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In his blog for ESPN.com, Keith Law writes that the Mets immediately become the favorites to win their division and have a good argument to be the best team in the National League following their trade for LHP Johan Santana.
By getting one of the game’s best pitchers, Law describes two important things that Santana does for the Mets…
“One, he’ll give the Mets 50-75 more innings than they would have gotten from the starter he replaces in the rotation; he takes pressure off their bullpen and allows Willie Randolph to give his best relievers more rest, which he wasn’t able to do last August and September. Two, he pushes everyone in the rotation back into a more suitable spot. Pelfrey now has to “win” a starting role in spring training, which, given the work he still needs to do, is not a bad situation. Oliver Perez and John Maine won’t line up quite as often against opposing No. 1 and 2 starters.”
…agree 100%…however, i could probably list 999 more things santana does for the Mets, but i am too delirious to think of them…the only thing i know right now is that the best pitcher in baseball will be wearing blue and orange in 2008…pending the contract extension and physical, of course…
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You better BELIEVE it.
-#57
I’m still in total shock. I still cant believe the deal Omar got. I’ll probably come back to reality during school tomorrow and just burst out screaming,” We got Johan” to the Yankee fans.
^—
Welcome.
Pedro, Johan, Maine, Perez and then Duque.
Righty, lefty, righty, lefty and righty would keep the other teams off balanced. Very Nice rotation, I must say!!!!
This is the best acquisition that the Mets have made since they traded for Gary Carter back in 1985-6.
Got to Love It. Way to go Omar. You didn’t give away the farm either. ………………………………….
Signing him will disprove a lot of the finger-pointing towards Freddy Coupons.
I don’t want to be a wet blanket, but I’ve gotta say this is only the best acquisition the Mets have made since they traded for Mike Piazza in 1998. They got a hall-of-famer that took them to their only back-to-back playoff appearances and a World Series loss to the best team science could build
That reminds me though, I’ve seen some people (especially on ESPN.com) try to say this trade isn’t as good as it seems, pointing to trades like the Pierczynski for Liriano-Nathan-Bonser trade as an example that this might not work out. But I’d like to remind everyone that the Mets got the best catcher, and a top-5 hitter in baseball in 1998 for 3 of their top-5 prospects. Those prospects: Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall, and Geoff Goetz. In retrospect, would ANYONE not make that trade in a heartbeat again?
Hmm. Since Gary Carter? How about Mike Piazza?
I know we won a championship with Carter and he was a huge part of it, especially in the one and only 10th inning, but we could’ve won 4 straight championships in the late 80’s and didn’t.
Anyway, although I really like Gomez and Guerra and think they will become stars, this could still wind up being the best trade the Mets have ever made.
aside from his personal production, im glad people are talking about him helping to relieve the pen of 50-75 innings … HUGE
does anyone find this ridiculous?
53.8% Johan Santana
46.2% Pedro Martinez
is american KIDDING???
As long as you’re in agreement that no one will likely match the dominance of Pedro Martinez over the past 10-15 years, then yes, I agree.
yea, that’s absolutely INSANE. I don’t think people realize how good Pedro was. I like Santana, and I’m ridiculously glad he’s here, but he doesn’t even hold a candle to Pedro circa 1997-2003 (or Maddux 1992-1998, or Randy Johnson 1997-2002). Santana is the best pitcher in baseball right now, but Pedro, Johnson, and Maddux had some of the greatest stretches by any pitchers in ML history.
A couple of things… if Duaner Sanchez is able to come back it also leaves the bullpen in pretty good shape, moving Heilman back to the 7th and plenty of options for matchups and long relief.
But guys with big contracts do tend to struggle their first year in New York, the expectations, the media, etc.
Beltran, Giambi, Piazza, ARod, Mussina, Hampton all struggled some that first year. There will be a ton of expectations on this team. That said, if they stay healthy, it should be all good.
But lets give Santana a bit of a break. Last few years he hasn’t gotten of to great starts, but then went on some sick runs.
I’d sign up for 33 or 34 starts, 18 wins or so and a 3 era.
im watching this on ssportscenter and im like in tears lol
I cant wait for spring!!!!!
53.8% Johan Santana
46.2% Pedro Martinez
can someone please explain this insanity to me?
I’m not complainning
you can argue that pedro is the best pitcher of all-time.
career win%: #1 modern era (since 1910)
adjusted era: #1 (all-time; not to mention steriod era)
whip: #3 (all-time)
k to bb ratio: #3 (all-time)
k’s: #15 (all-time)
k’s per 9ip: #3 (all-time)
Exactly.
THIS TRADE IS A STEAL
Matt,
Just saw you on SNY. Beginning to be my favorite segment on Hot Stove/Sportsnight. You are an innovator, and will one day be recognized as an icon in the New York Media among Mets fans. OK I’m giddy about Johan and a little bit buzzed. But hey, I’m boozermetsfan. Let’s Go Mets! Thank you for all your hard work. You’re the man!
Boozer
Spoken like a true boozer.
I’ve been celebrating myself, but not for much longer. No more beer and only about 4oz of bacardi vanila left.
