Just Breathe Met Fans...Breathe

Attention Mets fans. I need all of you to listen to me and follow my directions. Breathe in and breathe out. Do this until you feel better.

Now repeat after me, “The Mets can still be successful in 2010, the Phillies are the best team ever.”

With the news that the Phillies have trade for Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay there is panic and chaos in the world of Mets fans. One thing that Mets fans need to realize is, the Phillies aren’t that much better.

Yes, Halladay is a great pitcher, one of the best pitchers in baseball. But if you look at what the gave up in Cliff Lee, how much better did they get?

Lets compare the two:
Age (next season): Halladay, 33 in May / Lee, 31 in August
Contract: Both free agents in 2010 but the Phillies are likely to lock up Halladay to a long term deal worth at least $20M a year.

According to Bill James here how the two stack up stats wise in 2010:
ERA: Halladay, 3.23 / Lee, 3.81
IP: Halladay, 240 / Lee, 222
K’s: Halladay, 179 / Lee, 168
BB: Halladay, 42 / Lee, 60
Hits: Halladay, 232 / Lee, 228
WHIP: Halladay, 1.14 / Lee, 1.30
AVG.: Halladay, .255 / Lee, .267

So its clear that he thinks Halladay will have a better season. Coming from the AL to the NL his stats should improve but playing in Citizen Bank Park half of his starts could end of hurting his stats too.

I think the main thing is that he is better, but its not an insurmountable improve for the Mets. We aren’t talking about something like the Mets going from Tom Glavine to Johan Santana. The Phillies are going from a great pitcher to another great pitcher who is better.

I think the Phillies the best team in the National League, which is what they were even before this trade. This trade makes them better, but its not the end of the world the Mets.

The Mets should however make a deal to counter this move.

I think at this point the Mets need to sign Jason Bay. There apparently is a 5 year deal on the table and its time for the Mets to offer Bay 5 years $80M.

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