The Arbitrary ChuckJerry

In any other year, the Mets off season moves would make them the favorite for the NL East before they found some way to blow it. This year, however, they don't have to blow it, because every other team got much better as well.

The Marlins signed Carlos Delgado and now have a core built around him, Paul LoDuca, Alex Gonzalez, Mike Lowell, Juan Pierre, and a solid pitching staff including Josh Beckett and Al Leiter, who's good for 10-12 wins if healthy.

The Braves added to their pitching staff Tim Hudson, Eric Milton, Ramon Ortiz and David Weathers. Hudson and Milton are both very good and their pitching staff borders on unreal. They also added Joe Randa to play third base who is solid.

Even the Washington Nationals added some good guys. They acquired Christian Guzman, Vinny Castilla, Jose Guillen, and Wil Cordero. They probably won't be a factor this year, but they are significantly improved as well.

I'd like to say the Mets are going to genuinely compete, but I can't say for sure. The Mets have a habit of being better on paper than they actually play, but certainly they are much improved. You could argue that even though there was all this movement in the division, the Mets made the most improvements in their team. I guess we'll see what happens.