Johan Santana

The New York Mets finish their season tomorrow, which is a relief for the fans who have suffered with this team the whole season, one injury and non-baseball headline after another has ravaged this team.

While there is plenty of blame to go around, most of it falls on the players who did not execute or consistently play hard or smart fundamental baseball.  Many changes are expected to be made to the roster and very few people are guaranteed jobs entering next season.

As the regular season wraps up, many teams and their fans are looking to October and, they hope, a World Series win. For other teams and their fans, they are looking to the offseason, hoping to make a few trades or free agent acquisitions to bounce them back into contention.

In some situations, these trades end up paying huge dividends, and not always for the party that was looking to get the major piece. At the same time, once in a while there's a great free agent pickup at a bargain that launches a team into the playoffs and a World Series ring.

Another baseball season is nearing its conclusion and for the fourth consecutive October, the New York Mets are absent.  With the front office sending out signs that the team will not make a big free agent splash this offseason, many fans are depressed.

Many have given up on the Mets' 2011 season already, but there are certain things that the team has in place that should keep fans optimistic.

Here are the top five reasons to believe that it will be different for the Mets in 2011.

Let’s take a look at some of the bigger stories from yesterday, including another surgery for Johan Santana and the return of two must-start shortstops:

Three Hot  

Returning Shortstops

NEW YORK—The Mets were let down last night in the series opener against the Phillies by their young starter Jenrry Mejia. He's young in age, not just baseball years.

Today, they'll attempt to even the series by starting another younger pitcher, Mike Pelfrey. Now, Pelfrey has been around since 2006, and is 26 years old. But, he still pitches like someone of Mejia's age.

It is clear to me now, as if it wasn't before that the Mets ace, Johan Santana was using steroids in the early portion of his career. How do you go from being a Rule V draft pick in 1999 to getting a contract that pays about $23 million per season? How did he go from being a mediocre reliever to an All-Star caliber pitcher who won two Cy Young Awards? Please don't tell me it was because he watched game-tape.

The New York Mets have announced that Johan Santana will need surgery to repair a torn capsule in his shoulder and that his season is done. Such has been his life with the Mets.

Santana arrived in the winter of 2008 from the Minnesota Twins and was lauded as the ace that would bring the Mets to respectability after the epic collapse of the 2007 season.

When Johan Santana was brought to New York in the winter of 2008, it was with much fanfare that he would be the savior that brought the Mets some respectability after the collapse of 2007.

During Santana’s tenure as a Met so far, they have not won anything, in fact they are actually a worse performing team than they were in 2007. 

The Mets lost 2-1 Sunday to the Pittsburgh Pirates with Johan pitching another eight strong innings, and having nothing to show for it. 

This season, it seems the Mets have been invisible anytime Santana takes the mound.  So, I crunched the numbers a bit to see how much of a tough-luck loser Santana has been this year.

Here are some facts about Santana and the Mets when he starts:

PITTSBURGH: The last time the Mets swept a road series against a National League team of three or more games was September 2008. It's hard to believe, but that's a fact.

Today, the Mets can end the drought by beating the Pirates. With Johan Santana on the mound against Pittsburgh, you'd think there's no way the Mets can lose.

Hopefully, that's the case, as the Mets try to pick up more ground in the NL Wild Card chase.