Willie Randolph is really turning into a good major league manager. He led the Mets to a 97-65 record last season and won the A.L. East in his 2nd season on the job. The Mets then lost the National League Championship Series 4-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals. Randolph now has a two year career record of 180-144 (.556) and he has a post season record of 6-4 (.600).

The loss of Duaner Sanchez for a few months due to injury and Guillermo Mota’s 50-game suspension will make the bullpen of the Mets a little less of a lock to pitch well as a unit. 35 year old lefty Billy Wagner still brings the big-time heat late in games for the Mets. He was 3-2 with 40 saves, a 2.24 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP in 70 games last season for the Mets. Batters only hit .219 (lefties .161) against Wagner and he whiffed an amazing 94 batters in only 72.1 innings last season! Wagner shows no signs of slowing down so expect to save 35-45 games for the Mets this season.

28 year old righty Aaron Heilman will have to be good as the set-up man because the Mets don’t have any other options. He was 4-5 with 27 holds, a 3.62 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP in 74 games for the Mets last season. Batters only hit .231 against him last season and he whiffed 73 batters in 87 innings which shows what kind of stuff Heilman has. Look for him to do a good job for the Mets this season.

The Mets gave 33 year old lefty Scott Schoeneweis a lot of money to come to New York. It will be interesting to see if he’s worth the cash. He was 4-2 with 19 holds, 4 saves, a 4.88 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP in 71 games for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Cincinnati Reds last season. Batters hit .247 against Schoeneweis last season but he walked 24 batters in 51.2 innings last season and that’s way too many. He could be good or bad in 2007….only time will tell.

30 year old lefty Pedro Feliciano had his best year in the majors in 2006. He was 7-2 with 10 holds, a 2.09 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP in 64 games for the Mets last season. Batters only hit .248 against him last season and he whiffed 54 batters in 60.1 innings which shows what kind of stuff he has. Look for him to pitch well again for the Mets in 2007.

Soon to be 23 year old righty Ambiorix Burgos was brought in from the Royals in a trade for Brian Bannister. Burgos throws big-time gas but the Mets will need to teach him how to pitch. He was 4-5 with 5 holds, 18 saves, a 5.52 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP in 68 games for the Royals last season. Batters hit .288 against him (lefties .345 with 10 homers in 119 at bats) and he walked 37 batters in 73.1 innings last season so the Mets have their work cut out for them with Burgos. He did whiff 72 batters last season which shows a little about his arm strength as he consistently gets the ball up in the high 90’s.

29 year old righty Jon Adkins was brought in from the Padres through a trade over the winter. He was 2-1 with 8 holds, a 3.98 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP in 55 games for the Padres last season. Adkins has pretty good stuff but batters hit .271 against him and he’ll need to improve at missing bats before the Mets can trust him late in the game.

33 year old righty Guillermo Mota will be back with the Mets after he serves a 50-game suspension for violating the league’s steroids rule. Mota was 4-3 with 9 holds, a 4.53 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP in 52 games for the Cleveland Indians and the Mets. Mota pitched great for the Mets as he was 3-0 with 4 holds, a 1.00 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP in 18 games for the Mets. Look for him to pitch good for the Mets when he returns if he’s not too rusty.

27 year old righty Duaner Sanchez will be missed. He was 5-1 with 14 holds, a 2.60 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP in 49 games for the Mets last season. Batters only hit .223 (righties .179) against him last season and he whiffed 44 batters in 55.1 innings for the Mets last season. The only area he can improve on is he needs to cut down on his walks a little bit as he walked 24 batters last season.Â

Duaner Sanchez has a small fracture in his right shoulder. He will need surgery to insert a screw in his shoulder and will miss 3-4 months while he recovers. The Mets have a deep bullpen but Sanchez really pitched well last season and will be missed.

The Mets have signed 32 year old righty 3B Fernando Tatis. He played in 28 games for the Baltimore Orioles last season and he hit .250 with a .813 OPS. Look for the Mets to start Tatis at AAA ball to provide insurance in case David Wright or Carlos Delgado get hurt during the season.

The Mets have released Sierra as he was playing poorly in the Spring and he never had a realistic chance to make the Mets anyway. He played in 12 games this Spring for the Mets and he was only 4 of 24 (.167 batting average) with a .430 OPS. It looks as if Sierra’s long, productive major league career is coming to an end.