NL East

For most teams, reaching the 2011 National League Championship Series would be considered a successful season but not for the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies have won their division in four-straight seasons and appeared in two consecutive World Series, and anything but a World Series championship is a failure.

While basically every player on the 25-man roster will have to play well for the New York Mets to be competitive, five players in particular will hold major keys to the team's success in 2011.

In no particular order, Jose Reyes, Jon Niese, Jason Bay, Ike Davis and Frankie Rodriguez will need to bring their A-game to the ballpark every night.

Pitching is a vital part of the game, and with the Phillies rotation we are expecting a few World Series championships.

With Cliff Lee going along with Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels, we are all expecting the greatest starting rotation of the decade, or even of our lives!

Charlie Manuel's contract as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies is set to expire at the end of the 2011 season. With Spring Training just weeks away, the Phillies have yet to finalize an extension for their skipper.

The Phillies free-agent signing of starting pitcher Cliff Lee sent shockwaves throughout the country.  Lee was supposed to bolt to the Yankees or stay with the Rangers.  In the biggest swerve of the offseason, Lee decided to return to the City of Brotherly Love.

Philadelphia already had the Big Three of Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt.  Now it's the Big Four, or whatever moniker you desire, with the addition of Lee. 

Spring Training will be here sooner than we think. The Phillies come into the 2011 season with some lofty expectations for themselves. They have mustered up one of the best rotations in the history of baseball with the surprising signing of former Phillie Cliff Lee.

Along with the rotation, the Phillies offense looks to get back on track after having a down year for what they've come to expect over the past few seasons. They still have the core group of players on the team, but they are all aging.

When the Atlanta Braves traded for shortstop Alex Gonzalez on July 14^th last year, he was hitting .259 with 17 homers and 50 RBIs for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Most Braves’ fans thought moving on from Yunel Escobar, a guy who rarely hit for any power, to a guy that was hitting homeruns at a career pace was a great move.

Gonzalez’s year took a downturn after the trade, however, as he hit just .240 with 6 homers and 38 RBIs the rest of the way for the Braves.

This offseason, the Mets have seemingly been acquiring potential options to be their everyday second baseman, from selecting Brad Emaus in the Rule 5 Draft to trading Michael Antonini to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Chin-lung Hu. 

It’s a wide-open competition, so let’s take a look at all the options the Mets have and handicap who fantasy owners should want to see:

Luis Castillo

Although the entire city of New York is focused on the Jets and their quest for the Lombardi trophy, it's tough to ignore the fact that Spring Training is under a month a way. After all, New York is and always will be a baseball town.

Mets pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie on Feb. 18th after a rather quiet offseason. The Mets front office and coaching staff may look a lot different, but the roster hasn't changed much.

The offseason to this point has had its fair share of surprises. From Cliff Lee signing with the Philadelphia Phillies to the New York Yankees' decision to bring aboard Rafael Soriano to what may be the biggest blockbuster to date—the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim agreeing to swap Vernon Wells for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera.