30 In 30 Part 8: New York Mets

This team belongs to David Wright and Johan Santana.
However, it is in a bad place right now.

Let me start with a bold prediction.  Eight of the ten teams in "East" divisions will finish with winning records.  The Baltimore Orioles and the New York Mets will not.

On the bright side, Johan Santana threw a live batting practice session today.  

Coming back from a lost 2011 season and shoulder surgery, Johan Santana is a symbol of the Mets' luck since reaching the 2006 NLCS.  The Mets acquired Johan Santana, Jason Bay and Francisco Rodriguez over the next few years to keep a core of great players around Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and David Wright.  Santana was nothing but good for the Mets, but as I had mentioned earlier, lost an entire season to shoulder surgery.  Francisco Rodriguez assaulted his father-in-law and is now in Milwaukee.  Beltran had injury trouble that plagued him long enough for the Mets to slip out of relevance.  He was traded last season and now plays for the St. Louis Cardinals.  Jason Bay came to New York in 2010, where he found immediate injury problems and loss of the ability to hit a baseball.  The icing on the cake came this offseason when Jose Reyes signed with the Miami Marlins.

So with that being said, kudos to Sandy Alderson for filling his major league roster with major league ballplayers.  Ramon Ramirez, Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco are invaluable additions to the bullpen.  R.A. Dickey has been the Mets' best starter over the last two seasons.  Johan Santana and David Wright are going to start the season healthy and the Mets have eight position players who can be classified as solid or better.

The problem for the Mets is that they play in the NL East.  The fourth best team in this division boasts Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmerman, Gio Gonzalez, Edwin Jackson and John Lannan in their rotation. The third best team in this division has the best back of the bullpen in baseball.  The second best team features Ozzie Guillen, an offseason shopping spree, Hanley Ramirez, Josh Johnson and the artist formerly known as Mike Stanton.  The best team is the Philadelphia Phillies and I don't need to explain why they're good.

The Mets are not going to be an atrocious team this year if Wright and Santana can keep this team trying to play to the level of their division.  They just don't have the tools to climb out of the basement in what is now the second best division in baseball.

X-FACTORS:

Rotation: Johan Santana.  Any success in the near future for the Mets can only be accompanied by a successful comeback by Johan.

Lineup: 3B David Wright.  This is David's team now.  He needs to set the pace for this lineup.  

Bullpen: Jon Rauch.  One of three big bullpen acquisitions by the Mets.  Rauch is the only one of these three that is coming off a poor season.  Any contributions Rauch can make could possibly give the Mets the second best bullpen in the division.  

The Kids: SS Ruben Tejada.  With Reyes gone, Tejada has some big shoes to fill.  He may very well be the only kid on the Opening Day roster.

ROYAL LIST:

#35 RHP Zack Wheeler: Projected to come up in 2013.  I guarantee you see him in small doses in 2012.

#54 RHP Matt Harvey: Will also get some major league experience under his belt this season.

PROJECTION: 5th Place NL East

-It is Sandy Alderson's job to rebuild the Mets' farm system.  This team is going nowhere anytime soon.  This is David Wright's and Johan Santana's team now.  My condolences.