It happened last year, too. This idiotic, knee-jerk, question posed to angry and frustrated fans and talk-radio hosts. Dump him or keep him? Even some newspapers are now involved. Not just with the Mets, either, but with every team that fails to whatever degree.

One smart Mets fan I spoke to on Monday was in the typical mode: “Dump them all; clean house; start new, the core needs to be changed.”

The problem with all those ideas is this: You can’t just dump people without getting replacements who are, at the very least, as good. Actually, you don’t “dump” a player unless you’re getting somebody you think is better.

So, those of you who don’t want David Wright or Jose Reyes anymore … there are probably 30 teams who will be happy to take them off your hands. Carlos Delgado is old, but if you buy him out, somebody else will surely sign him for a lot of money and you’ll be stuck trying to find a first baseman who’s going to hit 30 homers and drive in 100.

And if you just want Carlos Beltran out of your sight, I’m sure the Yankees would give you every outfielder in their system, plus a few prospects and cash for him.

Blame those core guys all you want, but the fact is that the Mets’ lineup has five holes in it including the pitcher There are the four stars and pretty much zippo. There is no reasonable production from left field, right field, second base and catcher. They got by when Damion Easley and Fernando Tatis stepped up surprisingly and had solid seasons. But when those two afterthought guys, bench guys, got hurt, there was nobody left. You CANNOT win with four guys in your order hitting, and they can’t hit every day, and it becomes impossible for them to hit when the opposition knows there are so many outs around them, and when the pressure is on them when they come around to bad every two or three innings.

Besides that, we all know injuries are no excuse, but if they’d had Billy Wagner or John Maine the last month, don’t you think they’d have won two more games and they’d be in decent shape heading into a series with the Cubs? You bet they would be.

Of course, that’s not holler-and-scream rationalization. Not when “Dump ‘em all” is preached by so many and keeps so many radio/TV guys employed, not when fans want their anger to decide the future of a franchise, want people held accountable, want heads to roll. So, if you want to get rid of Beltran, call Brian Cashman.