The New York Mess

I just recently commented on an Atlanta Braves blog regarding the NL East and figured it would start a good discussion.  The blogger believed the the NL East standings would read:

Philadelphia
Atlanta
Florida
New York
Washington

I'll begin by openly admitting that I'm a New York Mets fan.  I believe I'm the only writer on FUNK who is so this should cause a nice debate.  Anyway, it's hard to even argue that this may very well be the standings come season's end. Both the Braves and the Marlins are much better than I think a lot of people realize and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see them compete for the wild card or even division throughout the year. The confusion I have with everyones dislike for the Mets chances is that if you really look into it, where is it coming from? Even after the two collapse seasons of '07 and '08, the Mets were predicted to win the division in '09. The team in '09 (I believe at least) was better on paper than both the '07 and '08 teams. This year's Mets team has added Jason Bay. Now, aside from injuries which obviously killed the Mets in 2009, why can't this team be any good? They haven't had a great rotation since I can even remember. Why is this 2010 rotation suddenly the worst rotation baseball fans have ever seen? If Beltran can return in May at 100% and Reyes doesn't miss more than 2 weeks, then how is a team with Reyes, Wright, Beltran and Bay not competing?  Francisco Rodriguez did not go from a premier closer to nothing over the course of one season.  Sure there are plenty of question marks, but aside from the Yankees and Phillies, those are everywhere.  Before Beltran's backwards K in the 2006 playoffs against the Cardinals, the Mets were considered by some to be World Series favorites.  That continued for the next two seasons.  The team had one year riddled by injury and suddenly they're one of the worst franchises in Major League Baseball.  It may very well be wishful thinking, but the Mets could surprise us all.