[KevinTheOmnivore]

Originally Posted by El Blanco

The farm system. But, we aren't looking to him to save the season. John Maine is becoming a true #1 starter and Perez seems to have finally focused all that potential.

Which Yankee is bearing this responsibility? Hughes, our #4 at best?

And let's calm down on Maine and Perez. Perez is wild turkey, and let's wait another couple months before we give Maine the Cy Young. I think he's a solid 3, maybe a 2. We will see.

Minaya made what? 5 big money free agent signings? Beltran (a 27 year old 5 tool player) Wagner (monster closer) Delgado (2 more years with him) and I guess you can put LoDuca there. and of course, the guy that started the whole thing, Pedro.

...

Every person Minaya has brought on board has produced as expected or better. Hell even Hernandez has pitched out of his mind when healthy.

You're missing the point. The Mets gave a contract to Pedro that nobody else was willing to give him (and to argue that you got what you expected out of Pedro is bull...I know all the arguments about him lifting the franchise, so spare me). I don't knock the Mets for it, but it's big money baseball. Beltran was a good investment, but the Mets outbid the Yankees in the deal. That's a change in philosophy for the Mets, one that came with Minaya. You're making up for every Vlad Guerrero and Alex Rodriguez that got away. Again, I'm not knocking a big market team for giving their fans something to cheer for, but please, spare me the Billy Beene romanticism.

And David Wright is a poor man's Ed Sprague.

The Mets didn't sign anyone just to get headlines or to make sure the Braves didn't get him

This is because the Mets are perennial losers with nothing to play for. The headlines comment is nonsense, but the Yanks and the Sox have a legitimate interest in keeping players away from the other team. They play each other several times a year, and they know that it's often a zero sum game. Whether it's A-Rod, Schilling, Clemens, Pavano or Dice-K, it's in the interest of two teams in a tough division to sign these players.

I know this is a foreign concept for Mets fans, but so is actually winning. Talk to me after this season when the Mets open up the check book to outspend the 2007 NL East champion Braves.

The Mets win because of a young core, reliable journey man role players, strong pitching, and a few big free agents.

Young core like Alou and Green? Grandpa Franco? Tom Glavine? How old is El Duque these days, 65?

Tell me, what do you see your starting rotation looking like next year? Will we wheel Tommy out for another year? There's a reason you were in the Zito bidding, and it's not because you have all of these young phenom arms coming up.

And btw, the Mets haven't won anything yet. Tell me the formula works when you get more than a division title out of it...

Probably. He's like a tullip. Blooms in the spring, looks good in the summer, and is gone by the fall.

Yeah, A-Rod has one of the bestAprils ever, and "it's just April." Yet Maine is Cy Young and Reyes is Ricky Henderson after a month of baseball....you have to love the Mets fan, like lost little puppies...

Wright can't win an MVP. He can't be most valuable when his line up has 2 or 3 other guys batting over .300 with atleast 70 RBIs.

A-rod did it.