The Mets Need Johan

Hello Mets fans,

Welcome to the first of many blog posts on the site. It’s been a slow offseason for the Mets. They lost Tom Glavine, Guillermo Mota, Paul “My phone is toast!” LoDuca, Lastings Milledge and Shawn Green and have replaced those guys with Matt Wise, Brian Schneider, Ryan Church and most recently Angel Pagan. Ted has written in his latest blog on SNY that the Mets should remain quiet and enter the season with the team they have right now.

I agree the Mets could win the division with their current roster. For the most part, they have a very similar team to the one they had last year and that team led the NL East for almost the whole season. The Phillies and Braves have both lost key players (Aaron Rowand, Andruw Jones and Edgar Renteria) and the only significant player either team added was Brad Lidge, which could be bad or good for the Phils.

It’s true the Mets have a formidable front three with a healthy Pedro combined with Oliver Perez and John Maine. I also agree it would be foolish to sign a mediocre starter like Kyle Lohse to a four-year deal when Phillip Humber and Mike Pelfrey could do just as good of a job. But I disagree when Ted says we shouldn’t mortgage the future for Johan Santana.

Santana is the type of dominant pitcher the Mets haven’t had since Tom Seaver, and he might even be better than Tom Terrific when he’s at his best. He throws a devastating changeup to go along with a mid-90’s fastball. When he’s motivated, he ranks right up there with the most dominating pitchers of all-time. Throw him in a pitcher-friendly park, in the NL, surrounded by a great defense, and it wouldn’t be a shock if Santana posts a sub-2.00 ERA and wins 20 games. If healthy, he makes the Mets the clear favorites to make the World Series and helps fans (and the players) forget about a historic collapse.

Even if the Mets have to face the Red Sox or the Yankees in the World Series, with a four-some of Santana, Pedro, Ollie and Maine, they would give any American League team a run for their money. I don’t think the same could be said with their current roster. They need to make a splashy move, and I think Omar knows that. But if none is available, then don’t overpay for Joe Blanton or other 2/3-type starters out there. In my eyes, it’s Santana or bust.