1. Jake Peavy initially says he does not want to be a Met, but relents and the Mets win a July bidding war with the Angels to obtain San Diego’s ace because they begrudgingly agree to include Fernando Martinez and Brad Holt in the same trade. The Mets determine that a) they are committed to making the playoffs in 2009 and must have a legitimate No. 2 starter behind Johan Santana, b) Peavy is signed for a reasonable rate for three more years ($52 million) beyond this one, c) Daniel Murphy has emerged enough to give the Mets one outfielder for the future to flank Carlos Beltran that they feel some level of comfort dealing Martinez.
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GOODEN CERTAIN HIS NEPHEW STILL HAS PLENTY LEFT
2. Carlos Delgado and Ryan Church both fall into a middle ground between the very good/very bad split they endured in 2008, and that just leaves the Mets too incomplete on offense. So they trade Ruben Tejada and Eddie Kunz to the White Sox for Jermaine Dye, who is making $11.5 million and can be a free agent at the end of the year.
3. Francisco Rodriguez blows saves in both Philadelphia and Atlanta during an early May road trip, and sports-talk radio in New York becomes wall-to-wall ‘K-Rod and J.J. Putz must flip-flop jobs with Putz closing.i½’ Rodriguez reacts by saying he will never talk to the media again. He then runs off 15 straight successful saves and makes the All-Star team.
4. Only that darn Albert Pujols guy in St. Louis and Ryan Howard in Philadelphia keep Beltran from winning the NL MVP. Beltran has a put-it-all-together season of
35 homers, 30 steals, 110 runs, 110 RBIs, .300 average, Gold Glove defense, and huge, meaningful moments.
VACCARO: 100 GREAT THINGS ABOUT THE SEASON AHEAD
5. Daniel Murphy meets those high expectations by popping 40 doubles and working so hard at it that he reaches a level of adequacy in left field that no one saw coming.
6. Livan Hernandez pitches to a 5.00 ERA, yet wins more games than Oliver Perez.