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…well, the trade rumor that just wouldn’t die finally came to a 
conclusion…and, i’ve gotta say, i was beginning to lose faith…with pitchers and catchers just weeks away, i was fully prepared for the Mets to follow a backup plan of Kyle Lohse while the Yankees or Red Sox got the big prize once again…i mean, wouldn’t the media just have loved that…instead, the Mets pulled off their biggest trade since Mike Piazza came to Queens…
…there’s a certain delirium associated with a trade like this, where you don’t believe it’s truly real until you see the player put on the team’s hat and jersey at a press conference…this is that big…while Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez ushered in what was called The New Mets – a slogan meant to say to the rest of baseball, ”Hey, remember us?”…the acquisition of Johan Santana is the move that can finally put this team over the top…most of, if not all, of the sting of last season and the months that followed can be pushed aside while looking ahead…not many players can have an impact like that…in fact, santana might have been the only one…that is why this trade had to happen, at this very moment, at this critical point in the franchise’s history…with a new stadium on the way, we got a gift a year early…
…added to by Matthew Cerrone…
…the thing is, though, with our collective expectations raised so high, especially having been so dashed just a few months ago, what will happen if things do not work out as we all hope they will…i mean, coming off of last season’s ending, then getting excited again, should the Mets fail, i am curious how we will all react given these back-and-forth and back-and-forth again circumstances…sorry, wait, what am i saying, never mind, be positive…be positive…
If things don’t work out next year, we will always have the Texeira and Sabathia watch to look forward too!
I’m still on the Bedard watch. Unless one believes those two idiot teams can actually finalize their damn deal this century.
now that wold be a followup!!! Forget this bum lohse, just get bedard as well…
Also, some of you are writing below about Delgado….I dont view Delgado as the biggest what if?
That would be Church , who right now is HARDLY proven as a starter, let alone having played in a major BB city.
The Church situation is more easily remedied than the Delgado situation. If Church is absolutely hopeless against lefties a quick trade can be made for a viable platoon partner and all it would cost is a mid-level prospect and another bench player’s roster spot. If Delgado is truly done, finding a replacement first baseman will be much harder. Even if one is found, you still have Delgado lingering around, which even if it doesn’t directly cause clubhouse problems, will certainly cause enough speculation about problems, which in itself is a distraction. The most likely reality is that Church doesn’t do well against lefties, but no so as to necessitate a move, and Delgado does not regain his stroke, but instead plods along at the same level as last year.
As long as Santana pitches well, I will not be disappointed in him should the Mets fail to make the WS or even get into the postseason. The other players have to do their jobs, and if they do then the Mets should be extremely competitive throughout the entire year. The burden to win a title shouldn’t be all on or primarily on Santana’s shoulders.
The biggest question mark I see is Carlos Delgado. If he can hit just a little better than he did in 2007, their offense should be fine. But if he struggles worse than he did in 2007, then I can see potential problems with the Mets scoring runs. I fully expect their rotation to be a big strength this year. So perhaps they can overcome any run scoring problems with better pitched games.
There are questions aplenty — can Maine and Perez continue to grow? Will Pedro and Duque stay healthy? What about Alou and Castillo? Will Reyes rebound? Is the bullpen going to be predictable? Is Wagner’s arm going to fall off? The nice thing is that every team has questions like this. There’s reason for optimism, and we have a team of players that should be enjoyable to watch . . . as long as they don’t fall back to station-to-station baseball and stick to what used to be called “Willie Ball” . . . but was probably more appropriately “Manny Acta Ball.”
Delgado is the question mark in the lineup, and to a lesser extent Reyes. Will he fade down the stretch? I doubt it and will think he’s going to have a monster year. Delgado’s numbers may be the biggest mystery this season. Will he adjust?
I can’t wait to see.
I can’t be angry with the ownership of the Mets should they fail to meet expectations, it does seem that they are trying to field a quality team and are not trying to cut corners.
