Mets Moves: Valentin, Armas, Spivey, Nieve

No surprises here.

Wow, a Braves fan with the Braves finishing in first? Nooooooooo.......

Wow....I'd like to know what kind of stuff bravoboy10 is smoking!?! You have the Braves finishing ahead of the Phillies and Mets in the East? Are you kidding? Are you expecting Jeff Francoeur to return to his old form as well? You have decent starting pitching, but come on. I'm a Mets fan, and I will tell you either Philly or the Mets are going to take the NL East....with the team that doesn't win it taking the wild card. Mark my words.

I couldn't agree with you more maristmetsfan!

"The braves lack too much offense to win the division"

If Chipper is healthy enough to play 120 games, nobody else gets hurt, and Francoeur bounces back, then I would have to disagree.

The lineup actually has some pretty good depth, and they don't have any OBP black holes, like many teams do.

No OBP black holes, that is, assuming that Francoeur bounces back. If he doesn't, then yeah, he's the definition of a black hole.

"66 wins? Seriously? That is way too high =)"

Your team actually has a pretty good offense between Dunn, Zimmerman, Milledge, Johnson/Willingham, Dukes, and Guzman.

Now the rotation is another story, but still, the offense should be interesting.

You can tip your cap to that while you wait for Strasburg to pitch on Opening Day 2010.

"I'm a Braves fan, and will admit Atlanta winning the division is a long shot. (I think the Mets are the best bet).

But, if a couple of things go right (Schafer, Francouer) and the pitching holds up as it's reasonable to expect, they could make a run at at. Wouldn't put money on it, but wouldn't complete discount it either."

Well said. As most here know, I love to rave about Atlanta and their system, as much as I hate the idea that the Braves are back, it looks like they are. I just think they need another year. It isn't completely out of the question for them to win the division, but they would need to get a big bounce back from Frenchie, 600 PA for Chipper, a solid rookie showing for Schafer, improvement out of Kotchman, they need McCann to be the McCann of 06 and 08, not 07, Kelly Johnson to find his batting eye again (what was the deal with his big drop in OBP despite the 10 point increase in average?), etc. once Garret is replaced by Heyward, Hanson is solidified in the rotation, and with another year of experience for KJ, Escobar and Jurrjens, the Braves will be here for real in 2010. I just think it would be tough for them to win the division this year. If they added Peavy, then I might feel differently, but in the long run, I feel they are better off ignoring Peavy and just waiting one more year while keeping your minor league core intact.

I'll tip my cap, but we sill have questionable defense and a bad history of injuries. Maybe it's just my DC pessimism, but I sure as heck can't wait until some of our prospects are ready (Smoker, Burgess, etc.).

88 may be enough for the Wild Card, especially with a Brewers team with no Sabathia or Sheets, and an already injured Hoffman. But you never know if a suprise team like the Astros or Cardinals can take it.

1.) Pelfrey's never been hurt before, Hamels has a history of injury problems, so that has to factor in to the discussion. Pelfrey also has a more relaxed delivery and isn't a strikeout pitcher who relies on velocity. Hamels, this Spring, is throwing 85-88 MPH, already showing signs of decline. Pelfrey, on the other hand, has been very solid this Spring.

2.) Pelfrey to the Mets is less important than Hamels is to Philly.

Big Pelf has also added another sinker, one he learned from Livan Hernandez. Let's remember that Albert Pujols admitted to Omar Minaya, over the winter, that Big Pelf was his toughest at-bat. That's either some serious psychological warfare on Pujols' part (trying to pump Big Pelf up to throw a meatball or two), or some serious praise on Pujols' part.

I think Big Pelf wins 15 to 16 games this year.

Derek Lowe and Javy Vazquez (sp?) will bring the Braves within striking distance of the WC. Remember that the Phillies' starting staff had almost no injuries--actually, the relievers had few injuries (if any) last year. Brad Lidge didn't blow a single save. What are the odds of that happening again?

Guys, I am not saying I expect Pelfrey to decline or get hurt, I don't. At all. He is a big, strong kid, and though he threw more innings last years then in 07, I think that really can be attributed, for the most part atleast, to the fact that he was a much better pitcher and got through a lot more innings without necessarily working that much harder. He just pitched better. I'm just saying it isn't fair to use one piece of information, the Verducci theory, and leave out Pelfrey when he also would fall into the same group as Hamels. Hamels threw a ton last year though, and as some of you have said, he has had injuries in his past. I think pitches thrown is a whole lot more useful in this topic then innings pitched. I also don't really find it important that Hamels is throwing 86-88. It is spring training. If we get to mid to late April and he is still not reaching 90, then maybe something is up. The point about Hamels being more injury prone because he relies on velocity is also not accurate. Hamels relies on good command and a sick changeup, not velocity. Pelfrey throws with way more velocity then Hamels likely ever will. Velocity does not a strikeout pitcher make.

" Let's remember that Albert Pujols admitted to Omar Minaya, over the winter, that Big Pelf was his toughest at-bat. That's either some serious psychological warfare on Pujols' part (trying to pump Big Pelf up to throw a meatball or two), or some serious praise on Pujols' part."

I am not surprised that Albert said that about Pelfrey. Pelfrey really had Albert tied up in knots all crazy last year. That sinker inside struck him out a few times. I love Pelfrey, I think he will probably be the ace of this team in 3 to 4 years. He is a huge kid, big strong power arm and he just comes at you with that sinker, his K numbers should improve as his secondary stuff improves, and his groundball inducing tendencies are great. There isn't really anything I don't like about Pelfrey. There is nowhere for him to go but up.

metzfan22, you do realize that Mike Pelfrey doesn't hit 93 with his best fastball, he sits at 93(92.8), meaning that he can rather easily throw harder then that, where Cole Hamels average fastball velocity is 90.4, so he hardly sits at 93-96, like you mentioned. That only took me all of about 24 seconds to look up, you should try it, instead of posting completely inaccurate information. You see them both pitch all the time anyway, so how can you not know this.