Earned, Not Given: The Mets Are Starting to Find Out What They Have

There was a word that kept popping up around the Mets on Monday, even when nobody was actually saying it. Earned. Not given. Not handed out because there happens to be an empty chair. Not awarded because somebody in the front office needs to see what a kid can do before the season ends. Earned. And listening to Mets manager Andy Green and president of baseball operations David Stearns speak…