New York Mets, 2008 NL Champs? Not So Fast

As you all know by now, one of the best pitchers in the game is headed to Queens to be part of the Metropolitans' pitching staff in 2008. 

Seemingly everyone has felt the urge to proclaim the New York Mets your 2008 NL Champs, still nearly a month before pitchers and catchers report. 

Before we go handing out any NL titles, let's first check up on this Mets team.

It seems to me that any decent left-handed pitcher going from the AL to the NL is guaranteed to have a better year. How much better it is though, we must still wait and see. The NL East has some decent bats to have to go through on a weekly basis.

Where do the Mets match up in the National League? Are they the guaranteed winner or are they even going to make it to the post season?

Remember this is a team that did have one of, if not the biggest collapse of all time during the final week of the '07 season.

Outside of Santana, who likely will compete for the Cy Young, how good is this Mets pitching staff? 

John Maine appears to be the real deal but posting a 3.91 ERA last year drew some concerns from Mets fans. Is 3.91 good enough to be a No. 2 on a league champion? 

When Brandon Webb and Dan Haren are both on the Diamondbacks—good luck,  especially in a short series.

You have to remember that Santana hasn't done a thing in the postseason. 1-4 for his career in Minnesota, granted his ERA did check in at just under 4, but that is still .8 higher than his career total, and 1.3 higher than his best season ERA he had during a year in which the Twins made the post-season.

After Maine, that rotation has only question marks. 

This is a pitching staff that still lists Orlando Hernandez and Pedro Martinez as probable starters in its rotation. Don't get me wrong, both have done some big things in their careers (obviously Pedro more often that El Duque), but both are past their primes. 

Counting on them to be big-time performers for this team seems like too much to ask if I were a Mets fan.

Now, the batting order of the Mets is the best in the NL (rivaled possibly by Philadelphia and Chicago), but the Mets take the cake there. 

Barring any major injuries this year, the Arizona Diamondbacks will still be your NL representative in the World Series.

Prove me wrong, Mets. I am putting the challenge on the table for New York.