Here’s to Johan, Matt, Boozer and Heinz ketchup.
Cheers
its defidently karma for the seaver trade lol it took 30 some od years but its still karma b/c not one of our prospects will become anything like perrenial all-stars.
or the Ryan trade, or the Kazmir trade, or the….you get the point
You can’t count the Ryan trade. There, we traded the so-called “prospect” for aging, over the hill, veteran Jim Fregosi.
that’s the same as the Kazmir trade. I thought we were merely bringing up awful trades in Mets history involving pitchers.
I love this trade right now just as much as everyone else, but I think that it will take three years until this can be called the biggest steal, or the best trade ever
I am very happy buy until he passes physical and a deal is reached I am holding my breath. What if God forbid they cant work out a contract extension and the deal falls through. Also, if the Twins have remorse can they claim one of our players failed their physical to change their mind and nix the deal?
There is no way they don’t get this deal done.
They just raised ticket prices and have a new stadium after this year. That means they need this guy as he will bring in big bucks for the Mets.
Looking over the comments I repeatedly saw people saying they are ready to finalize their season tix now. Also, this puts the Mets on national TV more often and with higher ratings.
Money isn’t the issue, its to both parties benefit that a deal is done.
Is it possible the Twins get so much backlash with this deal that they claim one of our players failed their physical therefore nixing the deal? Also, will the Mets and Santana definetly reach a deal for a contract extension?
Sorry for the double post just reworded but I thought my first post got filtered.
And if they did that they would hurt their reputation permanently. They are better off moving forward.
Also, they expected a major backlash no matter what they did.
Its also quite possible that Santana asked for a trade to The Mets and the Twins had no choice. It was also obvious that this may have been the best offer left on the table.
Just had to check one more time before bed, to make sure I didn’t dream this up today…
Good night world
PS What happened to points guy?? I hope he’s alive to see this!
The next question is . . . who is our no. 5 starting pitcher? For me, I’d like to make Duque our long man out of the bullpen. We just cannot count on him to be healthy in August/September - which he wasn’t each of the last two years we’ve had him.
Do we sign Livan? I say no. While he’s been an innings eater, his stats have gone down hill in each of the last four years. And last year, I believe that his ERA was almost 5.
Pelfrey? From what I’ve seen of Mike Pelfrey, he’s a one-pitch pitcher. Aside from his fastball, which he throw hard and with movement, he has no other pitch and his control has been inconsistent at best.
Lohse. I’d consider him on a modest two-year, low risk, deal. But I’m not enamored with him either.
I think the best bet out there is Aaron Heilman. If Duaner is healthy and earns back his 8th inning set-up job, then a combination of Feliciano, Sosa, Smith, Shoe, and maybe Padilla or El Duque can handle the 6th/7th innings.
I think it’s time to give Heilman his chance. He had two solid pitches and certainly pitched well enough in spring training a couple seasons ago (when he competed against Bannister) to have earned a starting job.
I know some of you cite to Heilman’s first opportunity to start, which, admittedly, during which he performed poorly. But that was BEFORE Dr. Rick Peterson performed surgery and fixed him in 5 minutes by having him drop his arm slot to where he used to have it when he dominated at Notre Dame. Once he made that change, he numbers and performances greatly improved.
I have no problem with Heilman either, but I don’t think we will see that happen.
I disagree about Duque. I don’t think he will work well out of the pen (warming up, and irregular workload). At his age, and considering how long it takes him to warm up, it may be more dangerous.
I say keep Duque in the rotation (has to be the bet #5 in the league, right?) Just keep running him out there, and get as many innings as possible out of him.
The key is to have Pelfrey ready in AAA. Hopefully a couple of months there to refine his stuff and control, and he will be ready to come up and kick butt for whichever SP goes down 1st.
So, no Livan or Lohse. They do need some more depth though. Garcia could be interesting.
I see your point about Duque coming out of the pen. I just think it won’t be as much of a grind compared to starting all year - but I could be wrong about that. I guess the good part for the Mets if they keep Duque in the rotation is that the no. 5 starter usually doesn’t get his starts until May because of the way the schedule is set up. That’ll save him a few starts at the end of the year.
Garcia won’t be ready until mid-season. He was damaged goods when I saw him pitch for Philly. I’d be leery about signing him.
matt is hottttt.
where is points guy. he was my buddy. i’ll give him +10000 if he comes back.
If only there were more shawties like you in Tha A who are Mets/Giants fans, damn
I’m incredibly excited but trying to keep it in check because no contracts have been signed and no physicals have taken place, plus we all know what happens to Met pitchers in taxicabs.
I just spent a wonderful half hour or so reading the 240 something comments posted over at the Phillies blog Beerleaguer.com and I have to say that is a fine blog. The majority of the posts are thoughtful, even downright eloquent. They debate cordially, factually and intelligently. Very impressive.
I was even a little embarrased by some of the posts my fellow Mets fans felt they had to make, but that’s their decision not mine, it’s a free country.
The thing that made the greatest impression on me is how they despise the ownership and management they have in place. It made me feel luck to have Omar and the Wilpons. I encourage anyone who hasn’t done so already to check it out.