I actually agreed with the ‘Hot Stove’ Crew as they went over the possible ‘08 weaknesses. Cohen gave the Delgado answer, which I agree with. I think hes finito. The other question mark is who will fill in the back end of the rotation if we get hit by injuries. We basically have Pelfrey and Ed Duque and thats all, now that Humber and Mulvey are gone….I think one more (serviceable) SP might prove to be pretty valuable as the season goes on. I cant watch Brian Lawrence pitch in an important spot start one more time or I’ll go nuts….
I’m actually as concerned about Wagner as I am about Delgado. We’ve already seen a declining Delgado, and offense really wasn’t the problem down the stretch. If Wags loses velocity, there could be serious headaches, and he’s not getting any younger.
i hope the crowds are better than last year. they were TERRIBLE last year.
agreed .. presumptuous, bratty, and generally not into it unless the PA told them to be … though the last week the crowd pulled its weight and the players stopped, through the first part of the season it was the opposite
Speaking of new things, Santana looked great in the pinstripes! How many people are gonna splurge for the authentic jersey? I am about to pull the trigger. I think the Shea Stadium patch would be great memorabilia as well.
254.00, what’s the count?
do you guys think he is bigger or smaller than pedro?
does anybody know where i can watch the highlights of the press conference i was in school during it XD
mlb.com was webcasting it today, you should be able to find it there.
Keep in mind, it took Mark Messier 3 years in NY to bring the Rangers the cup. This Santana trade is very similar, hopefully this team takes a few less bumps along the way.
If the Mets fail this year, blame the players. They have all the tools in place, Willie won’t have to tax the bullpen as much, he has favorable matchups in the starting staffs, Omar and Wilpon have done their jobs. Also, let’s not forget that the other teams did well enough to win, so its not always that the Mets play bad, the other team has to win as well.
If Santana can stay Santana-like, this is a bigger trade than Piazza and in that case, maybe the biggest Mets trade ever. Obviously, when talking about just getting a player via trade, not considering what stage of his career he was in, Willie Mays would be the top. When comparing with Piazza, first of all it must be remembered that what we gave up for Piazza, for better or worse, did not include the ability to sign Piazza longterm as this did – so the rewards of this trade lock up the present best pitcher in baseball for 6 to 7 years. David Cone was a great pickup, when talking about players that became stars after acquired. Obviously Keith, Rusty, Gary Carter and others come to mind. As I said, if all goes well, this could be the biggest! Let’s hope!!!
If the Mets dont win the 2008 WORLD SERIES and send Shea out in a blaze of glory then the season will be an utter and total waste. After 2006, a season that we should have won and the historic 2007 season, if we cant get it done with the talent that we have now then its over and we will never win it all. If we play the same way we played in 2007 with the additions and subtractions that have been made we should be fine. With a few BIG IFs going our way we will win 95-100 games. That would be Delgado hitting again, Reyes not running out of steam, Castillo playing well without the bad knees, Pedro being Pedro, Sanchez doing his thing and Wagner blowing away hitters in the ninth. This is our year and 2008 is our time. We suffered enough and watched the Red Sox win twice. I only hope that we beat them in the WS again. LETS GO METS !!!!!
closet yankee fan
WHAT? There is no need to insult me. Look in 1998 we got Piazza and in 1999 went to the playoffs and 2000 the WS. The Red Sox get Schilling and win the WS and then they sign Dice K and win again. We sign Glavine-Nothing, Pedro-Nothing, Beltran-Nothing, now its Santana. If not now, when? Our window wont stay open forever, this team has to step through the door. We have the talent we just need to play the game and win. I dont want to keep saying “next year” for gods sake we sound like Red Sox fans before 2004. I dont want to be like the Braves and have 14 chances and only win once, that would suck. 2006 was our year and we blew it. 2007 was made for us with home games against sub 500 teams and we blew it. Lets get over it and WIN!!!!
