There’s hope for the Mets. Quick! counter with reminders of their depressing past!

The hiring of Sandy Alderson seems to have gone over well, and my Met-fan friends are almost allowing themselves to be optimistic these past couple of weeks. Sure, 2011 will still likely be a challenge due to financial constraints and a couple of onerous contracts that have yet to run their course, but for the first time in a long time Mets fans are allowing themselves to hope for the best rather than assume the worst.

We can’t have that.

So, here’s a post today from Brian Joura making an All-Star team out of the best under-25-year-old talent the Mets have traded away in their history; and

Here’s a short, sweet, painful but true summary of what it’s like to be a Mets fan from last night’s “Family Guy”:

It’s not that I hate you, Mets fans: I just don’t want you to forget what this felt like when, in a couple of years, you’re beating the crap out of the Phillies and Braves in the NL East behind your Alderson-built UberTeam.

The Padres may have some interest in acquiring Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco, according to a recent report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. It seems unlikely that the team would deal their starting third baseman with J.P. Crawford (fractured left hand) sidelined through July; to that end, however, they signed infielder Danny Espinosa as minor league depth on Friday and have reportedly been eying the Rangers’ Adrian Beltre, among other veteran options.

Franco, 25, entered Sunday batting .255/.297/.425 with nine home runs and a .721 OPS in 229 plate appearances this season. While he has yet to live up to the .280+ average, 1.9+ fWAR he posted during his rookie campaign, he’s been a solid 20+ home run producer over the last few years and shown some stability at the hot corner. He’s also under team control for the next three years and could provide some much-needed insurance behind the Padres’ current third base option, 27-year-old Christian Villanueva.

Rosenthal notes that the Phillies could strike a deal for one of San Diego’s relievers, though no one specific has been connected to the team yet — and the club probably wouldn’t be able to finesse a one-for-one deal given the quality of the Padres’ pitchers. The Phillies’ bullpen has looked downright abysmal over the last month, placing 11th-worst in the league with a collective 5.34 ERA and 0.3 fWAR. Their failure to procure a viable reliever beyond Seranthony Dominguez, Victor Arano and Edubray Ramos lends a certain urgency to any potential deal they make over the next few weeks, though the official trade deadline is still over a month away.