Johan + Mets = NL East Title

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Sorry Phillies Phans, but with the acquisition of Johan Santana, the Mets now become the favorite to win the NL East in my opinion. That is, if the Mets can sign Santana to a contract extension within the allotted time frame. If this deal does go through, and there’s no reason why it won’t (everyone in baseball knows what Johan is seeking for an extention), the Mets will have given up 4 top 10 prospects (but not their # 1 prospect) to land the best lefty in the game right now!  Their rotation will look something like this if the deal goes through:

1.       Johan Santana

2.       Pedro Martinez

3.       John Maine

4.       Orlando Hernandez

5.       Either Oliver Perez or Mike Pelfrey

So the Mets lost Tom Glavine this off season, but countered with landing Johan Santana! WOW!! No one in the NL East has improved their team as much as the Mets just have. If Pedro’s arm doesn’t fall off, the Mets are primed to win without much of a challenge due to the lack of good and deep starting pitching from both the Phillies and the Braves. The Nationals and the Marlins were never in the running for 2008 and now may not be in the running for the next 4-7 years!

As dominant as Santana has been in the AL, he is poised to be even more dominant in the weaker hitting NL as he will now face opposing pitchers every 9 at bats. Fantasy players should all pick Santana higher than they were originally planning to if Santana landed with the Yankees or the Red Sox. Yes, the National League will  favor Johan that much!

Take a look back to my previous post:  If I Were Johan Santana to revisit my views on a possible Santana trade back on 12/5/07.

Any comments?