The New York Mets have hit the jackpot of all trades this offseason. Pending an agreed upon contract extension and passing a physical, Minnesota Twins ace, Johan Santana, will be traded to the Mets for four prospects. Santana is looking for a six or seven year contract extension, something the Mets should be able to pull off. In exchange for Santana, the Twins will get outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey. The two-time Cy Young award winner will front an already potent Mets' pitching staff of Pedro Martinez, John Maine, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, and Oliver Perez. Adding Santana to that mix gives the Mets the best rotation in the NL East, if not the NL as a whole. He'll be bringing a 93-44 lifetime record and an average of 235 strikeouts a season over the past four years to Shea Stadium this coming season.

Assuming this deal goes through, the Mets have to be considered as one of the front-runners to reach the World Series next season. Now a lot can happen along the way with injuries to the pitching staff or the lineup, but assuming everyone is healthy all season, watch out! A lineup that features one of, if not the fastest player in the game in Jose Reyes, along with power hitters like David Wright, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran and you have the makings of one of the best teams ever assembled. Normally I hate it when teams are able to do things like this simply because the Reds can't, or rather won't, do it. But in this case, I can't be mad at the Mets. Yes they have a huge payroll like the Yankees and the Red Sox, but they seem to do things more under the radar and with more class and respect for the game. While they stack their team in order to dominate the NL, most fans of the sort don't blink an eye at it. Now if this were the Yankees of the Red Sox that made this deal for Santana all hell would be breaking loose. (Quick disclaimer: I'm a Red Sox fan along with a Reds fan, have been for a number of years...so I wouldn't have been upset had they landed Santana).

The Mets have made the biggest splash in the offseason to this point and it doesn't look like anything else is in the works anywhere else. The next trade that happens could include Baltimore Orioles' pitcher Erik Bedard, but that pales in comparison to this Santana deal. With spring training just around the corner I can feel the anticipation of a new season, even here in Cincy! Congrats to the Mets on landing arguably the best pitcher in the game right now. Now we'll just have to wait and see how well Santana transitions into the NL and how well he can hit too.