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The National League East is a division that was dominated by the Braves for years, but the Phillies are now top dogs. That is not to count the Braves out, however, as they have a wealth of young talent and a solid pitching staff.

The Marlins are another young team that continues to get better each season, and could be a contender sooner rather than later, while the Nationals seem ready to open up their wallets, as they inked Jayson Werth to a huge contract in the off season and made a run at Cliff Lee. The Mets will look to begin rebuilding, as they have a ton of money coming off the books next season, so a number of young players could get a look this season.

So here is a position-by-position preview of the NL East, as we turn our sights to opening day later this week.

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With Francisco Rodriguez’s talent and lack of competition on the Mets, he seems like a lock to be the NY Mets’ closer this year and rack up plenty of saves. 

He certainly has a lot to prove.  Professional athletes who have run into negative press frequently, use success on the field as a way to earn their way back into the good graces of the fans and the media.

He has come to camp in good shape and appears poised to have a stellar rebound season. So why should you steer clear of him when picking a closer this year?

I do believe K-Rod will start the year as the closer and do an excellent job out of the pen.  Even though I expect the Mets to perform poorly this year, there will still be plenty of save opportunities.  

The Mets have no interest in K-Rod beyond this year.  They also will be wary of any complaints raised by the Player’s Association with regard to him not completing 55 games this year and thereby having his 2012, $17 million option guaranteed. 

The last thing they want is a $17 million bill to pay in 2012—let alone a problem with the players union. That is why I believe they will eliminate both problems with one move. 

It is clear to me, and should be to all but the most die-hard Met fans, that the team will be out of contention by the end of June.  At that time it will be easier to trade K-Rod away without much complaint from the fans.

I believe the Mets will trade K-Rod to a contender to fill the role of set-up man and emergency closer.  This type of acquisition is common for contending teams lacking a strong set-up man. 

The Mets get to kill two birds with one stone with this move.  They are already on the hook for his 2011 salary.  By trading him to a contender and eating the remainder of his salary, they make his acquisition very attractive for a contender with a need. 

In this scenario, the Mets get to demand a talented prospect in return while also avoiding any issue of his 2012 option vesting. 

The team trading for K-Rod should be willing to give up a prospect with talent because, even though they are just renting K-Rod for the stretch-run, they are getting him on the cheap.

They are also using him in the set-up role, preventing him from reaching the 55 games-completed mark and avoiding the $17 million obligation in 2012.  

They will not run afoul of the Major League Player’s Association because his role will not be of a closer.  Their bonus will come in the off season when K Rod signs with another team, and they receive a sandwich pick in the upcoming amateur draft.  

If you have him in a keeper league, trade him before the Mets do.  If not, steer clear.

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While many baseball experts already count the New York Mets out of playoff contention this early in the spring, the Mets have many athletes that can surpass expectations enough to make a legitimate comeback in 2011.

As the team continues to work hard in Port St. Lucie, here is a list of the seven recovering New York Mets that will have the biggest impact on the 2011 MLB season.

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The Mets have a the fifth largest payroll in baseball. They have a shiny new stadium, they play in the largest market in America and have a roster loaded with talent.

For all this, the Mets are terrible. In every way imaginable.

The Mets won a total of 79 games last year—23 games behind their “enemies” the Philadelphia Phillies. They ranked 12th in attendance, despite the new stadium, and behind decidedly small market Milwaukee. They averaged over 12,000 less people per game than their crosstown rivals, the Yankees.

The Phillies, like the Mets, made trades for veterans, signed big contracts and generally succeed in their plan to win now. While that plan worked for the Phillies, it failed miserably for the Mets and only left them in a spiraling losing funk with an albatross of a expensive roster.

Let’s take a look at the Mets roster. Johan Santana, the ace the Mets traded for, finally blew out the shoulder that scouts have said for some time that he would. The injury, which comes from long-term wear, brings with it not only a long rehabilitation, but accusations of the Mets overusing Santana.

