Sorry Washington Nationals, but the New York Mets did what you couldn’t do and they bolstered their bullpen with the midnight hour re-signings of Fernando Salas and Jerry Blevins, while you have yet to replace your closer Mark Melancon or even Matt Belisle (who was huge for you last season) with Spring Training now only five days away.
The Nationals were rebuffed at their attempts to sign premier closers such as Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen and even bottom tier relievers like Greg Holland had no interest in signing with the Nats this offseason.
As such, those astute folks at Baseball Prospectus updated their projections last night, and for the first time in well over a year, the Mets have pulled in front of the Nationals with 88 wins – just enough to take over first place in the National League East by one solitary game.
Of course this actually means nothing in the grand scheme of things, but after all the article that have had the Mets projected for 83 wins or less, the die-hard Mets fan in me was not going to let an opportunity like this pass me by.