We have to stay positive. Remember, the Braves and the Phils are also improved and it was a horse race last year.
It shouldn’t be about next year, this is about the future, we truly are on the right track. Next year depends on veterans like Delgado, Alou staying healthy, Pedro pitching well, Wagner being solid, stuff you can’t always account for, but Santana means much more to the future, the next 5 years and beyond, where our nucleus will grow up together and be the reason the Mets go anywhere. If next year works out, great, if not, we’ll be back.
I agree 100%. The thing i am most excited about is not our prospect of winning in ‘08 but rather the prospect of winning in ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 and ‘12. I’m about to be a father and i’m so excited my daughter will be able to root for the same players i root for now when she turns 6 years old.
Here is my positive outlook for 2008:
1) Santana goes 22-6 with 2.50 ERA and wins Cy Young
2) Pedro goes 18-8 with 3.20 ERA
3) Maine and Perez both go 16-10 or 17-11 with 3.60 ERA’s
4) El Duque and Pelfrey combine for 13 to 14 wins in 5 hole
5) Heilman pitches great in 8th inning spot, Sanchez stays healthy and pitches like he did a year and a half ago, and Wagner has 45 saves.
6) Reyes has his most consistent year and just loses out to Wright for MVP honors. Think .305 BA, 17 HR’s, 85 RBI’s, 125 Runs, and 80 SB’s.
7) Wright has monster year and joins 40-40 club. Think .325 BA, 42 HR’s, 125 RBI’s, 115 Runs, and 41 SB’s. MVP Year.
8) Beltran has great year. Think .275 BA, 40 HR, 110 RBI’s, 105 Runs, and 20 SB’s.
9) Delgado surprises and has .285 BA, 35 HR’s, 105 RBI’s, 90 Runs on his walk year.
10) Church surprises with .275 BA, 20 HR’s, 85 RBI’s, 80 Runs, and 15 Sb’s. Take that from the 7th hole?
11) Willie wins Manager of the Year
So in summation we have the Cy Young, MVP, and Manager of the Year. We go 98-64 to win NL East and Pedro beats Beckett Game 6 in Fenway to win us the World Series to really break the Sox fans hearts.
I have written this before but figured I would post it again just while we were on a positive feeling about 2008 topic. I know I am very optimistic but cant a guy dream? Lets Go Mets!
if all that happens theyd win over 102 games
Ok I’ll take 102 or more wins. I know most of that stuff I wrote wont happen but I am just having fun thinking it possibly could.
You left out Valentin taking over for a hamstrung hitting .560 and winning Comeback Player, Damien Easley using his ample free time to win the Pillsbury Bakeoff, and Show’s invention of time-travel.
(Which Omar subsequently uses to prevent him from ever becoming a Metropolitan. Ah, irony.)
I was thinking 103 this year .. steam roll with a vengeance and take pleasure in the stomping, no more mr nice met letting up and coasting on the laurels
I want every pitcher to have 25 wins (including Sosa) along with 300 strikeouts and every hitter (including Castillo) to have 60 home runs, 80 stolen bases (including Delgado) and 160 RBIs.
If that happens we may get about 150 wins. However, I want to see Anderson Hernandez struggle at the plate still because that would then be funny.
Then I would like to see us beat the Braves in the NLCS by tossing 4 no-hitters.
Oh yeah, I also want to see Pedro hit 4 home runs (one of them being an inside-the-park job) in a World Series game to win the championship.
expectations are just that.
if for some reason the 2008 mets fall short of their goals, there will most certainly be disappointment.
however, i think what this trade and subsequent signing proves for most of the remaining doubters (mr.metversion3.0 notwithstanding) is that the mets ownership is committed to winning. personally, i think that is all you can ask for from a fan’s perspective.
if there is a weakness, address it with the best possible addition no matter what the cost. and so while you may not agree philosophically with every move the mets made this offseason (see: milledge, lastings – which i do think makes them better this year, but probably weaker in subsequent years), i think it is hard to argue that they did not make a very real and sincere effort to put a team together that is not only better this year than last, but capable of playing championship caliber baseball.
soon it will be time to play the games and as they say, they play the games for a reason. and so it will be up to the players and the manager to live up to those expectations.
if more moves have to be made due to injury, poor performance, or otherwise then it will be on omar and ownership to oversee them.