Santana had been complaining about his arm as early as late June. Yet the Mets continued to throw Santana out there every fifth day until early September, even though the Mets were completely out of the race by mid to late July. By the time Santana comes back in 2012, he will be 33 with three years left on his contract.

Carlos Beltran, who was an overpaid centerfielder to begin with, has mercifully only one year on his contract. A empty of husk of his former self, Beltran has played 125 games the past two seasons and has already injured himself in spring training. He batted .255 last year. He makes $18.5 million this year.

Jason Bay, who the Mets signed to a large four-year, $66 million contract before last season, looked completely uncomfortable and intimidated in the spacious new CitiField. One year after hitting 36 home runs in Boston, Bay hit a pathetic 6 home runs in 95 games before concussing  himself running for a fly ball.

Gary Matthews batted .194 last season before being cut by the Mets. He is set to earn $12 million this year.

One-time face of the franchise Jose Reyes, who at one time was getting press that he would be the new “Best Shortstop in New York,” is reportedly playing for a trade. Reyes, who made seventh on the MVP list in 2006, has been beset by injuries, a bad attitude and declining skills both at the plate and on the bases.

Last year, Reyes had a Dave Kingman-esque OBP of .321—not what you want from your “speedy” shortstop. Reyes speed is also in question as he only stole 30 bases last season and was caught a third of the time—a far cry from his heyday of 2006-2007. Reyes will make $11 million in what his probably his last year as a Met.

Which brings us to Oliver Perez. Perez, who was signed by the Mets in 2009 to a $36 million, three-year contract. Reportedly, the Mets competed only against themselves for the services of Perez, which was meant to solidify the rotation after Santana.

Since the contract was signed for that $36 million, Perez’s record is 3-9 with an ERA of 6.81 in roughly 100 IP. Perez has been in the minors both in 2009 and 2010 to work on his wrecked mechanics. Perez, having completely lost any confidence he may have had, has lost velocity and abandoned his fastball as well as his curveball, which he didn’t use last year at all. His fastball and changeup are 4 mph apart.

The Mets recently gave up any idea of using Perez in the rotation this season and have sent him to the end of the bench in the bullpen. Price tag: $13 million.

In 86 games last season, Luis Castillo committed 11 errors and batted .245. Price tag: $6 million.

And then there is Francisco Rodriguez, he of the dramatic mound gestures. While his on-the-field play has generally been good, it’s the other part of his life that the Mets wish they could make go away. Having no real reason for a high-priced reliever, the Mets would do well to trade K-Rod. Except they can’t.

Since being signed, K-Rod has had tussles with opposing players, his own coaches and, most well-known, his girlfriend’s father, whom he punched in the face.

Adding salt to the wound, Rodriguez injured a ligament in his thumb from the altercation and needed season-ending surgery. Rodriguez was ordered by the court to stay away from his girlfriend and he family; Rodriguez violated the court order, though he did escape further punishment.

The good news is that a ton of this payroll baggage comes off the roster next year. The bad news is that the Mets don’t have a ton of talent on the way. Keith Law recently put the Mets’ minor league organization at 26 out of 32. The Mets didn’t have one prospect ranked in the top 50.

Also, the Mets have been accused of rushing their recent young talent too quickly, with Baseball Prospectus writing: “The Minaya regime wasn’t particularly successful at any aspect of developing or handling prospects.”

Put it all together and what you get is a big, expensive gooey mess. The Mets will go nowhere this year; the season already having been written off. And with the Madoff scandal having struck the Wilpon family fairly hard, it is tough to see the Mets being big free agency players anytime soon. So, to recap:

1. Terrible free-agent signings.
2. No young talent coming up the pike.
3. Disgruntled and fading stars.
4. No free-agent help for the forseeable future.

The original Worst Team Money Could Buy was about the 1993 Mets who won 59 games. The 2011 squad might give those guys a run for their money.

