But through the first two months of the season, that premise already seems at risk.

Certain assumptions have been fulfilled. David Wright, who signed a long-term extension in the off-season, has been his All-Star self at third base. After some early hiccups, second baseman Daniel Murphy rediscovered his steady form. The right-hander Matt Harvey picked up where he left off last September and emerged as one of the top pitchers in baseball. And the right-hander Zack Wheeler, the Mets’ top minor league pitcher, is apparently ready to soon make his big-league debut.

Still, anxiety has risen because first baseman Ike Davis and shortstop Ruben Tejada — two young players expected to be infield linchpins this season and into the future — have played at an inexplicably poor level, although Davis’s struggles have been more stark.

The Mets harbor obvious worries about both players, and Manager Terry Collins acknowledged before Wednesday’s game at Yankee Stadium that the two were called into his office late Tuesday night. Collins declined to reveal the substance of those conversations, but reasonable assumptions could be made given his comments.

Asked whether the message, whatever it was, was comprehended by the players, Collins emphatically replied, “Oh yeah.”

Asked whether the message would have a positive effect, Collins smiled and said, “We’ll find out.”

Asked whether certain players needed their job security threatened to play better, Collins said: “I don’t know yet. There are guys who play very well when they’re comfortable, and maybe there are those guys who play more aggressively when they’re standing on the edge. We’ll find out.”

What seemed clear was that demotions to the minor leagues remained a real possibility, and that both players were poised on the edge. That Tejada found himself in the same place as Davis was surprising.

After all, the problems that plague Davis did not come out of nowhere. He struggled mightily for the first part of last season while working his way back from a long injury layoff in 2011 as well as a bout with valley fever. But Davis eventually got going, and he finished the season with 32 home runs. He entered this season healthy and determined to pick up where he left off.

Instead, he entered Wednesday’s game batting .152. After a couple of promising at-bats over the weekend, he looked lost again on Monday and Tuesday at Citi Field, going hitless in six at-bats against the Yankees and striking out five times.

“I don’t know if he was saying, ‘Hey, look it’s back. Let me see if I can get something,’ and then,” Collins said of Davis and his troubled swing, before trailing off. “So he came out today and we worked on some stuff and, hopefully, it starts paying off.”

Tejada’s unhappy season has been more surprising. Despite his age — he is 23, three years younger than Davis — he entered the season having already established himself as a solid, if unspectacular, performer at the major league level. His compact swing and patient approach at the plate produced constant, serviceable numbers in 2012, best represented by his .289 average. His sure hands earned him a reputation for dependability on the field.

But Tejada entered Wednesday’s game batting .209 and on an 0-for-12 streak. He had also made eight errors, including one on Tuesday during a game in which he was picked off second base and miscommunicated with Murphy on a ground ball up the middle.

Collins did not dispute a reporter’s characterization that Tejada was not being aggressive on the field. “That’s stuff we talk about on a daily basis,” Collins said. He said he told Tejada recently: “It’s time. It’s time to get going. We’re 50 games into it. All of the kinks should be out by now. Let’s go be the player we know you can be.”

That may be the problem. The Mets, before they undergo any type of renaissance, need to determine what sort of players Davis and Tejada can be, what their true identities are, whether they represent part of the future or just two more holes to fill on a team already in need of a vastly improved outfield.

And so it was not surprising that Collins’s decision to meet with both players Tuesday had an air of urgency to it, as did his pregame comments Wednesday. All season, amid the mounting losses, Collins has preached a positive attitude, a belief in one’s ability.

“But it doesn’t mean we have to accept the down times,” Collins said. “We’ve got to do something to fix it.”

After all, 2014 is just seven months away.