Fans View: New York Metropolitans report

I’ve been hanging out over at basesloadedforums.com the past couple of weeks and they’ve been doing MLB team reports. I’m going to be featuring them here as they come out. Here’s forum member, metsfan44 and his take on the Mets is the second Fans View team report. You can comment on the report in the forum HERE.

For a team who just had the worst collapse in the history of baseball, Mets fans are surprisingly optimistic. One trade can do that for a team. Omar Minaya, Mets GM, spent most of the off season stalling. He had done nothing to improve a rotation that gave out in the September collapse and nothing to help the bullpen tat was ineffective all season. Fans were going crazy and it looked to be another disappointment for the Mets. But one trade can change a lot.

With one simple trade, the Mets went from failure to a potential trip to the World Series. Who was in the is one trade that changed the fate of a franchise? Only Johan Santana, 2 time Cy Young winner and league leader in K’s, Wins, and ERA the past two seasons. The rotation went from weak to dangerous and a substantial load was taken off the bullpen. The mets now have a rotation that includes 3 15-game winners and everyone with an ERA under 4. Their staff will be lead by Johan who looks to put up great numbers in the significantly weaker NL, lefty dominated NL East, and pitcher friendly Shea Stadium. It will surprise no one if Johan is the front-runner for the Cy Young.

Pedro Martinez has been bumped down to the 2 slot, but is still as good a pitcher as anyone. He spent most of the last season rehabbing everything possible, but in 5 starts went 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA and is coming into camp healthy this year. Oliver Perez, who emerged from his promising but bleak Pirates days, showed what he was capable of. He won 15 games and had an ERA of 3.56 and really developed under Rick Peterson. Peterson is believed to help several Mets out in his years there including the reemerged Tommy Glavine, Oliver Perez, a reinvented Pedro Martinez, and John Maine. Speaking of Jon Maine, very few teams can say their 4th starter won 15 games. But the Mets can. Maine had an ERA under 4 but won 15 games for the Mets. He carried much of the slack for the pitching staff last year and it caught up to him in September. But as the fourth starter, there will be no worries of that this year.

And as the 5th starter, the ageless El Duque. Say what you want about Hernandez, but the guy can flat out pitch. One mets exec said eh was the Mets best pitcher last year. It may be far fetched but in 24 starts he had an ERA of 3.72 How many teams boast that about their “worst pitcher”? He won’t be expected to throw as much as he did last year as the Mets would like to save him for the stretch run, however. Expect El Duque to be occasionally skipped in the rotation for Mike Pelfry. They would like to develop him as well as rest EL Duque. In Pelfry’s last few starts he started to pitch well.

Some new faces are in the pen as the Mets would like to wash that out of their system. Billy Wagner will still close. He may be getting older and not be able to throw as hard, but he is still a solid closer and one of the better ones in the league. He finished with 34 saves and could have had more if not for some relief pitchers failing to get him the ball and an ERA of 2.63. Aaron Heilman will set him up. While most of the pitching faltered in September, Heilman played terrific posting an ERA of 2.04 in September and 2.27 in the second half of the season. Pedro Feliciano will continue to be the much needed lefty specialist. In the left handed hitting heavy NL East, Feliciano had a 3.09 ERA. Not bad considering he faces Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Chipper Jones, etc on a weekly basis. The Mets also added Matt Wise to help take Guillermo Mota’s sport. Wise had an ERA just over 4, but even that is an improvement for the Mets. They are also relying on a strong return from Duaner Snachez, who was injured in all of 2007. In 2006, he had an ERA of 2.6

Fans View: Toronto Blue Jays report

I’ve been hanging out over at basesloadedforums.com the past couple of weeks and they’ve been doing MLB team reports. I’m going to be featuring them here as they come out. Jaysfan1 and his take on this season’s Blue Jays is the first Fans View team report. You can comment on the report in the forum HERE.

Obviously you can tell I am a huge Blue Jays fan, so I am more than happy to write this report on them. The Jays are a usually strong team with strong finishes yet always seem to be denied a pass to October due to key injuries (note: Blue Jays sent 13 guys to the DL last year with 4 players out for the year (2 were in Sept.)) and a tough AL East. Toronto finished their 07 season with a record of 83-79 which is around the usual record they finish with. However, the Jays finished 13 games out. 13 GAMES!!! The Cubs finished 85-77 and won their division, so what does that say. The Blue Jays are big fish that are caught up in the shallowest pool trying to escape a 14 year playoff drought. Not much change was made this year for the Jays, as there is no need to, but the question remains: Can the Blue Jays finally clinch a playoff spot once again? That and more will be answered very shortly.

Starting Pitching:

When I think of Toronto’s Pitching Rotation, I think of two things: Dominance and Weakness. You are probably puzzled after reading that but I will explain how that is possible. The Blue Jays have one of the strongest rotations in the AL with Halladay, Burnett, McGowan, and Marcum, yet 3 out of the 4 were sidelined last year at one point. Not to mention former #3 starter, Gustavo Chacin’s season was cut short in April, and the dominance of the Jays pitching has left him fighting for the 5th spot and possibly ending up staring the year in AAA. This brings me to the battle for the 5th spot. The men vying for that spot is Chacin, Casey Jannsen, and Jesse Litsch. Jannsen has the least to worry because if he does not win the starting job, he has a spot reserved for him in the bullpen. My prediction: I feel Litsch will snag that 5th spot, and the former rookie of the year candidate will find himself in AAA or looking for another team.

Relief Pitching:

Like their starting pitching, the Jays bullpen is very strong too, and this year will hopefully be stronger as their closer, BJ Ryan, returns from Tommy John Surgery. This makes Jeremy Accardo see a return to his role as a set-up man, which he does a fine job at. Blue Jays will see another return reliever, Brandon League, however, the Jays possibility of carrying 11 pitchers may leave him without a spot on the roster at the beginning of the season, especially with the likes of Brian Tallet, Scott Downs, and possibly Casey Jannsen in the pen.