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The New York Mets saw a lot of things to like from their pitchers in a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals today.

Oliver Perez, looking to earn a spot in the starting rotation, tossed two scoreless innings, and closer Francisco Rodriguez, in his first spring action, added a scoreless inning of his own.

For as bad as Perez was in his first start this spring (2 IP, 4 ER, 3 BB), that’s how good he was today. Perez gave up just one hit without walking a batter, though he still didn’t show any improved velocity, topping off at around 84 mph.

Rodriguez, who has a $17.5 million option for the 2012 season if he finishes 55 games, gave up one hit in his lone inning of work with one strikeout.

The Mets have already been approached by the MLBPA to ensure they won’t refrain from using Rodriguez just to keep his option from vesting. The team has said it’ll do no such thing, but $17.5 million is a lot of money, and his salary will keep most teams from making a trade for the closer.

Rodriguez saved 25 games last season, finishing with a 2.20 ERA. He was placed on the disqualified list and had to forfeit $3.1 million following an altercation with his father-in-law after a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field.

Rodriguez underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb as a result of the fight, and must also complete anger management training. He will be attending classes two to three times per week when the Mets are at home this season.

The Mets got scoreless innings from several other pitchers as well, including potential No. 5 starter Chris Capuano (1 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K), Jason Isringhausen (1 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 0 K), Boof Bonser (1 IP, 0 H) and Taylor Buchholz (1 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K).

Mets top prospect Jenrry Mejia tossed two scoreless innings, giving up one hit while walking one. Mejia, who posted a 4.62 ERA in 33 games last season, including three starts, is slated to begin 2011 in Triple-A.

Manager Terry Collins has said he did not agree with the Mets’ decision to use Mejia as a reliever last season, and views the 22-year-old as a starting pitcher for the future.

Collins also said that they have identified as many as nine different pitchers competing for two open bullpen spots—naming Rodriguez, Buchholz, Tim Byrdak, D.J. Carrasco and Bobby Parnell as “locks” for the Mets relief corps.

Right-hander Chris Young, the front runner for the Mets’ No. 4 spot in the rotation, will make the start tomorrow against the Florida Marlins. Also scheduled to play are second base candidates Brad Emaus and Luis Castillo.

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Everyone knows by now that New York Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez has a huge team option for 2012. It’s worth $17.5 million and only becomes guaranteed if Rodriguez finishes 55 games this season and is declared healthy by doctors in the offseason.

Now, that may have not sounded like a big deal prior to last season and was most likely a given when he first signed on, but times have changed.

Since Rodriguez has been with the Mets in two seasons, he’s performed well on the field—although he’s never a given trying to close out games—but he hasn’t controlled his temper on or off the field.

Even before last season’s postgame incident in the Citi Field family room, Rodriguez has shown that he can lose it at any moment. He’s gotten into fights with opposing players and even got into it with former bullpen coach Randy Niemann.

On the field, Rodriguez was having a pretty good 2010 season before shutting it down in August.

His final numbers were solid as he allowed only 45 hits in 57.1 innings pitched and his ERA was a stellar 2.20. He ended up saving 25 games but also had his usual moments of inconsistency.

While the Mets were on the brink of completely falling out of the playoff race in mid-August, Rodriguez punched his girlfriend’s father after a game at Citi Field and only had one more appearance.

He tore a ligament in his thumb during the fight and got into a whole legal situation.

Now, Rodriguez still can’t appear in a Mets spring training game because whenever he’s scheduled to pitch, he has another court hearing in New York. That happened on Wednesday morning, so the Mets are still waiting to see what he can do on the mound returning from disgrace. 

This whole saga brings up the big question: Will Rodriguez finish 55 games for the Mets this season?

It’s up for debate and can’t be answered with certainty yet. There will be a few factors in deciding whether or not the 2012 option will kick in.

First of all, will the Mets still be in the race come the trading deadline?

