The Mets have acquired lefty starter Johan Santana from the Twins for outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra. Santana has won two Cy Young Awards in his major league career and he’s been a American League All-Star three times. Santana pitched in 33 games (all starts) last season for the Twins and he was 15-13 with a 3.33 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. Santana has now pitched in 251 games (175 starts) in his major league career and he is 93-44 with 1 save, a 3.22 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. Santana has whiffed an amazing 1,381 batters in 1,308.2 innings in his major league career. The Mets now have one of the best rotations in the major leagues right now as Santana will join Pedro Martinez, John Maine, Oliver Perez and Orlando Hernandez in the starting rotation. The five pitchers in the Mets rotation sport a combined 460-274 record (62.7%)!

The Mets have signed 37-year old, lefty reliever Ricardo Rincon to a minor league contract. Rincon last pitched in the majors with the Cardinals in 2006. Rincon has pitched in 557 games (0 starts) in his major league career and he is 21-24 with 21 saves, a 3.58 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP. If Rincon is healthy he could push Scott Schoeneweis for a roster spot as he’s been a better major league pitcher than him when healthy.

The Mets will need a healthy Pedro Martinez if they have any hopes of winning a World Series in 2008. Pedro Martinez started only 5 games last season as he was recovering from major surgery and he was 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP. Martinez has only had one full season out of his three with the Mets. Martinez has started 59 games for the Mets in his career and he is 27-17 with a 3.38 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. With Martinez 36 years old now and coming off a major injury one has to wonder how many bullets are left in his impressive gun. Martinez has pitched in 447 games (380 starts) in his major league career and he is 209-93 with 3 saves, a 2.80 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP.

The Mets have re-signed infielder Jose Valentin to a minor league contract. Valentin only played in 51 games last season for the Mets due to a torn ACL. He was 40 for 166 (.241 avg, .675 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 3 homers and 18 RBIs. The 38-year old Valentin has now played in 1,678 games in his major league career and he is 1,348 for 5,539 (.243 avg, .769 OPS) with 872 runs scored, 249 homers, 816 RBIs and 136 stolen bases. Valentin might have an uphill battle making the Mets roster as Luis Castillo has taken over as the starting 2B of the Mets and Ruben Gotay was outstanding in reserve.

The Mets have signed infielders Fernando Tatis, Anderson Machado and pitcher Andy Cavazos to minor league contracts. Tatis is a 33-year old third baseman. He last played in the majors in 2006 with the Orioles. Tatis has now played in 691 games in his major league career and he is 618 of 2,373 (.260 avg, .784 OPS) with 346 runs scored, 92 homers, 347 RBIs and 43 stolen bases. Anderson Machado is a 26-year old lefty swinging shortstop. He last played in the majors in 2005 with the Rockies. Machado has now played in 24 games in his major league career and he is 15 for 68 (.221 avg, .657 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 6 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. 27-year old righty pitcher Andy Cavazos made his major league debut last season and it did not go well. He pitched in 17 games for the Cardinals last season and he was 0-0 with a 10.35 ERA and a 2.15 WHIP. All three of these guys are longshots to help the Mets at all next season.