NL East

We may never know if the Wilpon family, principal owners of the New York Mets, benefited or lost as a result from dealings with Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff.

However, we will soon know if the Wilpons' involvement with Madoff will cost their beloved Mets on the field.

The recent lawsuit against the Wilpons will cost them millions. It's not relevant if they win or lose in the courtroom.

The past few seasons, the Mets and Yankees have been on opposite ends of the baseball spectrum. 

The Yankees have continued their winning ways, culminating in a World Series Championship in 2009.  Meanwhile, over the past few years the Mets have spiraled into obscurity and—even worse—became the butt of all jokes around the league. 

While the Atlanta Braves didn’t win their division in the last year behind manager Bobby Cox, they were able to end the year second in the division and grab the wild card spot with a record of 91-71.

By the time the 2009 baseball amateur draft finally came to an end, the Washington Nationals had added 50 players to their minor league system.

But really, other than the first two—Stephen Strasburg and Drew Storen—the other 48 were either minor league "inventory" or relative unknowns who would probably slip into the anonymity of the low minor leagues, likely never to be heard from again.

Former Philadelphia Phillie Jayson Werth signed with his former division rival Washington Nationals for $126 MM over seven years, which allowed Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. to offer a contract to the much-coveted Cliff Lee.

In a deal that shocked baseball where Lee left millions of dollars on the table, he decided to return to a team where he enjoyed the city, the team and the fans.

Lee decided that his comfort and the chance for history and a championship was more important than the money the Yankees offered him.

There isn't a lot to look forward to when it comes to the New York Mets in 2011. There are more questions than answers surrounding this team right now, and with the lawsuit stemming from the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme hanging over their heads, fan morale is at an all-time low.

Well cheer up Mets fans! It's Spring Training, and with it comes a clean slate. Will the Mets win the World Series this season? Probably not. Can they win the World Series? Sure they can; any team can. That's why it's a clean slate.

On this date in 1934, the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Casey Stengel to a two-year deal to be their manager.

Today, 77 years later, Terry Collins will look to the example set by Stengel in running a baseball team. Though they Mets were downright terrible during Stengel's tenure, the fire and energy he brought as the first Mets manager rang true with the players.

The 2010 season probably doesn't rank very high on the list of great seasons in Mets history. The Mets finished the season 79-83, fourth in the NL East, with their ace, Johan Santana, on the disabled list.

There weren't many bright spots last season.

After yet another disappointing season, Mets fans have been clinging to the warm memories or R.A. Dickey and his 2.84 ERA, Angel Pagan's eye-opening season and Ike Davis and his 19 home runs.

Jose Reyes is one of the best shortstops in the game today, and teams around the majors should seriously consider trading top prospects for him.

The reason is quite simple, and I will get more in depth with the reasoning behind this in the later slides.

Off the top, the shortstop position in the majors is relatively weak and Reyes is one of the best there is, both in the field and at the plate.

Reyes has the ability to be a great leadoff hitter and he is also a threat on the bases as well. In the field, Reyes is also a solid defender at the shortstop position.

With spring training having begun, some of the prospects will be trying to earn their spot on the starting lineup, or at least their spot in the 25 man roster. Yesterday we saw the Cole Hamels is due to start the spring training game against the Yankees in Tampa, FL, and Vance Worley is to be the long reliever for that game. With the rotation and bullpen stocked the way that it is, how likely is it that Worley will see major league play time during the regular season?