Santana to the Mets...meh

We here at The Young Lefthander are unabashed Braves fans. The news yesterday of the Santana has greatly altered not only the NL East, but potentially the NL. Let's get this out of the way, Johan Santana is the best pitcher in the game. You will hear from rival teams a lot about how last year was a down year, and Santana is potentially regressing as a pitcher, "that's not true."

Over the last four years Santana has been early 2000s Pedro Martinez. His averages over the last four years have been:

228IP 246SO 3.10ERA

No one has been even close to that. He has also won two Cy Youngs, and probably should have won a third. His numbers for last year were pretty much in line with his career averages, the only number that really jumped was his HR total which went from 24 in 2006 to 33 in 2007. That would explain the mild increase in ERA, however, all of his other periphery numbers were in line with his career averages, including his WHIP (see ESPN).

The more distressing thing for Braves fans is the fact that the Mets did not give up anything regarding major league talent. We were all under the impression that the only way this trade would happen is if the Mets gave up Reyes and Heilman. Reyes is one of the best young SS in the game, though not the best, and a little overrated (that is a topic for another day). Heilman is an excellent reliever who has the potential to be a closer, and still relatively cheap. I am not going into all the prospects the Twins received, but none of them are considered upper tier prospects, with Carlos Gomez considered being the best of the bunch. The rap on Carlos Gomez is that he is the typical "toolsy" outfielder who many scouts feel may not hit well enough in the majors.

The Braves are going to have a potent lineup and the only seeminly week area would still be the back end of the rotation. The rotation has a lot of potential, but we are relying still on the health of a few aging starters (see Smoltz and Glavine). If you asked me right now I would have to say that the Mets are probably the team to beat with the Braves slightly trailing in the NL East. I reserve the right to change that assessment before the season starts.