Appreciate What We Have

I want to take this time to appreciate a couple of Mets: one who never gets the credit he deserves and one who usually does but it took some time last year for Met fans to warm up to him. I'm of course talking about Carlos Beltran and Johan Santana.

Carlos Beltran has been spectacular not only this year but for his entire career as a Met with the exception of 2005 where he still played fantastic defense. In Beltran we may have the best CF in baseball. You can argue all you want about CF's who do things better than Beltran but there is not one out there who does everything as well as Beltran. Does Hamilton hit for more power than Beltran? Does Carlos Gomez play better defense? Does Ichiro hit for a higher average than Beltran? Yes they all do. However Beltran is one of the truly underappreciated players in the game today. He plays like a superstar and doesn't get the credit for it. He is a real 5-tool player. He hits for power and a decent average. He plays fantastic defense in the outfield and has a great arm. He has good speed and is a smart base running (all time leader in SB success rate). Beltran makes everything he does look easy especially playing the outfield. He is a quiet guy but wants to win. At first I was not a fan of Beltran but now he has become one of my favorite players. He is underrated by Met fans and does not deserve to be seeing as he excels at every aspect of the game. This year he has been one of the best hitters in the league hitting .383. While that is not going to stay that high as shown by a ridiculous .430 BABIP. Beltran could be on his way to have a monster year.

The other Met who was at first underappreciated is none other than Johan Santana. Santana is spectacular. Arguably the best pitcher in baseball. This year he has a remarkable 6 game start to the year with a K/9 at 12.25, an identical WHIP and ERA standing at .91, and only a 4-1 record. Since last July Santana has been unstoppable even after getting knee surgery in the offseason. Another scary part is that Santana's opposition's BABIP is .275, not far off from his career .286 mark. Santana has been ridiculous and rightfully won NL Pitcher of the Month for April. Santana could be on his way to the one of the best seasons by a Mets pitcher (although Seaver's '69 and Gooden's '85 will be hard to top). Thank you Omar for bringing him in which is now looking like a steal for the Mets even though there is still time for the youngsters in the Twins organization to bloom. There has been talk about the Mets rotation being bad behind Santana. However lately everyone outside how Oliver Perez has been doing their part with solid outings from Livan, Maine, and Big Pelf. Niese will get a start tonight against the Pirates and Redding's return on the horizon. Things are looking up for the rotation especially if Ollie's DL trip sets him straight.