Matt, I see where you’re coming from, but there is a different feel now. While the more replaceable parts grow old, the core is young, and this has the feel of the mid-80s. The 1985 team got Gary and it felt like this — we got the missing piece. Then without making the playoffs in ‘85 with 98 wins, it still felt ok. Even after losing in 1987 and then 1988 it felt ok, we would win another… but we did not.
Anyway, 2006 felt that way: we lost a heartbreaker but of course we’d be back to avenge in 2007… 2007 naturally did not feel like the next stop of course. In fact, it felt like the opposite, like the 1985 train was supposed to hit the 1986 stop but completely derailed as it pulled in.
Santana does not mean 2008 or bust in other words. It may feel like that now, but this is why he was signed until 2014, and not for one year. If we win two titles in the next 7 years… I don’t care if the first is 2008 or 2009 or 2010. If we are competitive each year and get at least one, it will be remembered and celebrated for 20+ years.
Not to mention having a much more full– albeit ersatz- ‘Stache.
Listen… and I say this as I admit that I’m not the world’s biggest Willie fan: managers have a LOT less to do with winning ballgames than most fans want to believe. This isn’t football. Willie didn’t lose the season any more than, say, Burgos or Lawrence or Show did.
Wins for pitchers rely on so many other factors that I hesitate to expect a particular won loss total, I simply expect Johan to pitch like himself. If at the end of the season he’s made over 30 starts and his WHIP & K/BB ratio remain compatible with that of his career I’ll be satisfied.
As far as the team goes, for me the only true disappointment will be if they don’t make the postseason. Assuming they do make it, then my expectations will be based on how they and the other teams in the tournament are playing at that time. I can’t sit here now and say anything less than a world series championship is unacceptable because then I’d be a Yankee fan. October is a long way off and I look forward to some epic battles with division foes along the way.
YAY!
While our starting pitching has improved (if Pedro and El Duque stay healthy) our offense has not improved.
Alou, Church, Delgado, Castillo and Schneider are either older, an offensive downgrade and/or untested in NY.
I’m not ready to jump on the “Mets will dominate” bandwagon.
Can’t argue with your “Alou, Church, Delgado, Castillo and Schneider are either older, an offensive downgrade and/or untested in NY.” Specifically with Delgado I’m hoping for a typical free agent walk year but not expecting it (see Jones, Andruw). For Castillo I’m hoping that whatever work he had done on his knee will at least keep him close to his typical form.
Please forgive my somewhat twisted logic, but I hope they don’t dominate. In ‘86 they were so far ahead that by the middle of August I wasn’t even watching the games anymore. It was very much see you in October, when despite their utter domination up to that point they were “a little roller” away from infamy. In ‘07 Delgado said the team was “bored.” Look what happened. So I’m hoping for (and expecting) an exciting race, not domination.
After watching the 62-63 Mets, I’m pretty sure that I can survive without making the playoffs.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been through the horrible and the great. Just the thought of a playoff race gets me giddy. I just remember that even though I love it, baseball is just a game and there’s alway next year.
i agree with you but i dont think race
I am going to keep my expectations in check until the latter part of spring training. Last year ST sent off all kinds of alarms in my head. They didn’t play well. Then along came April and I told myself I was being paranoid everything was going to be great…but sure enough reality sank in and the team struggled and then flopped.
Santana should be a great addition and one the Mets needed to get done regardless of how he does this year. No one has a crystal ball. We will see if he has to adjust to NYC and the National League like many others have had to do. Hopefully not.
