As a New York Mets' fan, it has been a long off season.

There had been absolutely nothing to be excited about since last September began.

Then the announcement of the Johan Santana trade came Tuesday, and suddenly there was a reason to look forward to this season.

There was, of course, the issue of the contract extension.

I thought it was a foregone conclusion a deal would be struck swiftly.

After all, if the Mets didn't get the deal done there would have been full-scale riots in Queens.

And I would have driven up to join in them.

Of course, negotiations don't work like that.

Even knowing that, I was a sad site as the 5 p.m. deadline approached.

The television was locked on ESPN.

My computer had three tabs open: ESPN.com, Yahoo! Sports and SI.com.

All three were being reloaded every 30 seconds.

The deadline came and went with no deal.

There was talk of the deadline being extended, though I still don't understand why there was a deadline in the first place if it could just be moved around.

So I left the comfort of my recliner. I went to play basketball to try and get my mind off my team's troubles.

Of course most of my friends are Braves' fans other than one who likes the Yankees, so they wouldn't allow me to do that.

By the time we were done playing, the deal had finally been reached and I could relax.

Moral of the story: When something big is going to be announced, don't just sit around and wait for it.

Go do something else and the news will at least seem to come much faster.

The next time one of my teams faces something like this I'm sure I'll do the same thing though.

Camp out on the couch and drive myself crazy about it.

Now on to what this means for the Mets.

First of all, the Mets are now the only team in the National League with three 15-game winners on the pitching staff.

Santana's acquisition pushes the other two of those pitchers, John Maine and Oliver Perez, back in the rotation so they won't have to face other teams' aces very often.

If those three pitchers make 30 starts each, which they should, that leaves under 75 starts to divide between Pedro Martinez, Orlando Hernandez and Mike Pelfrey.

With that considered, the starting pitching should be there to support a line-up that I believe will be more potent than the past two seasons.

Paul Lo Duca and Shawn Green are the only starters from last season that won't be back, and they shouldn't be missed very much.

The team will also have Luis Castillo batting second for the entire season, which will provide more RBI opportunities for Carlos Beltran, David Wright and Carlos Delgado.

Billy Wagner is an anchor at closer. However, the rest of the relievers leave a lot to be desired.

Aaron Heilman only throws fastballs, and Duaner Sanchez didn't pitch last year with a shoulder injury.

And those are supposed to be the teams best bullpen guys.

Still, the starters should put less stress on the relievers and be able to mask the problems of the bullpen.

I'll still install the Mets as the National League favorite at this point, though it doesn't make them a lock as some analysts would make you believe.

The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies will provide stiff competition inside the NL East.

The Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs are the other teams who could challenge for the pennant.

With Santana, the Mets have to be the odds-on favorite though.

Call us the Yankees of the National League all you want.

The Yankees make the playoffs every year.

The Mets support their own cable network, ranked second in game attendance last season and have a brand new stadium opening next year.

The team supports itself and can spend the money it makes however it so chooses.

And signing the best pitcher on the planet is not a bad way to do that.