Will the Mets win the NL East?

[Joltin Joe Giradio]

If all players are healthy and perform well, the Mets have a slightly better team than PHI, but although the stars on the team are great, the team has little depth and little minor league talent to call up and/or trade if any of the stars were to go down.

I dunno... I don't have a great feeling about this team.

IF Pedro can stay on the field for 180 innings, AND the good Oliver Perez shows up 75% of the time, AND we get anything out of LF, 1B, and 2B, AND the bullpen has more than just Wagner and Heilman (I have a feeling Wise is going to be one of the best pickups in the offseason, and he'll be a very good 7th inning man), then I think Mets will win.

Looking at the Phils, I think their offense is better, and their SPs are slightly worse, and the end of their pen could be a mess.

It's quite close again.

[AutographCollector]

IF Pedro can stay on the field for 180 innings, AND the good Oliver Perez shows up 75% of the time, AND we get anything out of LF, 1B, and 2B, AND the bullpen has more than just Wagner and Heilman (I have a feeling Wise is going to be one of the best pickups in the offseason, and he'll be a very good 7th inning man), then I think Mets will win.

I concur with the Pedro statement. And yes we NEED to have at least 14-16 wins EACH from both Ollie Perez AND John Maine, and don't forget about our newest acquisition Johan. Obviosuly we have the better closer, but relief? A healthy Duaner Sanchez = a lot of happy Mets fans. :twocents:

Mets win the East by 4 games.

[Dalkowski110]

I agree with AC, but I think our bullpen is going to be quite a bit stronger. Think of this...one huge reason (aside from the obvious one of how many innings Mota was eating) our relievers were so overworked was because one reliever (Aaron Sele) was UNDERworked. You basically never saw the guy. The immediate response: "So what? He was dead weight!" Well, if he was dead weight, why wasn't he cut and why didn't we see Collazo or Humber working long relief? Or heck, Brian Lawrence, who it was pretty clear WAS on the whole effective his first time through the batting order (his first inning stats are 6 for 24 with ONE XBH, ONE walk, and 4 K's). So what about all this? Well, this year, we won't have an Aaron Sele.

Simply put, there is no guy in the bullpen who just falls apart every time he goes out there (before anyone says Schoeneweis, the Mets ARE going to try and use him against lefties whenever possible this year). Matt Wise is truly a really awesome under-the-radar acquisition and has pitched extremely well this ST (and he gets Mota's spot, plus he has good endurance). Joe Smith finally has his pitches working and is finally adapting to his new, higher arm slot. Duaner Sanchez has shown us he has command of his changeup and slider (although not his fastball...note that those are the pitches getting socked over the wall). I honestly think Jorge Sosa will be fine as a long reliever, too.

[stejay]

I think they will yes. If they do not win it, there is something wrong

[Mr. Met]

I've thought they've had the best team in the NL the past 2 years. I expect nothing less than a World Series appearance.

[AutographCollector]

I've thought they've had the best team in the NL the past 2 years. I expect nothing less than a World Series appearance.

Anything less... would be uncivilized.

[KCGHOST]

Failure to win the division will seal Willie's fate. And you never know about injuries.

[metfan13]

If all players are healthy and perform well, the Mets have a slightly better team than PHI, but although the stars on the team are great, the team has little depth and little minor league talent to call up and/or trade if any of the stars were to go down.

I dunno... I don't have a great feeling about this team.

IF Pedro can stay on the field for 180 innings, AND the good Oliver Perez shows up 75% of the time, AND we get anything out of LF, 1B, and 2B, AND the bullpen has more than just Wagner and Heilman (I have a feeling Wise is going to be one of the best pickups in the offseason, and he'll be a very good 7th inning man), then I think Mets will win.

Looking at the Phils, I think their offense is better, and their SPs are slightly worse, and the end of their pen could be a mess.

It's quite close again.

If all are healthy and perform well the Mets win this thing in a runaway.

It's the health issues and possible decline of Delgado that will possibly keep this close.

Remember, going by that statement, if healthy and playing well, they'd have a rotation of Santana, a healthy Pedro, Maine and Perez. that would be by FAR the best rotation in baseball.

[Joltin Joe Giradio]

I certainly hope they will win the East, but I don't think it'll be a runaway.

[NYMets523]

If all players are healthy and perform well, the Mets have a slightly better team than PHI, but although the stars on the team are great, the team has little depth and little minor league talent to call up and/or trade if any of the stars were to go down.

Philles don't really have much depth either.

I think the Mets will win the division since they have the best rotation 1 through 4. Their lineup needs to be healthy. I believe Delgado is done and should become a bench player if he's hitting under .250 after a month. The longer Willie keeps playing with him simply because he's a vet, the worse they will be.

[Joltin Joe Giradio]

That's the problem, the team is very thin AND has a number of fragile older players - namely Delgado, Castillo, Pedro, Duque, Alou (who is already down). There isn't even a clear capable backup for Delgado at this point.

The Phils are thin too, but they don't have many breakdown candidates. Jenkins maybe, but they have Werth. Burrell could have another one of those .230 years, but he's not even one of their core hitters at this point. Their catcher Ruiz has a pretty good chance this yr of stepping it up and becoming a solid contributor. If Hamels gets hurt, all bets are off though.

[Dalkowski110]

"If Hamels gets hurt, all bets are off though."

His mechanics are pretty sub-par, namely his timing. He does something very similar to what B.J. Ryan and Rich Harden do by dragging his arm along behind his rotating torso during delivery/basically going against his own momentum. Truthfully, I think he's almost as much of an injury risk as Pedro. Almost.

[Dalkowski110]

"There isn't even a clear capable backup for Delgado at this point."

What about Damion Easley? He proved servicable if not graceful at first base (certainly not lost a la Marlon Anderson) last year. I realize two games is too small a sample size to get an idea about his real abilities, but you can look at Marlon Anderson and just immediately cringe...you can tell he's not a first baseman. However, Easley didn't have that "deer in the headlights" style of play that Anderson did and has so far done okay at first this ST.

[Joltin Joe Giradio]

Easley is decent vs. lefties, but for a 1B, even his against lefties production is not gonna cut it. For a week I could live with him filling in, but he's not really of much use. At 2B is a different story since his production would be acceptable as a 2B.

Maybe Omah could get a Nick Johnson, Dan Johnson type if needed... And there's always Nady from PIT, I think he can play 1B, but his D would be bad I suppose.

Oh yeah, I forgot Saenz... he could play at 1B a bit, but he's not gonna cut it as a fulltimer either.

Omah's gonna have to devote more attention to the minors. There's basically one prospect left that you could reasonably project to be a star

[Dalkowski110]

"For a week I could live with him filling in..."

Oh, I think I misunderstood you. I thought you were trying to say we didn't have anyone who could even fill in for him. I'd actually think Saenz could probably cut it platooning against lefties as a hitter, but his fielding is just awful.

As for Nick Johnson, of any of those players you mentioned, he makes the most sense in terms of Omar's thinking. Why?
1) Because we all know Omar and former Expos under his tenure (wanna bet John Patterson gets a AAA gig while being "tweaked and tuned" under Rick Peterson devotee Dan Warthen?).
2) Johnson is a left-handed power bat. The Mets do NOT have a lefty power bat off the bench. Further, Johnson's splits are inverted; he's hit lefty pitching to the tune of .295/.426/.447 with an .873 OPS. Righty pitching? .264/.385/.461 (okay, so he hits righties for more power, but his OPS is still .846). Not a platoon guy who could (if he stays healthy) take over from Delgado once Delgado's contract is finally done.
3) Due to his fragility, you may be able to get him at a reduced price.