If not and if Rodriguez is pitching well along with being healthy, can the Mets get anything for him? They could probably look to get some kind of fourth-starter or bat but that would probably be it.

If they are in the race in late July, that would be the trickiest situation.

Obviously, with the Mets winning games, Rodriguez would be on his way to appearing in at least 55 games. No team, you’d think, would trade their closer straight-up for Rodriguez, so maybe trading him in the race would be a bad thing.

No current Mets reliever could be relied on to close games other than Rodriguez.

The one that has the stuff to do it but hasn’t been able to when given the opportunity is Bobby Parnell. The Mets right-handed setup man has an electric fastball and some nasty breaking stuff but has blown the majority of games he’s been asked to save in his young career.

The Mets wouldn’t sacrifice a good season in the position they’re in by trading away their closer without a replacement.

Of course there’s always the other possibility—that no matter how the Mets are doing, they’d find an injury to shut him down before the 55-game plateau is reached.

It’s very hard these days to “find” an injury and it wouldn’t go over with the players union too well, but if the Mets really want no part of Rodriguez in 2012, that would be a direction they could go in.

With all of Rodriguez’s troubles concerning a bad temper and whatnot, none of this would’ve been an issue if he hadn’t decked his girlfriend’s father. Now it’s up to the Mets to handle the situation the right way.

Perhaps he’ll pitch so well that they’ll forgive what he did and bring him back. There’s no way to tell right now what will happen.

The first step is to have Rodriguez make a spring training appearance. Then starting in April, we’ll see what happens to Rodriguez and his future with the Mets.

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MLB Spring Training has only just started, but the MLB buzz is continuous. There is already buzz about mid-season trades to come. There’s also already buzz about the free agents after this season.

Albert Pujols and C.C. Sabathia will probably continue to dominate the MLB buzz. There are some other buzz stories past Pujols and Sabathia, though.

Here are some of the latest buzz in the MLB world.

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Heading into the 2011 MLB season, we all know about the players who are going to be their good old, productive selves. Roy Halladay is going to anchor a star-studed rotation, Albert Pujols is going to continue to hit bombs as a St. Louis Cardinal, at least for one more season, and Joey Votto will continue to show us why his 2010 National League MVP Award was no fluke—and those are just a few of the MLB’s consistent greats.

However, a baseball team is composed of 25 players, and they can’t all be All-Stars.

A lot of times, it’s a team’s role players that make them great. I think you needn’t look any further than the 2010 San Francisco Giants club, who won the World Series by riding the likes of rookie starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner and August waiver-claim, Cody Ross.

For the sake of this article, we’re going to call those types of players “wild cards.” Of course, I couldn’t go any further without establishing some sort of precedent. What exactly is a “wild card” player. In this article, a wild card player will be the type of guy that, in order of his respective team to have success, absolutely must have a good season.

Without this player, a hole is created on the team’s roster that, over the course of a 162 game season, will become a cause for concern. What are the criteria for being labeled a “wild card?” Basically, there are none. All players were eligible, and I only used a few, basic evaluators.

For example, players in similar situations were considered, but those with contenders were held to a higher regard. A majority of the players on this list are coming off of down or injured seasons, and teams that are relying heavily on said players are pushed further up the list.

So, without any further ado, here are the 15 biggest “wild cards” heading into the 2011 season.

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The Mets bullpen will have a very different look in 2011.  The only three remaining bullpen pitchers are Bobby Parnell, Manny Acosta and Francisco Rodriguez.  The Mets signed a handful of relievers this offseason.  D.J. Carrasco, Taylor Bucholz and Taylor Tankersley were signed by the Mets this offseason and they each have loads of potential.

Some people don’t think that the Mets bullpen will be successful this year.  The team’s bullpen has a lot of question marks, and there are also some injury-prone players in the bullpen.  A strong bullpen can make a mediocre team good, and a good team great.

