Not too long ago in 2007, the New York Mets’ and Philadelphia Phillies’ players were exchanging words about who was the best NL East team. That same year, the Mets suffered an incredible meltdown in September and they watched their biggest division rival clinch the division in the last day of the regular season.

After yet another disappointing season in 2010, the Mets decided to go for a quiet off-season and began their house cleaning. They first fired manager Jerry Manuel and General Manager Omar Minaya. Over this weekend, the house cleaning continued when they decided to release second baseman Luis Castillo (link here) and left handed pitcher Oliver Perez (link here), both of them with big money contracts ($6mm and $12mm) and incredibly poor 2010 seasons.

Let’s not forget that this is a team that in just a few years added players like Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez. If you take a close look at those names, you’re talking about great baseball players, most of them in the “prime” of their baseball career, but what happened?

Well, Venezuelan lefty and two time Cy Young Award winner Santana got injured in back-to-back seasons. The other Venezuelan Rodriguez, hasn’t quite been the same after he established the Major League Baseball record for most saves in a single season, plus he got injured last year after fighting with his father in law in the stadium. Both Delgado and Beltran had their share of injuries too. Beltran is actually injured right now, yes, again and Delgado is recovering from offseason surgery as he attempts to prolong his career one last time.

Minaya also signed reliever Kelvim Escobar in December 2009, a pitcher who didn’t pitch in 2008 and only pitched five innings in 2009. The outcome, he didn’t play at all in 2010.

Bad luck or bad management? I think a little bit of both, but the truth is the Mets are beginning a serious process of house cleaning right now, and I don’t think they will be contenders for years to come.