The New York Mets spent the offseason dueling with their cross-town rivals for the services of two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana after a late season collapse left the Mets on the outside looking last October.

When it was all said and done the Mets had arguably made the strongest statement of the offseason by trading two of their top prospects to the Twins in exchange for Santana and subsequently signing him to the largest contract ever offered to a pitcher.

The message was clear: the Mets won't be embarrassed again.

The acquisition of Santana was not the only move the Mets made this offseason in hopes of positioning themselves for World Series run in 2008.

General manager Omar Minaya also shipped promising young outfielder Lastings Milledge to Washington for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider in an attempt to fill voids in right field and at catcher with veteran players.

Even with the addition of Santana in New York, it's yet to be seen if the Mets will be able to fend off the defending NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies and the retooled Atlanta Braves.

Both the Phillies and the Braves addressed weaknesses in the offseason with the Phillies picking up Brad Lidge to bolster their shaky bullpen and the Braves adding some depth to their pitching rotation with the signing of Tom Glavine and the acquisition of Jair Jurjjens from the Tigers.

The Phils also padded the bottom half of their batting order by signing free agents Geoff Jenkins and Pedro Feliz, both of whom provide 20-plus home run potential to what is already considered one of baseball's most potent lineups.

Predictions:

1. New York Mets

Winning the pennant hinges on the health of starting pitching down the stretch for the Mets, because the loss of injury prone pitchers Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez could spell disaster with the Phillies and Braves likely on their heels the whole season.

When healthy this team should be the best all-around team in the NL East, but injury concerns with Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado could play a major role as the season develops. However, the presence of Johan Santana cannot be overstated for a team that has lacked a dominant starter for years.

Santana will steady the pitching staff and give the Mets an excellent chance to win every time he takes the mound. With that said, there is reason to believe the Mets could regress slightly on the offensive side of things with Brian Schneider and Ryan Church replacing Paul LoDuca and Shawn Green.

Schneider is so offensively stagnant at this point in his career that he is seen as having another pitcher at the bottom of the batting order.

Regardless, the Mets will score enough runs at the top of the order to remain competitive and appear primed to make a deep run in October if they can avoid serious injuries.

2. Philadelphia Phillies

There's a lot to like about a team that has the last two NL MVPs starting in its infield.

Not to mention they have another infielder, Chase Utley, who is considered an early front runner for MVP this season and a 24-year old starting pitcher, Cole Hamels, who is considered one of the finest young lefties the game has seen.

The notion that a team could have three consecutive MVPs is unbelievable, yet it's a reality for Phillies entering the 2008 season. More importantly, with the addition of Brad Lidge, the Phillies will be able to move Brett Myers back to the rotation after a season at closer.

If Myers readjusts to being a starter alongside Hamels and the Phils' power trio produces like expected this should be at worst a wild-card team by season's end.

3. Atlanta Braves

The departures of Andruw Jones and Edgar Renteria may end up having a far greater impact than expected for the Braves in 2008. Fortunately, the Braves starting pitching stands to improve significantly and should make up for the slight offensive drop off that will be experienced in Atlanta.

Renteria was criminally underrated during his time in Atlanta and Jones has been the Braves most imposing offensive threat for almost a decade. Replacing Renteria with Yunel Escobar is a manageable transition, but the Braves face a tougher challenge filling the void left in center field.

When Chipper Jones goes down with an injury at some point during the season, as he inevitably will at some point, the burden will fall heavily on Mark Teixeira and Jeff Francoeur to produce the runs.

On the flip side the Braves are once again optimistic Mike Hampton will be healthy enough to contribute and Tom Glavine and Jair Jurrjens will provide much needed depth behind John Smoltz and Tim Hudson in the pitching rotation.

4. Washington Nationals

While still working with a limited budget at the Major League level, general manager Jim Bowden has done wonders to give the Nationals quality depth at almost every position.

Spring training positional battles are underway at first base (Nick Johnson vs. Dmitri Young), second base (Ronnie Belliard vs. Felipe Lopez vs. Bret Boone), and in left field (Wily Mo Pena vs. Elijah Dukes.)

Pitching is still an area of concern for the Nationals. Top pitchers John Patterson, Shawn Hill and Jason Bergmann are all huge injury risks.

Much like he did with Dmitri Young last season, it appears that Bowden has revitalized the careers of pitcher Odalis Perez and former all-star second basemen Bret Boone, who have both played well this spring.

The youth movement is underway in Washington, and if the pitching staff can stay upright don't be surprised if the well-rounded Nationals don't finish the season around the .500 mark.

Ryan Zimmerman is a budding superstar at third base and will enjoy a breakout season with more protection around him than ever before in the Nats lineup.

5. Florida Marlins

It's unfair the way the Marlins have to trade away their top shelf talent like clockwork every few years. Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis are the latest examples of burgeoning Marlins superstars who had to be moved primarily for financial reasons.

There is a strong argument, though, that this trade could eventually work out in the Marlins favor.

Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin, the Marlins main compensation for Cabrera and Willis, are two of the brightest young talents in baseball today, and it is conceivable that Miller could be pitching at a higher level than Willis as soon as this season.

The Marlins still have an impressive wealth of young hitting talent with Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Josh Willingham and breakout candidate Jeremy Hermida.

However, The Marlins iffy starting pitching will keep them in the cellar in 2008, despite glimpses of greatness from the likes of Ramirez and Uggla.

NL East MVP:

Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies

NL East Cy Young:

Johan Santana, New York Mets

NL East Manager of the Year:

Manny Acta, Washington Nationals