From Newsday

Wilpon expects Mets to go 'deep into the playoffs'

BY KEN DAVIDOFF
ken.davidoff@newsday.com

February 19, 2008, 11:41 AM EST

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Mets CEO Fred Wilpon, holding his de facto annual "State of the Mets" news conference on Tuesday, laid down a challenge for his team.

"We expect to be in the playoffs, and deep into the playoffs," Wilpon said at Tradition Field, with his son, COO Jeff Wilpon, at his side. "That's our expectation. Everyone around here - players, manager, Jeff, myself and everyone that's around the club."

"That's every year," Jeff Wilpon added. "That's not just this year."

But the Mets, of course, are coming off a historic collapse, in which they blew a seven-game National League East lead with 17 games remaining. And they acquired two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana from Minnesota earlier this month.

The Mets retained manager Willie Randolph and general manager Omar Minaya, and Fred Wilpon responded in the negative when asked whether people's jobs were on the line in 2008.

"Everybody is always accountable. We're always accountable," Fred Wilpon said. "But no, I don't think people's jobs are on the line. I think that we're going to assess, with them, at the end of the year, 'How did we do? How did we perform?' They can't perform for the players, but we could perform on the duties that we have and say, 'How did we perform?' ... We'll wait and see."