Mets' Manager, GM, and Players All On The Hot Seat - Who Will Make It To Citi Field?

Last season the Mets were a shoe in to make the playoffs until they seemed virtually unable to win the last month of the season.

Many said that manager, Willie Randolph should have been fired while others said it should have been the GM, Omar Minaya, as he put the team together.

Now, this year may prove to control the destiny for both men. If the Mets win, then Randolph and Minaya's jobs are probably safe, but if not, neither of them will likely see the opening day of the new Citi Field.

Minaya tried to secure his job making arguably the biggest transaction during the offseason acquiring left handed phenom, Johan Santana. However, will Santana be enough to take the Mets to the promised land of baseball; the World Series?

With El Duke and Pedro Martinez not being able to play, the seemingly great five man rotation is no more.

El Duke is not the pitcher he was with the 98' Yankees. He can no longer continue his freaky delivery to the plate due to a bunion on his foot. If he were to receive surgery on it, it is said to take several years before he would be back on the mound, at which point, his career would probably be over. So, El Duke will continue to heal and work on a new delivery that does not cause him pain, but even if and when he does return, Mets brass along with their faithful have to wonder how effective he will be, as his deception was the best part of his pitching.

Pedro Martinez was taken out of his first game of his first appearance after just three and a third innings pitched and allowing four earned runs and was placed on the disabled list. He was supposed to be an important part of the Mets rotation, providing a great one - two punch with Santana ahead of him. Now however, it is unknown when he will even be back this season.

In the mean time, with two holes in the rotation, Mike Pelfrey and Nelson Figueroa have taken over the slots. Thus far, they have done a nice job. Pelfrey is 2 - 0 with a 3.18 ERA and Figueroa is 1 - 1 with a 4.05 ERA. However, will Pelfrey return to how he pitched last season? Last year, he posted a 3- 8 record with a 5.57 ERA, although he pitched well at seasons end when the rest of the team was struggling. As far as Figueroa, can he be trusted to take over in the rotation for a long stretch. He has a career record of 8 - 18 with a 4.61 ERA. They will both have to prove themselves every time they take the mound.

Also, don't forget that last season John Maine, who proved to be an important part of the rotation last year, although he has had a short career, had a career year last season. Last season Maine was 15 - 10 with a 3.91 ERA. So far, he is 1-2 with a 3.57 ERA. It is much of the same story for Oliver Perez. Perez matched wins and loses with Maine going 15 - 10 as well while posting a 3.56 ERA. Perez is so far 2 - 1 with a 3.62 ERA, however, has a career record of 47 - 54 with an unimpressive ERA, especially for a National League pitcher, with a 4.40 ERA.

Santana was slow out of the box but has really picked things up his past few starts and there is really nothing to worry about with Santana - he is probably the only sure handed pitcher the Mets have right now. The only thing the Mets may have to keep an eye on is when he gets on base. Sometimes the pitchers get a little winded running the bases, something he didn't have to deal with in the American League, and can lead to early fatigue and some bad pitching, as any NL fan knows.

Santana is a good pitcher, arguably the best in baseball today, but is he just going to be getting the Mets back to where they were last season and is he going to be as effective in the NL where it takes more of an athlete to play the game? As the ace, he will need to make up for the loss of El Duke and Martinez and possibly have to pick up a bit for Maine and Perez as well.

On the hitting side, you know that Carlos Beltran, David Wright and Jose Reyes will deliver, much like Santana is expected to, but what about some other guys, especially Carlos Delgado and Moises Alou. Alou has been injury plagued every since he joined the Mets and Delgado just has been useless at the plate the last two seasons and isn't exactly a gold glover out there in the field.

Mets fans have to wonder how long they Mets will stick with Delgado at first as his production is just on a constant decline and the Mets are probably better off going with the young Angel Pagan in left. These are two situations that Minaya and Randolph are surely keeping a close eye on. Question is, will they make the right decision? It is doubtful. Delgado and Alou are getting payed big bucks and aren't paying them to sit on the bench, so that means that Pagan could be seated and even sent back to the minors and Delgado will stay at first as long as he is healthy. These are two aging superstars that no longer serve a purpose for the Mets, but will be in the line-up despite that fact.

Fact of the matter is, that the Mets are a big question mark this season and there are very few players, along with Randolph and Minaya whose jobs are safe without a successful playoff run this season after last years epic collapse.