Even if we give Santana points for being a terrific athlete and savvy competitor, he still is wading into pretty uncharted territory. If you were an oddsmaker in Vegas, what would you make the over/under on number of 2012 starts for Santana? Ten? Fifteen? Eighteen? It certainly wouldn’t be 25-30.
Already manager Terry Collins and pitching coach Dan Warthen have plotted an early season rotation plan in which Santana would get an extra day’s rest for his first seven starts. It is cautious and smart. It also is not the design for someone you should think of as a strength of your team.
If you are a Mets fan, look at this way: If there were a 33-year-old pitcher in another camp who missed all of last season with a serious shoulder ailment, what would you think of his chances of making a full comeback this year?
You can understand why the Mets are hoping for a full revival from Santana beyond that he is the highest-paid player in team history. The Mets simply have no rotation depth after a front five of Santana, R.A. Dickey, Dillon Gee, Jonathon Niese and Mike Pelfrey. So it is not only that the Mets would lose their No. 1 starter without Santana, but that they have no good options at No. 6.
2. MIDDLE OF THE LINEUP: The Mets believe they can be in the top quadrant in runs scored in the NL for more reason than the fences being moved in at Citi Field.
They see the two-through-six in the lineup of Daniel Murphy, David Wright, Ike Davis, Jason Bay and Lucas Duda as a lefty-righty force. And there is potential there.
But here is another way to look at it: perpetually injured guy (Murphy), injured/declining guy (Wright), injured guy (Davis), injured/declining guy (Bay) and 439 career plate appearances (Duda). Is there a sure thing in this quintet? Is there anyone you expect to be nearly as good as Reyes and Carlos Beltran were last year?
I do think Murphy and Duda can be very good major league hitters. But they probably are both DHs. Even the Mets anticipate Murphy at second and Duda in right will be below-average defenders, thus detracting some amount of production from whatever offense they do bring.
In addition, the Mets’ lineup has a depth problem similar to that of their rotation. Collins acknowledged the order falls precipitously after the No. 6 spot with Ruben Tejada, Josh Thole and the pitcher. Thus, any faltering by the two-through-six would be even more problematic for the Mets.
3. BULLPEN: One bit of spin Mets officials put on last year is if they only would have had competent bullpen work, especially in the second half after trading Francisco Rodriguez, they would have finished at .500 or better.
Maybe. They did have 14 out of their 24 blown saves after K-Rod’s exit. But the second half also coincided with the trade of Beltran and disabled-list stints for Reyes. So we received a picture of what the Mets would look like without them — and just an improved bullpen is not going to compensate.
Now we will find out if the Mets actually did improve their pen. This is a referendum on general manager Sandy Alderson, because the pen was the lone place he could influence the roster with limited funds. Tim Byrdak was re-signed, Ramon Ramirez obtained in a trade, and Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch signed as free agents.
Is this better than what the Mets had last year? Perhaps. But keep in mind that the Blue Jays gave up on Francisco and Rauch as their twin closers. Francisco has good stuff, but an aversion to throw to first. Rauch is a flyball pitcher (Did we mention Duda was in right?) who seems to wear out his welcome quickly.
Also, in a copycat sport, many teams bulked up their pens in the offseason after the Cardinals and Rangers reached the World Series to some large extent because of deep relief corps.
The result is that you would be hard-pressed to find many, if any, personnel people who believe the Mets have one of the 10 best pens in the majors. And if you are not in the upper third, how can this area be viewed as a strength?
4. PITCHING PROSPECTS: There is no doubt the Mets are in better position this year than last year — because of the acquisition of Zack Wheeler, the growth of Jeurys Familia and Matt Harvey, and the healing from Tommy John surgery of Jenrry Mejia.
This truly is the strength of the team. But there are no promises of any reward in 2012, and the attrition rate on pitching prospects is quite high. At least, though, this is an area of hope.
joel.sherman@nypost.com