We will see if Sanchez is all the way back.
We will see if Delgado is healthy and has mentally adjusted to lay of those crappy pitches which were getting him out last year.
We will see if Reyes is rejuvinated and ready to roll.
We will see if Church is going to break out like many think he is capable of doing (me included) since he hit lefties adequately two years ago.
Willie said they were going to work with Schneider going the other way since he got “pull happy.” If that works and he hits . 260 and plays great D that will be fine.
Once that stuff is sorted out, then I will go freakin’ crazy and dream of a WS. Hey if the Giants could do it…why can’t the Mets?
oh…..SHUT UP ALREADY….There are just some people that cannot EVER be happy…..
The Mets just had a press conference announcing we signed JOHN SANTANA…and you’re whining we couldnt ‘lock him up until he was 39 YEARS OLD! at $20 Mil per!!….
We have the 3rd highest payroll in baseball…What do you people what from ownership at this point…..If Matt wants to ban me for yelling at people, then fine….but these kind of posts are just ludicrisly STUPID!!!
Are you serious? Did you not see him in a Met uniform today? Obviously it was enough. Before I go on, I am still banking on the fact that you are joking.
I think every time someone makes a post that is sarcastic please from now on at the end put (sarcasm) because the readers here on metsblog are obviously too dumb to look at the big picture and realize he was kidding.
Im guessing the 3.0 means that you are the 3rd version of ‘Firemetsmanagement’/Guesswhosback’, meaning you have nothing better to do than make ridiculous posts, just to get angry or dismissive responses, just so you can get a reaction. Yeah, Im done with that. Its bad enough I reda this blog half the day. Im not gonna chase my tail over some idiot….
If posting regulary on a blog falls under the “get a life”(Im included in this group) category, where does regulary making stupid posts to a blog just to get reactions fall?
Nonetheless, here you go…
“Last year, only the Yankees ($207.7 million) and Boston Red Sox ($163.2 million) were over the luxury tax threshold. For the tax, payrolls are calculated using average annual values.
As for regular payroll, the Mets are at $107.7 million. The payroll increases to $118.7 million when adding in the arbitration players at their midpoints. ”
Happy now?
Ignore him. Anyone who prefers to sign a pitcher for 10 yrs instead of 6 deserves to be ignored.
don’t feed the trolls
Take a hike bro and please stop being a Mets fan. We dont need youor your negativity. The Wilpons just proved they will spend when it is spending wisely.
Yes….Finally an educated fan making educated, objective observations…..Please continue…..
I know it maybe too much to ask to someone with such impeccable, well-thought out points, but can you go through your throught processes? Its like getting a look into the brain of Einstein or Edison….
Intelligent fan like yourself? Wilpon & his family just gave 1 man 140 millions dollars to play for their team.
I love to joke & goof on rich people as much as the next person, but wow, what more do you want this guy to do?
That nickname is now old & very untrue. Go back to the Spankees message board.
btw, I have only made like 5 posts here, but these new rules are already making me feel a little restricted. I don’t want to be the first one banned. lol
I knew he was kidding but like most of your posts it just wasn’t funny, so it leaves the reader hoping for your sake it was not intended to be funny.
and anyway, why would you continue to tell jokes to an audience that does not understand them?
my posts r not funny? THATS NOT WHAT SHE SAID!
and again, why would you continue to tell jokes to an audience that does not understand them?
I Get It!
what do u mean not understand? is the audience too dumb? and thank you LSD!
I loved Bobby V. but if he is such a good manager then why is he over in Japan and hasnt been hired by another MLB club? Your comments dont even warrant a response so I am done with giving you any. Get lost please.
the rules haven’t changed..just been reposted. plenty of people have been banned already (including the first two versions of mr.met & firemetsmanagement apparently!) I’m sure that helped your fear plenty…just play nice is the main rule!
Chill out dude. The guy is obviously trolling.