Day 2: Challengers in the NL East

INDIANAPOLIS—For the past three trips to the Winter Meetings, the rest of the teams in the NL East have shown up with plans they hope will derail the Phillies atop the division.

Obviously it hasn’t gone that well.

This time around, however, the Mets and Braves are making some changes and additions that just might help their chances in 2010. For the Braves it has been a few upgrades in the bullpen with the addition of Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito, and the return of Rafael Soriano. What makes this news significant is that the Braves had the best starting pitching in the Majors in 2009 (3.52 ERA) and a relieving corps that was sixth best (3.68 ERA) in all of baseball.

Typically it works the other way around and the bullpen posts better numbers than the starters, but for the Braves it seems as if a few more runs from the offense would have made life much more difficult for the Phillies.

As far as the upgrades to the hitters go, the Braves are said to be discussing Johnny Damon and Nick Johnson—two hitters that can make a difference at the top third of the batting order.

Needless to say, the Braves want to add a piece or two to the offense before the start of the season.

The Mets, on the other hand, say they want to change up things a little bit. After learning something or two about their new, cavernous ballpark after its inaugural season, Mets’ manager Jerry Manuel says his team needs to “set a different philosophy.”

“Everyone puts an emphasis on pitching and defense, but with our ballpark we really have to put an emphasis on it,” Manuel said. “If you’re a pitcher that throws strikes, you really have a chance in our park.”

The Mets still have uber-ace Johan Santana, and they were in the hunt for Randy Wolf before it became apparent that Wolfie will land in Milwaukee. Additionally, the Mets have been tied to John Lackey and Joel Pineiro in an attempt to bolster the pitching staff.

Offensively, Manuel believes he has some hitters whose repertoires fit into the configurement of their ball yard, specifically with Jose Reyes. At CitiField, the Mets will pick up a few triples with the big gaps and interesting angles. In fact, last season the Mets hit 49 triples—32 of them in the home park.

Home runs though… yes, the Mets need to deemphasize that. Judging from David Wright’s homer totals, CitiField had an effect on the team’s power. After hitting 63 homers in the two seasons prior, Wright clubbed just 10 last year. Needless to say the drop from 33 bombs to 10 was a pretty big deal.

Still, it remains to be seen how long Manuel will be around to stand charge over the Mets’ new philosophy. After a dreadful 2009 and two big September collapses in 2007 and 2008, the Mets just might have to be pro-active regarding their management. Besides, with the addition of ex-big league managers Bob Melvin, Terry Collins as well as Wally Backman to the team’s staff, Manuel will be wise not to look over his shoulder.

“I think those are all good baseball people, good baseball minds,” Manuel said Tuesday. “I think for any organization to move forward, you need those types of people in place. You know, perception would say, ‘Hey, Jerry, turn around.’ But Jerry isn’t turning around. I’m just going to go do my thing and do the best I can. We have the means to acquire and have a good team, and I think if you’ve got a good team you should be OK. So I don’t have a problem with that.”

Very true. Besides, with the way the last three seasons ended no one would wish the Mets' gig on an enemy.

Be careful for what you wish for

The New York papers are getting a lot of mileage out of Jimmy Rollins’ proclamation that the Phillies were the team to beat in the NL East. Like a sadistic zoo keeper poking an angry bear with a stick, the New York scribes have been prodding everyone about the Phillies’ chances in 2007. David Wright has chimed in. Billy Wagner, to a degree, did too.

Don’t think that Mets won’t use Rollins’ words as bulletin board fodder during the dog days of the season. Athletes, after all, will use anything available for motivation.

Be that as it is, Murray Chass of The New York Times was seen lurking around the Phillies’ camp where he did some poking and prodding of his own. Don’t think for a second that the players didn’t know where Chass was from and what he was doing.

Aside from attempting to eke out answers from Chase Utley, Aaron Rowand and Ryan Howard, Chass also cornered former Phillie Randy Wolf, who he labeled a “neutral observer.” In the story, Wolf said:

“The Phillies are going to be a strong team. But you can’t argue with what the Mets did last year. It was like the Braves before that. Until someone dethroned them, they were always the team to beat. Now the Mets are the team in control of the National League East. They’re obviously the one to beat.”

Looking into those words there is one element that people might be sleeping on a little bit in the supposed dog fight between the Mets and Phillies… aren’t the Braves still in the NL East?

Last I checked the Braves won the division 14 out of the last 15 seasons (14 in a row until the Mets finally broke through). During that decade-and-a-half there were a handful of seasons where pundits called one team or another the one to beat. Remember 2003 when the Phillies got Jim Thome and Kevin Millwood in the same month? I recall Pat Burrell saying after he signed his big contract (the one he is still cashing in on) that winter that the Phillies were the team to beat. Actually, Burrell was asked, “Are you guys the team to beat this year?”

He said: “We gotta be, right?”

Well…

The Phillies were the team to beat in 2004, too. Heading into the season that team was stocked with new additions Tim Worrell and Billy Wagner stabilizing the bullpen and joining Thome, Millwood, Bobby Abreu, Rollins and an assorted bunch of veterans.

During the last weekend of the season the manager of that team was fired.