GETTIN’ NOTHIN’41 FOR CHRISTMAS

and now San Francisco is entertaining former Mets slugger Jay Bruce with talks of a multi-year deal. The Mets’ National League East rivals are also stocking up before the holidays. The Phillies have invested heavily in their bullpen and with first baseman Carlos Santana. On Wednesday, the Nationals added another piece to a team that is pretty formidable already when they signed Matt Adams.

And still the Mets are asking their fans to wait patiently for the best deals they can find.

Adams is obviously a player that the Mets could have pursued, having made it clear that they are looking for a temporary solution at first and not going to just hand the first base job to Dominic Smith next spring.

Ideally, the Mets would have gone all-in this winter and invested in players who could make a long-term impact. They could have made a play for Giancarlo Stanton when he was on the trading block or could be trying to bring in Mike Moustakas or Eric Hosmer to add to their lineup and their clubhouse. But that is clearly not their plan this winter. The Mets have all but admitted they are shopping in the dollar store this offseason, so you can’t blame the Mets for going for the better bargain.

When healthy — which admittedly we can’t truly ever know for sure when a player is healthy — Gonzalez is a better all-around player.

Last season, Gonzalez, who will be 36 next May, saw a significant drop off in his power numbers to a careerlow as he battled back issues. He was limited to just 71 games with the Dodgers, hitting just .242.

Last season, one in which he was dealt from the Cardinals to the Braves, he had a .522 slugging percentage, a career high and up from his .438 in 2016. His OPS was a career high .858, up from .735 in 2016.

The Nationals are reportedly paying the 29-year old Adams $4 million with $500,000 in incentives. Gonzalez, who is guaranteed the $22.36 million remaining on his contract from the Braves, who released him Monday after acquiring him in a payroll swap.

Any team signing him as a free agent would only be required to pay him the major league minimum in 2018, similar to the deal the Mets made with Jose Reyes in 2016 after he was released by the Rockies.

If you factor in the financials, which is always a consideration when dealing with the Mets, it’s a better deal.