The Mets had a decent bullpen last year but two of their top relievers are no longer with the team.  Hisanori Takahashi packed his bags for Anaheim, and Pedro Feliciano signed with the Mets’ crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees.

Those two players were key to the Mets’ bullpen success last season, but the team can recover from losing them.  Feliciano was one of the best lefty specialists in the league and he will be missed, but the Mets signed Taylor Tankersley this offseason.  Tankersley is a lefty and he’s not as talented as Feliciano but he might win the job as the Mets’ lefty specialist.

The Mets are hoping that Tankersley will impress in spring training and win the lefty specialist job.  If Tankersley can do that then he will deeply help the Mets.  The National League East has some of the best left-handed hitters in the league so it is crucial for the Mets to have a solid lefty specialist.

If Tankersley doesn’t pan out for the Mets then they will most likely find a solid lefty specialist later in the season.  D.J. Carrasco was one of the Diamondbacks‘ best relievers last year and he can be an effective long man in the bullpen. 

Carrasco can play the role of Hisanori Takahashi in 2011.  Takahashi pitched long relief for the Mets and he also made some starts for the team when they had injury problems or needed to give their pitchers another day of rest. 

Carrasco may play a similar role but that doesn’t mean that he won’t be given a chance to win the setup job.  As of now, Carrasco, Bucholz and Parnell are the front runners for the setup job.  If Carrasco doesn’t win that then he will most likely be a seventh inning man who can long relieve and make spot starts.

Taylor Bucholz has an ample amount of potential.  He just hasn’t been able to translate his talent into consistent success.  This is a crucial year for Bucholz; he can either make or break his career.  Bucholz will compete for the setup job and he should make a pretty good case to win the job.  He was a great signing for the Mets and he has the potential to be a key part of the Mets bullpen this season.

Bobby Parnell will be returning to the Mets, and so will Manny Acosta.  Acosta was a pleasant surprise for the New York Mets last season; he should make a great middle relief man this season.  Parnell is a young guy who has a lot of potential.  He is a flamethrower and he routinely hits the upper 90s on the radar gun, and even hits 100 on occasions.

Parnell will also be competing for the job to set up Francisco Rodriguez.  Parnell has a big chance to be a key part to the Mets bullpen.  Parnell has a solid array of pitches and he has one of the best fastballs in the game.  If Parnell can control his fastball and still throw it in the upper 90s then he will be a great reliever.

Parnell is the ideal setup man: he is a power pitcher and if you tell him to go out there and give it all he’s got then he will blow batters away.  He has the ability to strike out many hitters and he can also set up Francisco Rodriguez perfectly.

When teams go from seeing a 100-mph fastball one inning to a nasty curveball in the mid-80s, they will be off on their timing.  Parnell is a great player and he will allow K-Rod to throw many of the batters off.

Francisco Rodriguez had an up-and-down season last year.  Right when he started to get in a groove, he got into a tussle with his father-in-law.  That messed up his whole season and many fans wanted him out of Queens.  Fans forgot how good Rodriguez actually is.

Rodriguez has the potential to be one of the best closers in the game.  Although he gives Mets fans mini heart attacks every time he takes the mound, he almost always gets the job done.  He has a knack for getting saves, and he has loads of talent.

This Mets bullpen has a lot of potential and it can help lead the team to a winning season.  Bullpens are crucial to a team’s success and the Mets are going to need all the help they can get.  If this bullpen doesn’t perform up to its potential then the team will be in trouble, but if it does then the Mets could have one of the best bullpens in the league.  This bullpen might not be the sexiest, but it has the potential to get the job done night in and night out.

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Winning a major baseball award is typically a big step towards fame, riches and potentially a place in the MLB Hall of Fame. But not every MVP, ROY, Cy Young or Rolaids Relief award winner is destined for greatness. Some of them simply become trade bait.

With the baseball off-season wrapping up and Spring Training just around the corner, here’s a look at 10 major award winners who could be changing teams this year.

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